n o w l e d g e
postela and the staff at the Guillarei facility.
Since 2009, the joint working group has
focused on implementing this technology
at the pilot project scale thanks to the sup-
port of the Xunta de Galicia (the regional
government) and the Centre for Industrial
Technological Development (CDTI, Spanish
acronym for Centro para el Desarrollo Tec-
nológico Industrial ), which co-funded the
research activities.
As a result of the work carried out at the
Vigo and Guillarei facilities, the company
was able to patent a proprietary system
known as ELAN® (Autotrophic Nitrogen
Elimination) which makes it possible to start
operations rapidly and stably. The positive
results enabled the implementation of this
system at a real scale.
Thanks to the award of the Augas de Ga-
licia contract valued at 242,000 euros in
its initial phase, the company will build the
first system of its kind to be implemented
at a Spanish utility. FCC Aqualia’s work will
focus on contributing its expertise, work
teams, and part of the facilities of this waste
water treatment plant.
The project,
sponsored by Augas de
Galicia, contemplates the
construction of the first
real-scale plant in Spain
