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Knowledge
FCC participating in
Methamorphosis
project to convert waste treatment centres
into bioenergy factories
The project, headed by FCC Aqualia in part-
nership with Area Metropolitana de Barcelo-
na (AMB) (Association of Metropolitan Bar-
celona Municipalities), FCC Medio Ambiente
(the Spanish brand for FCC Environment),
Gas Natural Fenosa, the Catalan Energy Ins-
titute (ICAEN) and SEAT, seeks to develop
an innovative process for enhancing biofuel
production from municipal, agricultural and
industrial waste. A project progress report
was presented at Biometa 2016, held in Bar-
celona in May.
Methamorphosis, which was granted fun-
ding in 2014 by Europe’s prestigious LIFE pro-
gramme (which supports actions to mitigate
climate change), seeks to increment biogas
production from municipal waste leachate
by modifying and innovating processing te-
chniques. The gas produced by this metha-
nisation process is enriched for use as fuel in
vehicles, which contributes to reducing gre-
enhouse gas (GHG) emissions; in the future,
it may be injected into the natural gas grid.
The project envisages the installation and
operation of prototypes to increase bio-
gas output and enrich its biomethane con-
tent at the Ecoparc 2 municipal solid waste
treatment centre in Montcada i Reixac (Bar-
celona), which is owned by AMB and mana-
ged by FCC Medio Ambiente. The prototypes
are based on three innovative technologies
developed by FCC Aqualia: an anaerobic
membrane bioreactor (AnMBR), a paten-
ted system for autotrophic denitrification
(ELAN®), and a patented upgrading facility
that will produce enriched biomethane from
biogas (ABAD®).