Spanish environmental services, infrastructure and water management group FCC is heading up a project to convert waste treatment plants into bioenergy factories.

The project, in which FCC is participating through its subsidiaries FCC Aqualia and FCC Medio Ambiente, is co-financed by the EU's LIFE programme and has a total budget of 3.6 million euro.

The project aims to increment biogas production from municipal waste leachate by modifying and innovating processing techniques. The gas produced by the methanisation process is enriched for use as fuel in vehicles, which contributes to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; in the future, it may also be injected into the natural gas grid.

The project, headed by FCC Aqualia in partnership with Area Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), FCC Medio Ambiente, Gas Natural Fenosa, the Catalan Energy Institute (ICAEN) and SEAT, is seeking to develop an innovative process for enhancing biofuel production from municipal, agricultural and industrial waste.

The project's technology will enable waste treatment plants to achieve higher efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

SEAT and FCC Medio Ambiente vehicles will drive 120,000 kilometres to test the biogas produced by the Methamorphosis project, which was granted EU funding in 2014.

The project envisages the installation and operation of prototypes to increase biogas output and enrich its biomethane content at the Ecoparc 2 municipal solid waste treatment centre in Montcada i Reixac (Barcelona), which is owned by AMB and managed by FCC Medio Ambiente.

The prototypes are based on three innovative technologies developed by FCC Aqualia:

• an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR),
• a patented system for autotrophic denitrification (ELAN®),
• and a patented upgrading facility that will produce enriched biomethane from biogas (ABAD®).

The new process will enhance efficiency while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by cutting energy demand by 70% and reducing CO2 emissions by 80% with respect to conventional processes. ICAEN will assist in transferring the knowledge obtained from the project and in enhancing its replicability.

FCC Group described the project as “a clear manifestation of FCC's technology innovation policy”,  which is focused on providing smart services to citizens and on the practical application of synergies derived from combining the experience of its business areas — Water and Environment, in this case.

Process used in the project could theoretically handle sewage as well 

The objective of Methamorphosis is to optimise the leachate treatment from municipal solid waste (MSW) digestion and transform the stream into a resource.

The process used in the project could theoretically handle sewage as well but MSW and wastewater are normally two separate streams - very rarely is sewage sludge imported to municipal waste facilities. As sewage sludge is highly organic and can be digested to biogas easily on the WWTP and then used as fertiliser. Mixing the two is often also prohibited by waste regulations.

 More than 20 of the large WWTPs that Aqualia operates have digestors that produce biogas from sludge, mostly for electricity generation. 

FCC Aqualia is the water management subsidiary of FCC,  the largest Spanish company in its industry and the third-largest private water company in Europe.

FCC Medio Ambiente provides environmental services to 53 million people in approximately 5,000 cities in 13 countries. The group processes close to 20 million tons of waste per year in over 200 recycling and treatment plants, using the full range of technologies, from mechanical and biological treatment to the most advanced energy-from-waste solutions.