We are FCC - Nº17

With the creation of this Chair, Aqualia and the University of Almeria are contributing to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of the United Nations the university and Aqualia represen- tatives from different areas and from the Innovation and Technology De- partment. Interaction with society Those responsible for formalizing the signing of the creation of the Chair were the Rector of the University of Almeria, Carmelo Rodriguez; the Di- rector of Aqualia’s Andalusia III dele- gation, José Vicente Colomina; and the Director of the Chair and Profes- sor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Almeria, José Antonio Sanchez. The rector of the UAL, Carmelo Rodríguez, pointed out that it is “an agreement that pleases everyone, and that comes after a joint work done for years”. “With the signing of this agreement, the UAL government team takes another step forward in the strategic line ‘Interaction with so- ciety’, included in its strategic plan, specifically in its objectives on the intensification of collaboration with the business, social and institutional fabric,” explained the rector. For his part, José Vicente Colomi- na, director of Aqualia’s Andalucía III delegation, said that “the creation of this chair is a very important milesto- ne for the company. We have been working with the UAL for years on research, especially on microalgae, and this chair seemed to us to be the natural evolution of that relationship. It is also a sign of our involvement with Almeria and with the promotion of R&D in our region”. The director of the chair, José An- tonio Sánchez, highlighted and thanked Aqualia for the support given to research into the end-to-end water cycle over the years. “Right now we have two projects such as ‘Phoenix’ and ‘Ulises’ where we are going to take technologies that we have deve- loped at the UAL to a demonstration scale. We are in the phase of seeing what the cost would be and the use- fulness of these technologies based on solar energy.” Also present at the event were Ana Agüera, professor of Analytical Che- mistry at the UAL; José Antonio Ote- ro, Aqualia’s manager in Almería; África Hidalgo, Aqualia’s Communi- cations Manager; and Zouhayr Ar- bib, head of the Sustainability Area in Aqualia’s R&D&I department. With the creation of this chair, Aqua- lia and the University of Almeria con- tribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of the United Nations, which aims to ensure the availability of clean water, its sustainable mana- gement and sanitation. Likewise, by partnering for this, they also contribu- te to SDG 17, which seeks to achieve alliances to achieve objectives. The University of Almeria (UAL) and Aqualia, the company that manages the municipal water services of seve- ral municipalities in this Andalusian province, including the city of Alme- ria, have joined forces to create the Aqualia Chair of the Integrated Wa- ter Cycle. After several years of co- llaborating in different research pro - jects, especially in the field of water treatment, both entities have signed a new two-year agreement, extenda- ble for a further two years, to join for- ces under the umbrella of this Chair. The joint objective is research to apply solar energy to the different processes of the water cycle, parti- cularly purification with microalgae, regeneration, energy use of was- tewater, energy optimization in the desalination and purification pro - cess, including renewable energies, and potabilization through solar dis- infection. Other aspects will also be promoted, such as the intelligent management of the end-to-end water cycle, the valorization of wastewater residues, implementing the concept of circular economy, and any other activity re- lated to the end-to-end water cycle. Thus, the working team of the Chair will be made up of teaching staff from The initiative, which aims to research, disseminate and transfer knowledge on the integration of solar energy in the processes of the end-to-end water cycle, will be developed over the next two years, extendable for another two. In addition, it represents a further step in the collaboration that both entities have maintained for years. R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y 47 R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y