Calpech S.L. is carrying out the project ‘IRON NANOPARTICLES ENCAPSULATED IN CARBON FROM ALPECHIN FOR OPTIMISING BIOGAS PRODUCTION’ subsidised by the CDTI through the NEOTEC SNEO-20222122 grant. This research project is helping Calpech to develop its solutions for the energy sector of biogas production by improving anaerobic digestion processes by applying iron nanoparticle technology.

Calpech S.L. has received from the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 H2020 programme for research and development under grant agreement No 824206 through the Instituto de Fomento de Murcia in the INDEMAND-RCT Open Call-Murcia 2021 call for the support of innovation and development (R&D), digitalisation and response to COVID-19. Calpech S.L. was selected to be one of the small and medium enterprises to solve different technological challenges that large companies in the region of Murcia. Specifically Calpech has been in charge of the challenge ‘Challenge InDemandRCT-4 Add value to sub-products obtained at the oil mill during production of olive oil’, to help one of the large olive oil mills in the region of Murcia to valorise.

los diferentes subproductos y residuos que producen.

The Generalitat Valenciana through the Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad e Innovación (IVACE+i) has granted the aid financed with European Union ERDF funds from the Strategic Cooperation Projects Programme INNEST/2024/296 to Calpech S.L. together with its partners Labaqua, Aguas de Paterna, AIMPLAS, Universidad de Valencia and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia to develop the cooperative development project INNOCUA.

INNOCUA, which aims to develop and evaluate new advanced purification technologies to guarantee health and environmental safety in the reuse of wastewater.

The INNOCUA project, with a budget of €840,301, will focus on the study of various technologies such as photocatalysis, ozonation and adsorption with activated carbon, among others. These techniques will eliminate emerging pollutants and microplastics present in water, thus complying with the recent European regulation on wastewater treatment within the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan, which was published this week (Directive (EU) 2024/3019 of the European Parliament).

Calpech S.L. is carrying out a research project ‘Improvement of the production process of Fe(0) nanoparticles with carbon assisted with solvents and oils’ aimed at the improvement of iron nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon thanks to the recruitment of a PhD in chemical engineering. The contract is part of the MCIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 grant for the recruitment of PhDs Torres Quevedo 2022, PTQ2022-012723 funded by the MCIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033. The implementation of this project will allow Calpech to improve its innovative products and provide solutions to multiple environmental and energy challenges, always with a focus on circular economy and sustainable technologies.

Proof of concept ‘Use of metal nanoparticles for odour treatment of waste ponds in the agro-livestock industry’.

The company Calpech is co-funding a proof of concept of a research group from the University of Alicante that uses metal nanoparticles to treat the problem of odour generation in agricultural and livestock waste ponds. It is hoped that this proof of concept will allow the application of Calpech's technology to be tested in real cases of odour treatment on farms, which often cause nuisance to both farm workers and nearby residents.

Design and assembly of the industrial reactor to produce nanoparticles from waste from the olive oil industry.

The Calpech team has been in charge of the design, assembly and fine-tuning of the reactor that transforms the alpechín waste from the Troil Vegas Altas agricultural cooperative into iron nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon.  Between 2021 and 2022, the spin-off Calpech will take the technology of the University of Alicante patent, which allows the transformation of waste from the olive oil industry into iron nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon, to an industrial level by scaling it up.

Calpech has collaborated with the company Aguas de Murcia in the year 2023 in one of its research projects for the regeneration of aquifers LIFE Nirvana. Calpech's iron nanoparticles were used for the removal of nitrates in an aquifer with the aim of improving the quality of the water so that it can become a source of drinking water.

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Calpech has been supplying iron nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon to the Institute of Sustainable Processes of the University of Valladolid for use as an additive for photosynthetic biogas upgrading processes. The use of nanoparticles stimulated photosynthetic activity by increasing the amount of algae generated, removing more CO2 from the biogas and increasing the methane content of the resulting biogas. Several investigations have been carried out showing the benefits of the use of iron nanoparticles in the growth of algal biomass as shown in the following works:

Paper 1

Paper 2

Paper 3

Calpech nanoparticles have been used in scientific research at the University of Alicante where they have been shown to be highly effective in the removal of hydrogen sulphide from gas streams, outperforming commercial activated carbon. The activated carbon and iron content of the carbon-encapsulated nanoparticles produce synergistic effects in capturing and removing hydrogen sulphide from gas streams. A scientific paper has been published as a result of this research:

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