About
CETENMA is a research center (private non-profit) working in the fields of waste&water, energy and soil health management. With high expertise in coordination of H2020 & HE projects and participation in LIFE, Interreg Sudoe, national and regional projects. Associated member of Greenovate Europe, Biobased Industries Consortium, Biorefine Cluster, CCRI, European Bioeconomy Bureau and Bioplat.
📌Our main research lines are📌:
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WASTE & WATER ♻💧:
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Biorrefinery approach. CETENMA has a fully equipped biorefinery lab to address biomass physical pre-treatments, fermentations and final downstream steps. Some R&D current lines are: Integral valorisation of lignocellulosic biomass to obtain building blocks (e.g lactic acid), production of succinic acid from agri-food wastes (e.g whey), or lysine from lignocellulosic residues (e.g cotton textiles).
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Bioenergy from biomass by anaerobic digestion.
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Wastewater and sludge treatments: Emerging pollutants - antibiotics resistant bacteria & genes removal; Nutrient recovery from sludge; Water reuse - use of membrane and advance oxidation processes.
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Life Cycle Assesment (LCAs) – Envirnemental, social and cost analysis. Carbon and water footprint calculations.
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ENERGY💡:
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Green Hydrogen: working on the whole value chain (H2 production, storage and use)
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Renewable gases: Biological routes for biomethane production (trickle reactor, microalgae photobioreactors, membrane separation).
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Circular and Digital Energy: Thermal storage with phase change materials. GIS systems and sensors.
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Sustainable Cities: Development of sustainability plans for municipalities (e.g Circular Economy strategy, climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, Covenant of Mayors, ...).
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CIRCULAR SYSTEMS🔄🌱:
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Territorial studies - urban metabolism, circular economy strategy, waste feasibility studies and co-creation.
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EU taxonomy studies for funding & investments.
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Development of IP (patentability) assessments and identification of best available techniques.
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Technical assistance to unlock investment in bioeconomy projects.
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Circular food systems: development of state-of-the-art studies & optimisation studies to meet regulatory requirements (e.g fertiliser regulation); Analysis for improving soil health and reducing the use of inputs.
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Living Labs management
CETENMA is equipped with advanced laboratory facilities in Solar Energy, Calibration, Engine Testing, Water Treatment, Bioenergy, and Biorrefinery, supporting cutting-edge research and innovation with the support of 33 top professionals, including 10 PhDs, driving and coordinating R&D projects in wastewater treatment (Biosolids2Energy, MONITOCOES, NPOWER), waste valorization (VALUEWASTE, FER-PLAY, FERTITEC), renewable energy (GHENESIS, HIDRÓGENO VERDE), and biodiversity (Bosque Romano, SPARTARIA). Our expertise spans innovation through lab and pilot-scale projects, including waste biorefinery, wastewater treatment, and renewable energy solutions. We conduct sustainability assessments, covering environmental, social, and cost Life Cycle Analyses (LCA), and support exploitation activities, such as market studies, business plans, and techno-economic viability.
Additionally, we develop strategic roadmaps, stakeholder engagement strategies, and communication & dissemination plans, ensuring that innovation translates into real-world impact.
Circular economy and bioeconomy sectors
1 Novel circular business models to enable the just transition to a sustainable and circular economy6 Indicators for the transition to sustainable and circular economy7 Demonstration, deployment and upscaling of circular systemic solutions in cities and regions (Circular Cities and Regions Initiative)8 Bioprospecting and optimized production of the terrestrial natural products: new opportunities for bio-based sectors11 Demonstration of reduced energy use and optimised flexible energy supply for industrial bio-based systems16 Open Topic: Innovative solutions for the sustainable and circular transformation of SMEs
Clean environment and zero pollution
2 Environmental impacts from the production of agricultural crops for bio-based industrial systems3 Environmental biotechnology applications in service of remediation of polluted ecosystems7 Reducing pollution from the food and drink industries
Innovative governance, environmental observations and digital solutions in support of the Green Deal
4 Operationalisation of bioeconomy sustainability principles
Fair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption
14 Nutrients produced by microbes utilising primarily CO2 from the air, with the support of biotechnology21 Research and innovation for food waste prevention and reduction at household level through measurement, monitoring and new technologies