DEMO CASE
Sant Joan Despí DWTP
Location: Sant Joan Despí, Barcelona, Spain
Background
Operational since 1955 and managed by Aigües de Barcelona, the Sant Joan Despí Drinking Water Treatment Plant (ETAP) is one of the most technologically advanced facilities of its kind in Europe.
The plant treats both surface water drawn from the Llobregat River and groundwater extracted from the aquifer, with a maximum treatment capacity of 5,300 litres per second.
To ensure the highest water quality, the facility combines advanced treatment processes, including ozonation and activated carbon filtration to remove organic compounds, with reverse osmosis technology to reduce dissolved mineral salts. This integrated treatment system produces high-quality drinking water with excellent organoleptic properties.
Thanks to these advanced technologies, the plant supplies drinking water to the city of Barcelona and more than 20 municipalities across the metropolitan area, serving nearly three million people. This makes it an ideal environment for testing REGENIOUS under demanding real-world conditions.
Key facts
Expected impacts
The campaign will validate the performance of the REGENIOUS electrochemical regeneration system at full scale, assessing its ability to regenerate GAC directly at a major drinking water facility. It will contribute evidence on regeneration efficiency, energy savings, operational reliability and the feasibility of reducing reliance on centralised thermal regeneration. Across the project, REGENIOUS targets major reductions in energy demand and direct GHG emissions compared with conventional thermal regeneration.
