Within the framework of the PRIMA SureNexus project, the visit of 2 researchers from the UNESCO Chair on Sustainability at the UPC to the Global Water Utility Competence Center of the company Grundfos, in Copenhagen, Denmark, was developed to analyze a collaboration in the analysis of the NEXUS Water -Energy.
New solutions are being sought to conserve water without losing energy efficiency. The Danish company Grundfos, a world leader in the manufacture of water pumps, is developing a pump that functions as a turbine, or depending on conditions, a pump coupled to a turbine (PAT, Pump as Turbine), which minimizes the energy needs in water pumping. The meeting was attended by Xavier Belda and Stefan Gerlach from Grundfos, as well as Geraldine Tsu Yee Lin Bagger, Director of the Sustainability and Climate Change Department.
In line with the SURENEXUS project, the pump as a turbine can undoubtedly improve energy efficiency, in all pumping processes, therefore optimizing the NEXUS water-energy, while reducing the negative impact on ecosystems.
PhD candidate Olga Lucía Sanchez Santander is going to incorporate the pump-turbine-PAT systems, as technologies for energy recovery in the NEXUS Water-Energy model, which is being developed within the SureNexus project.
