For Gruppo CAP, carrying out research means turning new ideas into concrete solutions for the water service, the environment and local communities.
At the Salazzurra Research Centre and across our local treatment plants, we test technologies and new models to protect water, use resources more efficiently and address the effects of climate change. We do this together with universities, research centres, companies and institutions, pooling different areas of knowledge and expertise.
Our projects start from the main challenges affecting water and the territory.
We study tools and processes to improve water quality, reduce pollutants and safeguard aquifers, rivers and ecosystems.
We experiment with ways to transform wastewater, sewage sludge and organic waste into water for reuse, nutrients, new materials and energy.
We develop solutions to better manage drought, water scarcity and heavy rainfall, including nature-based solutions that make cities and territories more resilient.
We test new technologies directly in the field, to verify their effectiveness and turn research results into applicable and replicable solutions.
We take part in European, national and regional calls for proposals together with consortia made up of companies, universities, institutions and research centres.
We directly develop and fund trials that can improve the services, processes and sustainability of our operations.
We work with industrial and technology partners to test innovative solutions and accelerate their deployment in the treatment plants.
The end of a project does not coincide with the end of its effects. The knowledge, technologies and partnerships developed through research continue to be used to improve the treatment plants, launch new trials and build the projects of the future.
PerFORM WATER 2030 created a distributed research and experimentation platform dedicated to the integrated water service. At Gruppo CAP's plants, technologies were tested to improve water quality, reduce sludge, remove pollutants and recover materials and energy. The project gave rise to pilot plants and to activities that were later developed on an industrial scale, consolidating a stable collaboration between companies, universities and research centres.
At the Cassano d'Adda wastewater treatment plant, LIFE FREEDOM tested an innovative technology to treat sewage sludge through hydrothermal liquefaction. The project investigated the possibility of transforming sludge into new resources, such as bio-oil, components for asphalt production and nutrients, reducing reliance on disposal.
BIORECER developed criteria and tools to improve the traceability and certification of bio-based raw materials obtained from by-products and waste. In the Italian case study, Gruppo CAP contributed to the analysis of the sewage sludge, liquid waste from the food industry and the organic fraction of municipal solid waste.
Innovation grows through collaboration.
In every project we combine Gruppo CAP's operational experience with the scientific expertise of universities and research centres and the technological capabilities of companies. National and international partnerships make it possible to compare solutions developed in different territories, share data and knowledge, and accelerate the transition from experimentation to real-world application.
This is how Gruppo CAP's plants and infrastructure become places open to research, training and the development of the solutions that will help build the water service of the future.
