Granular activated carbon, commonly known as GAC, plays an essential role in industrial and municipal water treatment. Thanks to its highly porous structure, it can capture a wide range of pollutants and help ensure that water meets the required environmental and health standards. However, o nce the material becomes saturated, its recovery presents an important technical and environmental challenge.
The European project REGENIOUS is addressing this challenge by developing a new approach to activated carbon regeneration. Rather than relying on conventional thermal processes, the project will design and demonstrate a portable, modular system based on electrochemical regeneration. The ambition is to make GAC recovery more efficient, circular and accessible directly at water treatment facilities.
Funded under Horizon Europe, REGENIOUS brings together 16 organisations with complementary expertise in water management, engineering, materials, sustainability, standardisation, exploitation and communication. Over 48 months, the consortium will work to move electrochemical regeneration from laboratory development towards demonstration under real operating conditions.
Why activated carbon regeneration needs to change
Thermal regeneration is currently the dominant method for recovering spent granular activated carbon. In this process, the saturated carbon is treated at high temperatures to remove the pollutants retained within its pores and restore part of its adsorption capacity.
Although widely used, this approach comes with several limitations. Thermal treatment requires considerable energy, often depends on fossil fuels and can generate significant greenhouse gas emissions. The material may also need to be transported over long distances to specialised regeneration facilities, adding further economic and environmental costs.
Repeated exposure to high temperatures can gradually damage the structure of the activated carbon, reducing the amount that can be recovered and shortening its useful life. In cases where regeneration is not technically or economically feasible, spent GAC may ultimately be disposed of, resulting in the loss of a valuable material.
REGENIOUS starts from the premise that activated carbon should be managed as a circular resource rather than as a consumable that is progressively degraded and discarded. By enabling regeneration closer to the point of use, the project aims to reduce energy consumption, transport requirements, waste generation and dependence on newly produced activated carbon.
A portable electrochemical alternative
At the centre of REGENIOUS is the development of a first-of-a-kind portable and modular electrochemical regeneration plant. The system will be designed to operate directly at end-user facilities, allowing water operators to regenerate spent GAC on site.
Electrochemical regeneration uses electrical processes to remove or degrade the pollutants accumulated within the activated carbon. Compared with conventional thermal treatment, it has the potential to operate under less energy-intensive conditions and preserve the material’s structure over a greater number of regeneration cycles.
The project will initially optimise electrode formulations and regeneration protocols at laboratory scale. Researchers will examine factors such as durability, regeneration efficiency, pollutant removal and the recovery of adsorption capacity. These results will then support the development of intermediate prototypes and, ultimately, the redesign of a full-scale portable unit.
The final system will integrate several complementary innovations. Organic photovoltaic technologies will contribute renewable electricity, while selective electrodialysis will support electrolyte management. Digital controls and automation will also be incorporated to improve safety, operational efficiency and the monitoring of regeneration performance.
This combination of electrochemistry, renewable energy and digitalisation is intended to transform regeneration from a centralised and resource-intensive process into a flexible service that can be deployed where the activated carbon is being used.
Testing REGENIOUS under real operating conditions
Moving from laboratory results to industrial adoption requires evidence that the system can perform reliably in real environments. For this reason, demonstration activities are a central component of the project.
REGENIOUS will conduct demonstration campaigns at major drinking water treatment facilities in Spain and wastewater treatment plants in Cyprus. These sites will enable the consortium to assess the technology using different types of spent activated carbon, pollutants and operating conditions.
The demonstrations will provide information on regeneration efficiency, energy requirements, material durability, operating costs and system reliability. They will also help identify practical requirements related to the installation, transportation and operation of the modular unit.
Replication activities in Portugal and Germany will examine how the solution could be adapted to other geographical and industrial contexts. This is particularly important because the use of granular activated carbon is not limited to municipal water treatment. It is also relevant to industries such as food production, chemicals and textiles, where activated carbon is frequently used to remove unwanted compounds from liquids and process streams.
Extending the value of activated carbon
REGENIOUS is not focused solely on restoring spent GAC. It will also develop tools and knowledge to improve how activated carbon is managed throughout its life cycle.
One of the project’s objectives is to create predictive tools capable of estimating GAC lifetime and supporting better decisions about replacement and regeneration. New indicators will also be developed to assess the performance of electrochemical regeneration and compare different operating strategies.
In parallel, the consortium will explore second-life applications for exhausted activated carbon that can no longer be effectively regenerated. Proof-of-concept studies will investigate its potential use in construction and agriculture, helping retain the value of the material and reducing the amount sent to landfill.
Together, these activities will provide water operators with a broader decision-making framework. Rather than treating regeneration, replacement and disposal as isolated choices, the project will support strategies that consider technical performance, environmental impacts, costs and end-of-life opportunities.
Contactica’s multidisciplinary role in REGENIOUS
Contactica’s participation in REGENIOUS extends across the technical, managerial, sustainability, exploitation and communication dimensions of the project.
Paloma Pardo will support WP1, contributing to project management activities and helping ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of the action.
Javier Sáez will have a broad technical role across the project. He will support WP2 on system requirements and planning strategies, WP5 on modular engineering, digitalisation and energy optimisation, WP6 on demonstration in real use cases, and WP7 on decision-making tools and innovative end-of-life solutions.
Most importantly, Javier will lead WP8: Long-term Sustainability Assessment: Environmental, Economic and Societal Impacts, supported by Sara Lago. This work package will evaluate whether the REGENIOUS solution delivers measurable improvements compared with existing alternatives.
Contactica’s work will include environmental life cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, social assessment and multi-objective optimisation. The team will examine factors such as energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, resource use, investment and operating costs, employment potential and organisational impacts.
By combining these dimensions, Contactica will help identify the operating configurations that offer the best balance between environmental performance and economic feasibility. This evidence will be essential for demonstrating the value of the technology to water operators, investors, policymakers and potential industrial adopters.
Eduardo Da Concepción will support WP9, contributing to exploitation, replicability and scalability strategies. His work will help translate the technical and sustainability results into realistic business models, market pathways and plans for broader implementation.
Finally, Jaime Villamuera will support WP10, contributing to dissemination and communication activities that make the project’s progress, results and impact accessible to its different target audiences.
Supporting a circular and competitive European industry
REGENIOUS responds to a clear need for industrial processes that use fewer resources, generate less waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without compromising technical performance.
By developing an on-site alternative to thermal regeneration, the project could help water operators extend the useful life of activated carbon, reduce transport and disposal requirements and improve control over a strategically important treatment material.
Its impact will depend not only on the performance of the regeneration unit, but also on whether the solution can be operated safely, replicated in different facilities and supported by viable commercial models. The combination of technical demonstration, sustainability assessment, digital tools and exploitation planning is therefore central to the project’s approach.
Through its leadership of the long-term sustainability assessment and its participation across several work packages, Contactica will contribute to ensuring that REGENIOUS is evaluated not only as an innovative technology, but as a practical solution capable of generating environmental, economic and societal value.
The project ultimately aims to make activated carbon regeneration cleaner, more local and more circular, supporting the objectives of the European Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Processes4Planet partnership.
Further information is available on the REGENIOUS project page on CORDIS.
