Vecoli, aquaBio's AI module, at the ReH2OCAP technical conference

2026-02-12

Vecoli, aquaBio's AI module, at the ReH2OCAP technical conference

 

Montserrat Batlle, Innovation Specialist at Adasa, presented Vecoli, an innovation developed by Adasa, at the ReH2OCAP technical conference. Optimisation of water resources in the agri-food industry through reclaimed water, held in Vic, Barcelona.

Batlle highlighted the need faced by companies that are forced to reduce their water consumption during periods of drought, which are becoming increasingly frequent as a result of climate change.
The solution lies in the use of reclaimed water, but this must comply with a series of health requirements on water quality set out in Royal Decree 1085.

One solution already available on the market is Vecoli, a virtual sensor that adds an AI module to aquaBio, a device for continuous microbiological measurement of water quality. Vecoli helps to ensure reliability and health standards in the reuse of reclaimed water through continuous and reliable measurement of Escherichia coli (E. coli).
The system is completed with aquaTest, a multi-parameter measuring device for the physical and chemical parameters of water quality, also developed by Adasa.

This innovation has already been implemented at the Avinyó slaughterhouse (Barcelona) in a project involving CWP and Innovac. Installed at the tertiary outlet, the reclaimed water is already being used for field irrigation and forestry thanks to measurements taken by aquaBio and aquaTest.

The next phase will be to use it to clean trucks and pens, which will result in savings of up to 15% of total consumption.

In addition, Batlle has highlighted the barriers to be overcome in order to scale up E. coli control in reclaimed water:

  1. Legislation: it continues to be based on laboratory methodologies, and the regulations do not contemplate the installation of continuous measurement devices (although the Royal Decree has begun to promote continuous turbidity measurement). This makes it impossible to digitise water quality measurement processes. Without data, digitisation is difficult.
  2. Integration: to optimise the system, the data obtained must be integrated into management systems so that it can be used to make decisions.
  3. Economics: there is an investment cost and an operating cost. The user must make an investment, not only in CAPEX, but also a sustained investment in OPEX. If the utility is justified, these costs cease to be a burden.
  4. Technology: lack of availability of sufficient, high-quality data. To solve this, Adasa has designed aquaTest.

Specifically, Vecoli and aquaBio together form a valuable tool for building trust among health authorities regarding the use of reclaimed water and, therefore, facilitating its use in slaughterhouse cleaning processes.