En Sacyr Agua damos un paso adelante en sostenibilidad e innovación con la detección y eliminación de micropásticos en nuestras plantas de depuración de aguas residuales (EDAR). Nos hemos aliado con Captoplastic para trabajar conjuntamente en esa tarea.  

Si bien la contaminación por microplásticos (partículas de plástico con un tamaño inferior a 5 mm) se produce a lo largo de todo el ciclo del agua, reducirlos en los efluentes de las EDAR suponen una contribución importante al medio ambiente.

Las EDAR están diseñadas para eliminar materia orgánica y los contaminantes convencionales presentes en el agua residual y no cuentan con procesos específicos para tratar la amplia variedad de microplásticos que llegan a estas instalaciones. 

“Además de convertirnos en sus socios preferentes en proyectos en España, gracias a este acuerdo de colaboración podremos utilizar la tecnología de Captoplastic y sus referencias en exclusividad en mercados como Australia, Perú y Colombia”, afirma Eduardo Campos, director general de Sacyr Agua.

Un acuerdo basado en la innovación

La colaboración con Captoplastic nace del éxito del pilotaje realizado en la EDAR de Yecla (Murcia), gestionada por Sacyr Agua, en el marco de nuestro programa de innovación abierta Sacyr iChallenges. 

Fue allí donde descubrimos la innovadora solución de Captoplastic, que combina detección y eliminación de microplásticos en continuo, alineándose con nuestro compromiso con la sostenibilidad y la búsqueda de tecnologías avanzadas para nuestros negocios.

Éxito del proyecto piloto

Para validar la tecnología, se trasladó una planta piloto de demostración de Captoplastic desde el campus de Cantoblanco de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid hasta la EDAR de Yecla, donde se realizaron los ensayos.

Previamente, se llevó a cabo una caracterización exhaustiva de los microplásticos presentes en las distintas etapas de la EDAR, tanto en la línea de agua como en la de fangos, donde se identificaron varios tipos de microplásticos, incluyendo PP (polipropileno), PE (polietileno), PCL (Policaprolactona), PEA (polietilacrilato), acrílico, PTFE (polietrafluoroetileno) y PU (poliéster uretano). 

Estos microplásticos se encontraron en diferentes formas, como pellets, fibras y fragmentos, con una mayor concentración en la línea de fangos.

Los resultados obtenidos en este primer ensayo piloto fueron muy positivos, con una reducción del 76% de la concentración inicial de microplásticos, lo que demuestra su eficacia y potencial de escalabilidad.

Tecnología de Captoplastic

Captoplastic es una pyme madrileña dedicada a desarrollar soluciones innovadoras para la detección y eliminación de microplásticos. Fundada en 2020, la empresa ha sido reconocida como una Empresa Basada en el Conocimiento (EBC) y cuenta con socios estratégicos como la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid y el Fondo Beable Innvierte Kets.

Su tecnología se basa en la técnica de aglomeración, que introduce un captador inorgánico en la corriente para formar agregados con los microplásticos presentes. 

Gracias a las propiedades magnéticas del captador, los agregados son fácilmente separados, dejando la corriente de agua libre de ellos. Este proceso es capaz de trabajar con grandes caudales de agua de manera eficiente. Los microplásticos capturados pueden reciclarse, por lo que se trata de una tecnología de residuo cero, respetuosa con el medioambiente en todo su ciclo de actuación.

In early 2024, the Community of Madrid approved the Cognitive Hospital project, a comprehensive management platform for hospital infrastructure. 
The project is based at the Hospital del Henares (Madrid) and is being developed by a consortium led by Sacyr, with participation from companies like Sener, Cuatro Digital, Aptica, Fracttal, and Open Ingenius. It is a three-year project with a €6.1 million budget, funded by the Community of Madrid through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

As a result of this project, the hospital will benefit from continuous connectivity, sensors measuring air quality with virus-capturing nanofibers, devices improving energy efficiency, virtual reality technologies simulating evacuations, geolocation of equipment, and modules measuring the hospital's overall environmental impact.

After a year of work, Sacyr has developed the core of the cognitive platform. This platform will connect all existing management software systems at the Hospital del Henares, alongside the innovative solutions, technologies, and sensors developed and implemented within the project.

The platform developed by Sacyr integrates all innovative elements of the Cognitive Hospital project by creating an intelligent software platform that facilitates the digitalization of the hospital. This improves the experience for both patients and staff while promoting the sustainability of the facility's operations.

This is creating a smart hospital capable of autonomously managing its operations more efficiently, using real-time data generated during the infrastructure's operation.

"The new software platform is already operational and already receiving data from systems currently in place at the Hospital del Henares, as well as from the new sensors, LiDAR systems, and other devices being installed," explains Alba Rocío Pérez, Innovation Manager with Sacyr's Strategy, Innovation and Sustainability Department.

During the project's first year, the partners conducted an in-depth study of the hospital's physical and digital structure, using the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI) methodology to objectively assess the building's "intelligence" level. This helped identify potential improvements and address deficiencies more efficiently than current methods allow.


 

Furthermore, Sacyr has advanced the implementation of a space management system using LiDAR technology. Its primary function is to identify and prevent overcrowding or queuing in customer service areas. "We aim to enhance patient comfort and reduce waiting times through innovative data collection," Alba Rocío explains.

Through the creation of a point cloud with LiDAR technology, Sacyr has also successfully obtained a BIM (Building Information Modeling) model of the hospital building. Thanks to the technology developed within the Cognitive Platform and the BIM model, a digital twin of the Hospital del Henares has been created, providing updated information on the building, systems, and equipment.

Sacyr Engineering contributed to the project in its first year by streamlining the BIM model. This allows for more efficient work with the building model, both during the construction and maintenance phases.

The second year will focus on completing a comprehensive analysis of the hospital, including impacts related to the use and maintenance of its facilities (consumption, waste generation, and maintenance activities).

PTEC Award

The Cognitive Hospital project recently received the Spanish Construction Technology Platform (PTEC) Award for the Best R&D&I Project in the construction sector.

ISABEL RUBIO ARROYO | Tungsteno

Before any woman in the United States earned an engineering degree, Emily Warren Roebling was already leading the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. After the death of her father-in-law and the illness of her husband, she stepped in to take charge of the project, becoming the first female field engineer and overseeing every detail of its completion. Her life and legacy secured her place as a key figure in the history of engineering.

The tragedy that led her to lead the Brooklyn Bridge project

Warren was born in 1843 in Cold Spring, New York, into an upper-middle-class family. She attended the Georgetown Visitation Convent, a prestigious girls-only school, where she studied mathematics and science despite prevailing beliefs that higher education was unnecessary for women. Later in life, at the age of 56, she earned a women’s law course certificate from New York University and won a $50 prize for her essay "A Wife's Disabilities," in which she criticised the legal restrictions on women's financial independence.

Warren met Washington Roebling, a young officer, while visiting her brother at an army camp during the Civil War. They fell in love and soon married. In 1867, before construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began, the coupled travelled to Europe on a belated honeymoon to research technical innovations for the project that her father-in-law, John A. Roebling, had designed. There they studied the use of caissons—pressurised watertight chambers used to build underwater foundations for bridges—as well as other advanced bridge-building techniques.

Tragedy propelled Emily Warren Roebling to the forefront of engineering. In 1869, her father-in-law died of tetanus after an accident on the construction site. Her husband, Washington Roebling, assumed the role of chief engineer, but became gravely ill. Exposed to the dangers of the newly introduced pneumatic caissons used to construct the bridge’s foundations, he developed severe decompression sickness and was confined to bed.

Warren took the lead in building the Brooklyn Bridge. Credit: Intrigued Mind

From self-taught engineer to women's rights activist

With Washington unable to work, Warren assumed a crucial role: she managed her husband's communications, studied his plans, copied his specifications, and relayed instructions to assistant engineers. Washington described her as his "wisest counsellor" and "a woman of infinite tact." She visited the construction site daily, attended board meetings, and oversaw the project, all the while carefully concealing the extent of her involvement in order to protect her husband's reputation. Along the way, she learned about material strength, stress analysis, cable construction and the mathematics of the catenary curve.

Shortly before the bridge's inauguration, she drove a carriage across it to test its vibrations, carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory. On 24 May 1883, she became the first person to cross the Brooklyn Bridge in a carriage during its official opening, and later that day she hosted a reception at her home for US President Chester A. Arthur.

After the bridge’s completion, she travelled alone to Europe, where she met Queen Victoria in London and attended the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in Moscow. Upon her return, she gave lectures about her experiences in Russia for the Federation of Women's Clubs, becoming increasingly active in the fight for gender equality. She toured the country, speaking in defence of women's suffrage and social services for the poor, and urged women to study law.

The Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it opened on 24 May 1883. Credit: Jf Szekely / Wikimedia Commons

An "everlasting monument" to sacrifice

In 2024, an average of 103,051 vehicles, 28,845 pedestrians and 5,504 cyclists crossed the Brooklyn Bridge every day. This infrastructure has become a living legacy of Warren's vision, effort and determination. "Wife, mother, lecturer, student, world traveller and clubwoman, this multi-faceted Victorian woman was a pioneering example of independence," says the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

As New York Congressman Abram Hewitt said during the opening ceremony, the bridge represents "an everlasting monument" to Warren's dedication and personal sacrifice. "The name of Emily Warren Roebling will...be inseparably associated with all that is admirable in human nature and all that is wonderful in the constructive world of art," he said.

Tungsten is a journalistic laboratory that explores the essence of innovation.

They say words are carried on the wind. Perhaps that’s why we created the “Strategic Plan: Carrying the Word” communication series, in which Sacyr professionals explain the main concepts of our new strategic cycle in their own words.

The terms chosen are Rating, Water, AI, Transport, Sustainability, P3, Security, Diversity, X3, and Social.

Over the course of 10 months, we travelled to 10 locations with 10 different teams in order to determine the ambitions and ideas that will guide our strategy in the coming years.

Since the launch of our Strategic Plan in May 2024, we have continued to grow and consolidate our position as a leader in the development of greenfield infrastructure transport, social and water projects. 

We will discuss the journey of the “Strategic Plan: Carrying the Word” throughout Sacyr.

Rating

Our investment team is working to obtain an investment-grade rating. This goal will consolidate our global growth as a concessionaire, allowing us to accelerate our development in international markets.

Water 

We provide our experience, technology, and innovation in end-to-end water cycle management to ensure water quality and access. In early 2025, we secured our first major concession contract in this strategic cycle with the wastewater treatment, reuse, and subsequent sale project in Antofagasta (Chile).

AI

Because technology is crucial to achieving our strategic objectives, our ICT team works to ensure the optimisation and automation of processes, while predictive analysis allows our professionals to focus on more strategic tasks.

Transport

We “teleport” to the recently opened Belfast Transport Hub for the first international chapter of our “Strategic Plan: Carrying the Word”. By developing transport infrastructure, we drive connectivity, improving the links between people and communities.

Sustainability

Colombia’s Canal del Dique demonstrates our work toward a better world. Ensuring our projects have a positive impact on the surrounding communities is the foundation of the 24-27 Sustainable Sacyr Route, which is based on four pillars: the planet, people, prosperity, and governance.

P3

Public-Private partnerships (P3 or PPP) are essential to the advancement of society. Infrastructure development through P3 projects facilitates their maintenance, operation, and improvement under optimal conditions. Chile is one of our main concession markets.

Safety

In every project we undertake, we implement strict health and safety protocols that allow us to meet our objectives while protecting our teams. Our preventive culture and the commitment of our senior and middle managers are the driving forces that help us minimise accidents and increase safety training. 

Diversity

We will only achieve the ambitious goal of becoming the world’s largest greenfield infrastructure developer by 2033 with diverse and inclusive teams. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policy and Plan guide us in our commitment to gender, functional, cultural, demographic, generational, experiential, and cognitive diversity and establish concrete objectives, measures, and indicators through 2027. 

X3

In this strategic cycle, we will triple the invested equity and our P3 asset valuation. Translated into figures, we aim to achieve an invested equity total of 4.5 to 5 billion euros and an asset value of between 9 and 10 billion euros. Italy is one of our most important concession markets, where we will continue to grow in the coming years through the SIS consortium.  

Social

The Sacyr Foundation serves as a conduit for the positive impact of our professionals. More than 1,000 employees participate in volunteer programmes related to the Sacyr Foundation’s primary focus areas: early childhood development, environment, inclusion, emergencies, disabilities, and healthcare.