After more than two years of work, last September the justification visit by the CDTI marked the final milestone in the development of this ambitious project, whose initial objective was to develop a system for detecting emerging contaminants that works continuously and in real time, taking samples and analyzing them automatically using artificial vision and hyperspectral imaging techniques.

Finally, a validation prototype has been built and tested at the Tejeda WWTP, developing detection procedures for chloroform, chlorpyrifos, and malathion.

Soltel has been in charge of the definition of architecture global system, defining the different modules that comprise it and the flow of information between them, as well as the development of the management and configuration software module of the system.

This module allows the user define and schedule the different analyses, consult the results of these analyses and monitor the system status in real time (reagents, consumables, alarms) and the quality of the discharge. The system can be used remotely via a cloud service, allowing the simultaneous management of multiple stations, although it can also be deployed locally at stations without an internet connection.

The results obtained are detailed below:

• Machine vision algorithms have been developed that have made it possible to detect chloroform, chlorpyrifos and malathion in concentrations of 1 to 10 ppm.
• A fully automated prototype has been built to test the entire procedure, including: water sampling, sample conditioning and preparation, reagent addition, image capture, analysis, and results output.
• Software components have been developed for the control of all modules, for the management and configuration of the platform and detection procedures, and for the visualization of the generated data.
• The complete system has been installed and validated in a real WWTP and its operation has been validated for several months.

The project has been subsidized by the CDTI and supported by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness with aid co-financed by ERDF funds through the “Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014-2020” and CDTI's own funds.