SerBiotec: Cleaning up the Albufera

SerBiotec, a Valencian company dedicated to offering biotechnological innovations to improve natural environments and people’s living conditions, believes that with its technology, based on living microorganisms that are capable of adapting to any environment, it is possible to put an end to the pollution problem that the Albufera de València has had for a long time.
Located a few metres below sea level, this natural enclave has lost several metres in height over the last few years at the cost of accumulating all kinds of waste at the bottom. Rice straw, pesticides, sewage, sludge and a host of other waste products end up at the bottom of the giant freshwater lake, where there is less water every day, but more and more waste that poses a great danger to the local flora and fauna.
In the specific case of the main waste present in the Albufera, rice straw, SerBiotec has the technology, products and solutions to degrade it in a natural and sustainable way, avoiding burning it, thus reducing the carbon footprint, i.e. the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere during this highly polluting process. In addition, it is also a solution for industries that grow rice as they cannot always burn this waste, as there are usually many environmental constraints and they have to burn it in shifts or have to store it for a long time, encouraging putrefaction of the waste.
“As a company committed to sustainability and our environment, it hurts us to see the worrying situation in which the Albufera of Valencia finds itself when, just a few kilometres away, we produce a solution that, with total certainty, can put an end to this problem that has been dragging on for decades”, explains Ignacio Moreno, CEO of SerBiotec.
A few months ago, SerBiotec held a meeting with members of the Consell Agrari Municipal de València to present the different products and solutions with which to begin to address the problem that threatens the Albufera, innovations that were successfully implemented at the mouth of the River Túria. “The mouth accumulated a lot of organic matter in the river bed, causing gases, bad smells and the death of many fish and animals that inhabited this environment, and we managed to restore normality in this place,” says Moreno, who adds that “hopefully very soon we can apply our solution in the Albufera, where we could demonstrate our effectiveness with a ‘pilot’ test, but after our experience in other similar actions we are sure that it is the best solution to comprehensively improve this enclave.
SerBiotec is the Spanish subsidiary of BluePlanet Labs, an international company that markets biotechnological solutions focused on bioremediation and natural restoration, which is why its products have been successfully applied all over the world and, in addition, have the endorsement of the OMRI and Control Union certifications, focused on organic materials and agriculture, respectively.
Since its foundation in 2014, SerBiotec has managed to position itself as a benchmark supplier in the fields of action in which it is present with 100% natural and ecological solutions, free of pathogens and non-toxic. In addition to being a specialist in water bioremediation, as mentioned above, it has also become an important ally for the agricultural sector, offering a wide variety of solutions that improve crop yields without genetically modifying them and also protecting crops against parasites, fungi, nematodes, pathogens and other diseases. All this is achieved by improving the availability and use of plant nutrients, with the particularity that the fruits can be consumed the same day they are harvested and, in short, more productive and environmentally sustainable soils are achieved.
Another sector that SerBiotec is helping to boost is the wastewater treatment plants or WWTP’s, which often have high pollutant parameters. With SerBiotec’s technology and solutions, in this type of installations, it is possible to improve the ‘digestion’ of sludge, waste products, volatile acids, oils, fats… and all this in a safe way, with bacteria that do not produce side effects and act with the utmost respect for the environment. A fairly recent case of success in this type of facilities in which they have begun to apply SerBiotec products is the septic tank of the Palau de la Música in Valencia, which has reduced the concentration of gases and eliminated odours in the adjacent administration and management area.

Finally, SerBiotec is also opening up a new horizon for the livestock sector, specifically for the management of slurry, the pig faeces. The Valencian company has managed to transform this waste into a resource, increasing the fertilising capacity of the slurry and the formation of nutrients. SerBiotec’s products act as an integral and sustainable treatment for slurry, offering advantages such as the elimination of odours, a reduction in solids and sludge and a reduced presence of insects, as well as fewer blockages in the installation, which in the end also translates into improved sanitary conditions and animal welfare. The Valencian company’s solutions for this sector are advantageous when it comes to reducing the total nitrogen in slurry, a parameter regulated by public administrations due to the pollution it causes on the land where it is applied as a fertiliser.

SerBiotec is a company dedicated to offering biotechnological innovations to improve natural environments and people’s living conditions.
Founded in 2014 and based in Torrent (Valencia), SerBiotec offers nationwide training services, marketing and distribution of highly effective live microorganisms that form a population of aerobic, anaerobic, chemo-synthetic and photosynthetic bacteria, improving the performance and enhancement of crops, as well as the recycling process of nutrients and waste in industrial, residential and agricultural wastewater. SerBiotec’s solutions are 100% natural and ecological, pathogen-free and non-toxic.