news

Hashtag#BMRex project.

Linkedin 08/10/2025

It's been a while since the Global Plastics Treaty talks stalled, and honestly, it's still frustrating.
When you see politics move that slowly, it’s a powerful reminder of why we need innovation to speed things up. That’s what drives our work in hashtag#BMRex project. Our team is building working on technology that breaks down stubborn hashtag#microplastics into their basic, safe components. 🔬
We absolutely still need that global treaty. But we also need real tools to fight hashtag#plasticpollution on the ground, and our goal is to provide one of them.
So while the big talks continue, the work in the lab does too. Progress is happening. 💪

the future of water in hashtag#Aragón!

Linkedin 01/10/2025

Last week was an inspiring time for the future of water in hashtag#Aragón! 💧
We participated in the 15th-anniversary celebration of hashtag#ZINNAE, a cluster that has been a driving force for water efficiency and innovation for 15 years.
Amidst discussions on Aragón's transformative role in science, our colleague, Dr. Scott G. Mitchell from INMA-CSIC/UNIZAR, took the stage to introduce hashtag#BMRex project upcoming Water Safety Symposium (WSS).
Scheduled for May 6-8, 2026, in the stunning mountain village of hashtag#Benasque, the WSS is designed to foster collaboration between researchers, industry and policymakers. We'll be diving deep into critical topics like degrading hashtag#microplastics, removing "forever chemicals" (hashtag#PFAS) and developing the advanced materials and smart sensors needed to ensure global water safety.
A huge thank you to hashtag#ZINNAE for inviting us to share our work and vision.

BMRex at Green Week

Linkedin - 30/07/2025

BMRex at Green Week: Engaging the Next Generation on Microplastic Pollution!

Last week, our BMRex team members, Cecilia Amonte Lopez and Jesus Antonio Fuentes Garcia from INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR), had an incredible time at "Green Week"!
They were there showcasing the BMRex consortium's dedicated efforts to eliminate microplastic pollutants from water cycle 🌍 .
It was a fantastic opportunity to engage with primary and secondary school pupils. The activities included hands-on experiences with microplastic pollutants, detailed explanations of their sources and their classification. It was inspiring to see the curiosity and enthusiasm of the students as they learned about this critical environmental issue.
INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR) Araid administracion DTU Sustain Swansea University Repsol Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Cetaqua - Water Technology Centre.

Where are microplastics regulated?

Instagram – 24/07/2025

Where are microplastics regulated? 🧐

Searching for regulations can be tricky, especially when an already not-so-emergent pollutant doesn't have a regulation for itself, but appears spread out in different documents. So, bear with us because we've done the job for you and we’ve put together a summary table of existing regulations that consider microplastics — spanning from intentionally added to unintentional pollution, like leaks.

However❗There are two important gaps in this matters:

1️⃣ Nanoplastics are not yet addressed in any regulation, despite their growing concern in scientific research, but the work is in progress.

2️⃣ The Global South remains largely unregulated. We'll dive deeper into this in upcoming posts.

📌 Stay tuned for further updates and information and of course feel free to comment your thoughts below.

Finally, is there anything specific you'd like to know about? Ask us! 👩‍🔬
Have a great day.

SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)

Linkedin 25/06/2025

Ever wandered how can we see really tiny living beings like microorganisms? 🦠

The answer is SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), a very powerful imaging system that uses an electron beam to acquire high resolution images, this time, at Swansea's University's Advanced Imaging of Materials Facility 🔬

Here you can see a sneak peak of how Matthew Tarnovsky prepares and images his samples so you have a better idea of what we see 🧐

And why we do this? Well, sometimes we do need to use a diverse range of methods to be sure the microorganisms we're cultivating are growing, or to check the presence or absence of biofilms in our experiment (depending on the situation and aim, this can be good or bad). 🧫

In BMRex, we use microorganisms in our favour so we can break down microplastics in water to clean it from any kind of synthetic polymer. This is the potential of biocatalytic membranes 🚰

Have a wonderful week! ☀️

BMREX Team in Cetaqua - Water Technology Centre

Linkedin 01/06/2024

This week, BMRex team members from different institutions joined forces in person again, this time, in the beautiful Barcelona, hosted by Cetaqua - Water Technology Centre 🙂‍↕️ 🙏

A lot of progress has been done in all experimental work packages, so it was very motivating for all of us. We discussed results, identified challenges, and planned the next steps 👣

In addition, we had the chance to visit Sant Feliu's Wastewater Treatment Plant 💦 It was a very interesting visit; all of us could have a better feeling of the needs in a real life setting and think about how to optimize our technology 🚀

A big thank you to Sonia Matencio, Albert Serra Compte and their team for organizing such a nice meeting 👏 Also, thank you to all the partners for their valuable input and hard work all these months. Looking forward to see more results!

Have a nice weekend you all :)

University of Averio

Instagram - 26/05/2025

Meet the BMRex team at the University of Aveiro! 😃

🎓 At CESAM - University of Aveiro (@cesam_univ @universidadedeaveiro), we’re excited to be part of the BMRex consortium contributing with our expertise in micro- and nanoplastics characterization and evaluation of human health impacts.

🤸‍♂️ Our team includes the researchers Helena Oliveira, Fernanda Rosário, Verónica Bastos, João Pinto da Costa, Teresa Rocha-Santos and the PhD student Catarina Cunha. Stay tuned for our latest findings!

We held a Workshop

Instagram 5/12/2024

We held a workshop!🧪

Last week, all the BMRex partners had the opportunity to meet in real life 🙂 We attended the project workshop hosted by Juan Manuel Bolivar Bolivar Diego Carballares Navarro and Alberto Garcia Martín, from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, on November 28th and 29th. The event was a great opportunity to connect and delve deeper into the latest advancements both in our own Work Packages and in our field.

We were interviewed by @aragontv

Linkedin – 07/10/2024

Hey everyone! This post is especially for our Spanish-speaking community 🫡

This weekend, Jonas Gurauskis and Scott Mitchell from INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR) were interviewed by Aragón TV about their work developing biocatalytic ceramic membranes for microplastic removal 🥼

We encourage yo to watch the interview and get some interesting insights at the link below ⬇️. They also discuss food-contact materials and health effects with other experts, but if you're short on time o you're more of a tech-person, feel free to skip ahead to minute 9 😉

Interesting Morning ...

Instagram 27/09/2024

Today we had a very interesting morning discussing science 🧪 Thanks to all the project partners for attending to this meeting and catching up on so many interesting activities! 👏🏽

Leaflet

Instagram 17/09/2024

In BMRex social media we're talking about wastewater all the time, but what is it, exactly? 🥸

Here the definition, where does it come from, and how it is normally treated within the urban areas where we live 🌇

We hope you find this useful, as I'm sure some of you live close by WWTPs!

Have a good week 🌿

Read More ...

Drinking Water Directive

Instagram – 11/09/2024

The European Drinking Water Directive is a legislative instrument that aims to protect public health 👩‍⚕️.

It also aims to harmonize water analyses, do you want to know how? Swipe! 😊
Read more..

Poster Alert

Linkedin 02/09/2024

Hi all! We hope you enjoyed the holidays ☀ We're also back and, that means, new post!

Today, we share with you the poster our colleagues from Swansea University, Matthew Tarnowski and Eva Sonnenschein, prepared for the conference Syntetic Biology UK 2023 📚.

How do we classify them?

Instagram 30/07/2024

Microplastics are everywhere in the news 😩

But how do we sudy them without going crazy? 🤪

We classify them! Like books in your shelf (don't tell me you don't classify your books 📚, we're scientists, we're obsessively tidy 😠).

Here you can see how 😉

Microplastics Everywhere

Instagram 23/07/2024

🧐Ever wondered why microplastics are also found in presence that humans cannot reach?

Then hang on with us and swipe through the slides to find the answer 😊

Hope all of you are enjoying the summer!

How microplastics end up in a wastewater treatment plant

Microplastics end up in a WWTP

Linkedin 16/07/2024

🧐 How microplastics end up in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)?

Microplastics in European Regulation

Instagram – 09/07/2024

Ever wondered what's being done by the EU on the regulatory level? 😉

Actually, we're in a moment in which all the information is being gathered by the institutions with the goal of cutting plastic production and controlling its fate during the entire lifecycle ♻

Here, we've made a list for you to have a general idea of the directives and conventions where microplastics are already included. Hope you find it useful! 🤓 👏

Goals 2030

Linkedin - 26/06/2024

Did you know? 🧐

BMRex project contributes to the European Green Deal, as well directly addresses these 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals:

🌍 Good health and well-being, key to life on Earth.
💧 Clean water and sanitation
🏙️ Sustainable cities and communities.
🌬️ Climate action, by developing technology adapted to new sustainable regulations and goals.
🐡🐘 Life below water and life on land, by providing clean water.

Membrane Technology

X – 17/06/2024

What is membrane technology? 🤔
It is aimed at reducing impurities and contaminant load in water by filtering it through different membranes of decreasing pore size. 🔍
Scroll through the images to know more🤓

ElectroSpinning

X - 30/05/2024

😮 Witness how nanofibre membranes are created!
👩🏻‍🔬 Dan Zhao (DTU) shows us how this process converts polymers into nanofibre membranes that can be used for water treatment. 💦

meeting on MNPs analysis!

Linkedin 27/05/2024

Productive day in our meeting on MNPs analysis! ✍
Excited about trying new methods and validate our results. Thanks to the team for their dedication and expertise! 👏

Repsol

Instagram – 17/05/2024

Meet the Repsol Technology Lab team behind the BMRex project!
🌟At Repsol Technology Lab, we're proud to be part of the BMRex consortium, working alongside experts from various fields to develop cutting-edge solutions for industrial water treatment.

JGUM

Instagram 10/05/2024

Happy Friday everyone! 😊 Today, we're presenting our partners from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. Swipe through the pictures to see how they're working towards a more sustainable future.

LDIR

X - 18/04/2024

Hi! Here’s one of the many techniques that allow us to identify the polymeric composition of microplastics.

Enzymes and MNPs degradation

Instagram 22/02/2024

🧐 What are enzymes and what do they have to do with MNPs degradation?

CSIC - UNIZAR Team

Linkedin - 16/02/2024

Meet the BMRex team here at #INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR) working on novel biocatalytic membrane concepts for MNPs pollutant removal .

Leaflet

Linkedin - 13/02/2024

Good morning everyone ☀️ Today we’re sharing with you our official leaflet, so you can have an easy overview of our project. Let us know what you think or if you have some questions.

Strategies to reduce pollution

Linkedin – 01/02/2024

The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), coordinator of BMRex project, published a Science4Policy report which analyzes MPs in environmental health and addresses .

BMRex Project PSC meeting

Linkedin - 22/01/2024

Today is another special day, because today we had hashtag#BMRexProject PSC meeting. It was a nice opportunity to meet with colleagues and exchange ideas on how to tackle hashtag#Microplastics as water pollutants. Looking forward to implement the decisions reached during the meeting and improving the results to achieve the goals of this challenging project.

Novel Bioreactors

Instagram - 21/01/2024

Hi Insta community! We invite you to follow our quest to develop new technologies for micro- and nanoplastic remediation 🔎💦

Previus News ...