READ THE LANDSCAPE TO UNDERSTAND THE TERRITORY

Fishery Flour Roads Visitor Center 

This mill is the evolution of the one we saw before in Orzales and we can see the evolution of the machinery and the processes in the treatment of the cereal. 

Throughout more than a century, since the end of the 18th century, the waters of the Besaya milled formidable quantities -a river- of flour coming from Castile and destined for the port of Santander, where they arrived in carts and railway wagons along various routes. from the valley. This thus became an industrial corridor that extended to the north the rosary of flour mills located on the Canal de Castilla.

At the end of the 19th century, with the beginning of its decline, many of the hydraulic works of these flour factories would serve as the energy base for a new cycle of industrialization no longer based on milling, which would make Besaya one of the most characterized by contemporary Cantabria.

The Caminos de la Harina Visitor Center presents a set of materials to discover the memory of all that time.

Flour factories:

The operation of the machinery of a flour factory such as La Montañesa is not easy, as a consequence of the uneven state of conservation of the machines and, above all, of their markedly integrated condition.

The manufacturing sequence begins with the cleaning phases (upper floor), continues with grinding in successive passes (access plant to the Center), continues with the various sifting (again on the upper floor) and ends with bleaching. and bagging of flour and bran (access plant).

This mill is located on the flour path, which is the Camino Real along which Carlos V arrived, which is where the Roman road that went from the old Portius Blendium to the plateau is, which is the path followed by Napoleon’s troops, which is the path followed by the current highway and which is the green corridor followed by large mammals during the prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula. It is definitely a sample of the activities derived from agriculture and at the same time a perfect example of the evolution of the history of Europe.

Later, in the same building, a workshop was held per shift so that the AGROGEN volunteers could see with their own hands how the elderberry fiber is extracted. This plant grows on the banks of the rivers in the north of Spain and its pruning is necessary to keep the riverbeds clean.

Currently it can be used to replace coconut fiber used in gardening. We take advantage of a waste to give it a commercial and sustainable use.

This workshop is part of the project “Bioremediation of water and soil using biomass originated by circular economy in rural areas” -(RIA) Acronym BIO SOILUTIONS- submitted within the call HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-01.

Let´s know something more about this project.

“How to Bio-remediate water & Soil using biomass circular-economy Solutions in rural areas” Acronym Bio Soilutions

Chapter Fiber

To nourish poor soil or specifically vertical-garden substrate, even those treated against erosion, coconut fiber is almost exclusively used as cellulosic structure.

In the primary sector, the technic for gaining raw lignocellulosic fibre from pruning wild bushes, is very well known in the basketry. Green waste are part of compost stuff and livestock feeding.

Heavy pollution by metals in the ground surpasses all natural recovery, in comparison with healthy ecosystems that suffer erosion phenomena.

Food industry makes more waste than livestock or soil can take.

Water is in the front line as a resource, for the industry and forest management is weighing down economic sectors at risk of suffering costs overruns in adapting to climate change.

Fuel energy applied to cellulose extraction from felling trees has an enormous impact added upon the huge water footprint measured on the aquifers in the territory where its industrial processing takes place.

Such cellulose does not supply those coconut millions of tons imports of dried, treated and pressed fiber for Europe every year.

Chapter Bioremediation

Heavy-metal bioaccumulation is one of the main problems regarding soil and water pollution, both aquatic life and human health altering by entering the food chain.

Traditional techniques to treat heavy metals waste have a high cost in resources and energy for their production and usage.

Chapter Biodiversity

In degraded areas such as quarries and mines, phenomena of geomorphological origin are taking place that put people at risk and their material assets, that is, in the field of natural hazards.

Certain constructive performances (concrete walls) are not life preserving ones but they become poor environments. So then, they stand up against natural biological functions, blocking up habitats restoration.

(*)(“Algunos minoristas especializados en productos orgánicos evitan el consumo de energía relacionado con las importaciones de larga distancia y tratan de “educar” al consumidor para que compre productos estacionales.” Importaciones italianas año 2000, 17 mil toneladas de residuo. https://www.fao.org/3/y1669s/y1669s0a.htm , )

EXCELLENCE: FIBER, BIOREMEDIATION, BIODIVERSITY

Chapter Fiber

Research validates native bushes characteristics, to valuate pruning waste into first cover modular layers. That fiber does not need to add water.

Chapter Bioremediation

Brewery bagasse is proposed as biomass and also researched for its quality as a bioadsorpbent agent.

Bioadsorption consists of the metal ions retention process that, due to its proprieties, dead or alive biomass achieve a better removal of these metals. Through adsorption a method is sought that has good performance, low cost and large quantities available.

Chapter Biodiversity

Companies and organizations at different levels, from SMB to multinational ones, with a deep environmental commitment, carry out environmental projects such as the restoration of degraded areas, planting native trees, so reducing their carbon footprint. Belonging to various active networks of non-profit entities, it is proposed to channel some project work program through volunteering.

SMEs’ AFFILIATED PARTNERS

BESARTE FIBRE NATURAL

Start-up for functional innovation of cellulosic fiber. It comes from a scientific-technical investigation with Green Engineering Research University of Cantabria on lignocellulosic waste valuation of Sambucus nigra (elderberry tree). Previous manufacturing experience (23-year).

IBRE

The company is a micro brewery. Previous experience is held (4-year) in organic waste recovery applied to agriculture and also to degraded soil restoration such as quarries and opencast coal mines (As Pontes).

PANGEA PROYECTOS

We are located in Campoo de Enmedio, in the town of Nestares, situated in the south of Cantabria, Spain. We are a micro-SME made up of a single person in the regime of self-employed workers with a technical profile, Geographer. We offer a technology based on sustainability since it uses ancestral techniques and raw material obtained from the environment in the construction of bio structures for environmental restoration. We are based on 20-year technology known as Geographical Information Systems. Acronym GIS.

OTHER ASPECTS OF INTEREST

In the process of experimentation New Materials are triggered, evolving with the tested, to seek optimal results during bioremediation.

The bush is used as a witness in monitoring the results.

The research is articulated in the study of the behavior of the substrate, with the application of bagasse mulch in selective tastings spread over zones like intensive and /or irrigated agriculture, industrial-estate soil, dump, public works, soil loss due to water and wind erosion.

The empirical process will take it one step further, applying the research to waste water.

Its diverse composition and manufactured method of obtain it, will lead to utility models that procure its Replicating.