Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INSPIREWater (Innovative Solutions in the Process Industry for next generation Resource Efficient Water management)

Teaser

Focus on helping companies in the process industry to achieve sustainable water treatment solutions as part of corporate sustainability strategy. It\'s enhanced emphasis on deployment and impact contributes to the aims of the SPIRE SRA, the EIP on \'Water\' and to the aims of the...

Summary

Focus on helping companies in the process industry to achieve sustainable water treatment solutions as part of corporate sustainability strategy. It\'s enhanced emphasis on deployment and impact contributes to the aims of the SPIRE SRA, the EIP on \'Water\' and to the aims of the Commission’s Roadmap on Resource efficiency. This will lead to an effective implementation of European directives and policies within water management.The overall objective is to increase water and raw material efficiency in the process industry and to support implementation of new resource efficient technologies. We address this task with new and established technologies in innovative concepts, thereby reducing water consumption, energy and chemical demands and also reduce waste. It will demonstrate a holistic water management framework in the process industry using innovative technology solutions provided by European companies to increase water and resource efficiency in the process industry.The main approach is to integrate new solutions into existing company structures and to exploit new solutions. The actions will strongly contribute to decouple the industrial production from the utilization of fresh water reserves. Reuse of water will also reduce risk for unplanned production stops due to water shortage, reduce contamination of water resources, minimize costs for energy and process chemicals and strengthen the resource efficiency. This will strengthen the competiveness of the European steel and chemical industry and will put Europe as a leader on the world market for segments in industrial water treatment which will create new high skilled jobs in Europe

Work performed

WP1
•Existing systems working with water management in industries as well as with resource efficiency, have been analyzed with the aim to provide a system that goes beyond current state-of-the-art
•A framework for water management has been proposed with the relevant steps before and during implementation and for follow-up
•Methodology for relevant KPIs developed, a working methodology that cover both site and corporate level has been proposed
•The work for LCA of the processes has begun by implementing models and collecting data for the current systems
WP2
•In case of unavailable information about feed water quality, streams were characterized in detail and existing data were evaluated to provide a base for dimensioning and designing the pilot plants
•Process units to be applied at the 3 demonstration sites were tailored to the case specific conditions and relevant materials related to the performance were identified
•Design concepts and treatment trains of the pilot plants were successfully developed in WP3-5
•The support of the demonstration by analysis and selected lab studies and the concept development of the innovation roadmap for the demonstrated technologies have started
WP3
•Performance of field trials with selected technologies over 5 month, 3 month ahead of schedule
•Treatment of 31,000 m³ with magnetic separator with constant outlet solid contents about 10 mg/L even in case of varying inlet contents. Determination of suitable conditions for magnet cleaning, enhanced sludge dewatering and tailored magnet cleaning by using online solid measure
•Confirmation of lab results of 3-layer-filtration in field trials, allowing a filtration velocity of 25 m/h in combination with turbidity reductions up to 98%
•Performance of RO trials with effluents of solid removal technologies. Scaling lead to a decrease of the permeate flux over 80%, but could be reduced to 10% by pH-adaption
•Corrosion analysis of water treated (solid removal followed by RO) showed a clear decrease of corrosion potential
WP4
•Data has been collected to describe current situation with a flow chart and a mass balance at the Sandvik test-site and to prepare for the implementation of the new technology
•Design and construction of the pilot plant, except for the evaporation under construction
•After preparatory measures the equipment has been installed at the pilot site and started-up
•Current situation at Sandvik has been identified and the test of the water management system has been prepared
•Monitoring and assessment of results has been prepared with promising first results such as a strong chromium VI reduction and technically functioning pre-filtration
WP 5
•Investigation and adaptation of WWT condition at Clariant Tarragona site
•Modifications at WWTP on requirements for WP 5. Reduction of fouling and scaling impacts: Substitution of lime at neutralization by NaOH. Improvement of biological degradation rate by better process control
•Specific tests conducted for specification of design and operational data for demo plant
•Design and construction of pilot plant
•Delivery, installation and commissioning of pilot units in the prepared field at CLN/Tarragona
•Monitoring of UF/RO/MOL operation by analyzing operational data and conclude for further pilot operation
WP6
•Business Intelligence and Market Analysis first draft in review, strategy defined and presented
•IPR Assessment and Strategy Document report produced
•Establishing organized relationship with each project partner to identify exploitation requirements and plan core objectives for exploitation. Delivery of Market Analysis and IPR work. Design, production and distribution of 3 films
•Three technologies for the ETV were selected, evaluating which of these that are suitable for the actual verification process and selecting accordingly
WP7
•Support/coordination of the participation of INSPIREWATER at events with presentations and poster

Final results

Flexible water management concept addressing both local and corporate needs
Improved methodology and proposed relevant key performance indicators
Recovery of water and acid in stainless steel production

Demonstrated 6 adaptable innovative water management solutions combining existing selective separation processes with new technologies, the advancement of promising technologies from TRL 4-5 to technologies in pilot scale (TRL 6-) and by involvement of SMEs, exploitation plans to increase implementation of different applications
Systemic and flexible water treatment and reuse framework for process industries including KPIs to properly monitor the REI and economic performance of the demonstrated technologies
20 potential European customers from different industries shall clearly understand the solutions, its benefits and see it as a trustworthy development body

Aims to achieve improvements compared to the current practice in the steel and chemical industry related to water and resource efficiency in specific processes e.g:
40-80 % validated water consumption reduction and less waste water production within industrial use of water
20-90 % less energy use by including use of waste heat and new technologies
20 % validated increased recovery of metals and P
Thus minimizing the water footprint in European chemical and steel industry

Website & more info

More info: https://www.spire2030.eu/inspirewater.