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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReWaCEM (Ressource recovery from industrial waste water by cutting edge membrane technologies)

Teaser

The ReWaCEM project aims at reducing water use, wastewater production, energy use, valuable metal resource recovery and water footprint by between 30-90% in the metal plating, galvanizing and printed circuit board industry.In order to achieve these goals, ReWaCem will adopt...

Summary

The ReWaCEM project aims at reducing water use, wastewater production, energy use, valuable metal resource recovery and water footprint by between 30-90% in the metal plating, galvanizing and printed circuit board industry.
In order to achieve these goals, ReWaCem will adopt two cutting edge membrane technologies suitable for the requirements of closed material cycles approaches and recovery concepts in metal processing industry: Diffusion Dialysis (DD) and Membrane Distillation (MD) as an integrated hybrid process. This combination of existing technologies will be adapted to fit the requirements of 4 pilot demonstration sites in representative industrial applications of the metallurgical industry in order to evaluate the accomplishment of the ReWaCEM goals. Through the evaluation of the demonstration a highly attractive technological solution for low energy wastewater treatment will be available to be entered into the large and growing market of metal processing. This market will profit significantly from the technological outcome of the innovation action, with cost savings and environmental benefits as relevant rewards. In order to maximise impact, the project consortium was selected carefully to represent all relevant stakeholders in the quadrant of end users, scientific partners, associations and decision makers and SMEs. The consortium will establish a dissemination & exploitation board that will create a substantial network of interest groups from agencies, industry, research SMEs and research centres as well as universities. The successful exploitation of the results will lead to a post project up-scaling of the technology and a step by step market introduction. Part of ReWaCEM will be to mobilise all relevant stakeholders into promoting innovative membrane solutions for industrial water and resources management, leading to the effective implementation of European directives and policies while creating market opportunities for European industry and SMEs.
In the ReWaCEM Project four different applications for DD and MD will be demonstrated in metal plating, galvanizing and printed circuit board industry, namely:
Demo A: recovery of hydrochloric acid and iron in the pickling process (intermediate step before hot-dip galvanizing) in Italy;
Demo B: recovery of sulphuric acid and copper in the electroplating process in Spain;
Demo C: recovery of nitric and hydrofluoric mix acid and iron in the pickling process (intermediate step before stainless steel production) in Germany and
Demo D: recovery of wastewater from gold and palladium bathes in Austria

Work performed

\"The objective of WP1 was mainly on the detection and specification of risks associated with the construction, installation and operation of the demonstration systems and lab tests as well as the compilation of standards and individual procedures for risk management and risk mitigation.
The Objective of WP 2 was dedicated to the collection of comprehensive process data of all 4 demonstration plants. Therefore, a deep analysis of process schematics was conducted and an extensive data mining on site has been performed. Connection points for the demonstrators (e.g. with process fluids and waste heat) were identified.
The main objective of WP3 was the design of the overall acid and metals recovery process for the 4 demonstrators. Comprehensive simulation decks for mass and energy balances were created in order to design the hydraulic set up of the demonstration plants. The pre-treatment and auxiliary processes were designed. Experimental investigations and pre testes were carried out in order to design the “reactive precipitation” processes for the separation of metals from waste metal liquors as post treatment in particular for Demo C. The energy supply concept was elaborated. As result of WP3 the detailed hydraulic lay outs of the 4 demonstrators were submitted to WP5 for pilot plant design. In WP4 Experimental investigations with DD and MD test cells were conducted in order to determine the separation performance of both processes for the different acids and compounds. The results were utilized to validate the DD and MD simulation tools. Membranes and other components were exposed for several months in “real” fluids in order to verify the long term reliability. It turned out that an effective pre-treatment step is required in order to protect the DD membranes from surfactances. As the final result all module concepts including exact dimensions and operation parameters were designed. WP5 is dedicated to the Design and construction of demo systems. The detailed hydraulic designs including all single components as well as sensors were elaborated as basis for the mechanical design of the frame work. Construction drawings of the plants and their components were elaborated. A very intensive risk analysis for each plant was conducted. It turned out that the selection of fail save and resistant components is much more time consuming than expected. The construction of the plants was started. Commissioning of the first plant is expected for Autumn 20018.
WP10 \"\"Life Cycle Assessment and Water footprint\"\" aims at quantifying environmental impacts and water consumption and the respective reduction potentials of the newly developed technology by carrying out Life Cycle Assessment and a Water Footprint. Goal and scopes of the LCA were defined, data were collected and the simulation deck for the life cycle impact assessment was set up.
In WP11 “ReWaCEM Dissemination activities” the project web side and the logo were created and two conferences were organized and co-organized respectively. Partners took the opportunity to participate in conferences and introduce the ReWaCEM project to a brought public by oral presentations and posters. A project leavelet was designed and printed for marketing.
In WP12 “Roadmap for market introduction and market uptake” the targeted market has been studied with particular reference to the STM industry and galvanizing. An initial review of existing information about the sectors has been collected and a preliminary assessment of their needs has been started. Data have been collected from the galvanized steel market for the general hot-dip galvanizing in terms of total tonnage.





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Final results

The lab experiments in conjunction with the extrapolations done by simulation studies clearly indicate that the suggested combination of DD and MD will be able to achieve the technical goals set in the proposal. This will be the first time that this combination is deployed in plating industry and therefore beyond the current state of the art.
This assumption can be stated for the demonstration units and must be extrapolated for the company and the entire branch in order to estimate the overall impact of the new technology as soon as real measurement data from the pilot systems exist. It must be also mentioned that the expected impact of 15% energy savings by the new DD-MD technology compared to state of the art technologies depends on the availability of waste heat. The correlating technologies for the different applications investigated in the ReWaCEM project will be assessed and compared in WP12 in order to describe the advantages of DD and MD for market uptake. At the moment there are no deviations recognized compared to the initially expected impact as stated in the DoA. The economic validation must be carried out in WP12 where the roadmap for market introduction will be created.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.rewacem.eu.