Chemical industry: a solution provider for water efficiency

Updated 29 March with presentation links! 

On 12 March ACQUEAU hosted a workshop on Industrial Waste Water Treatment in Helsinki, Finland. The workshop aimed to foster collaboration amongst water stakeholders and stimulate new project ideas and was hosted by TEKES, the Finnish funding agency for innovation. More than 60 people attended the workshop sharing know-how, presenting project ideas and innovative technologies. And SusChem was there to showcase how sustainable chemistry can deliver new innovative materials and solutions to the water industry.

Water is a scarce resource and a critical element for the development of our society and economy. The chemical industry is a user of water, but also an important solution provider of innovative products, technologies and services which can enable more sustainable water and wastewater management.

To this end, SusChem and the chemical industry are very active in the European Innovation Partnership Water (Water EIP). Cefic Innovation Manager and Co-ordinator of the SusChem National Platforms (NTPs), Antonia Morales Perez, joined the ACQUEAU workshop to present new, efficient approaches that that  are under development with the E4Water FP7 funded project. The project is currently looking at six different case studies that use innovative technologies as a means to achieve a more efficient water management in the chemical industry and other sectors.

The workshop featured case studies on Industrial Wastewater Treatment from the metals and mining industry, pulp and paper, and the chemical industry. The national funding programmes of Sweden, Canada and Finland were presented by national representatives. In the afternoon a brokerage session for the current ACQUEAU Open Call also took place with project leaders having the chance to present their ideas to the audience and meet up potential project partners. In total five project leaders presented ideas and water solutions.

You can download the final programme for the event here and you can find details of the projects presented at the brokerage session here.

About ACQUEAU
ACQUEAU is a market and industry-driven initiative of the EUREKA Clusters, a group of public-private partnerships which aim to develop generic technologies of key importance to European competitiveness.

For more information about SusChem’s contribution towards water efficiency measures, contact Antonia Morales.

ChemWater Workshop Three in Brussels

The SusChem FP7 project ChemWater has announced that it will hold its third workshop on 5 September in Brussels. The venue will be the offices of ACQUEAU. The workshop will further develop the vision for what a water sustainable process industry should look like by 2050 and identify the necessary tools and methodologies needed to realise that vision.

The workshop will focus on those processes, materials and technologies needed to reach the vision that were defined in the previous two ChemWater workshops. Active discussions on allocation of skills, competencies, coordination and funding needed to reach the vision will be discussed focusing on the following topics:

• Chemical process engineering, reaction and process design
• Emerging water treatment technologies
• Identification and development of (nano) materials

The output of the ChemWater project will be directly linked to the forthcoming European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Water, and will provide information to set the priorities for research and innovation in the Strategic Implementation Plan of the EIP and therefore the reference for future calls. The aim of the EIP on Water is to position Europe as the world leader in sustainable water management by boosting innovation.

Participation in the workshop is your chance to bring forward your ideas for research and innovation programmes in this important strategic area and give direction to a roadmap on sustainable water use.

More information

The preliminary programme for the meeting is available on the ChemWater website and a flyer for the event is also available.

Please feel free to forward details of the workshop to colleagues who may be interested in the event. If you need more information on the workshop, please contact either Nienke Koeman or Albert Jansen at organisers TNO.

To register for the workshop please send an email to Inge Huiskes with your name and affiliation (as you would like it printed on a name badge) preferably before 15 August 2012. Participation in the workshop is free of charge.