| Project Detail |
Environmentally safe technologies for economic growth
Despite efforts for the transition towards a more eco-friendly society and industry, the annual global extraction of materials tripled over the last 50 years. The EU-funded iWAYS project aims to reverse this trend by introducing several technologies that are focused on environmental challenges while also assisting economic growth and productivity. The project will develop a set of technologies capable of recovering water and energy from exhaust gases in the industrial processes. Among other impacts, the project is expected to reduce freshwater consumption by 30 % to 64 %. Furthermore, the solutions provided by the project will recover additional materials from flue gas such as valuable acids or particulates, improving the raw material efficiency in production and reducing detrimental emissions to the environment.
The European Green Deal, an ambitious growth strategy aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), calls for the mobilization of the industry. Indeed, while important steps have been taken in the past, the annual global extraction of materials tripled in the last 50 years and is expected to increase further. The dual transformation, green and digital, place special emphasis on resource and energy intensive sectors. Furthermore, the expected zero pollution action plan for air, water and soil will enforce this transformation. In this changing environment, industry will have to adapt swiftly and decisively but the ease and smoothness of this transition is up for debate. Solutions that increase costs and impede productivity will face substantial resistance. There is a pressing need for new technologies and approaches that complement economic growth and productivity while firstly addressing environmental challenges. iWAYS is a step in this direction, featuring a wide array of technologies that are non-disruptive and applicable in any industry with wastewater and gaseous emissions. While the concept of water and heat recovery have been demonstrated and widely applied, in iWAYS a unique approach is taken, focusing on until now impossible streams to address and building synergies between heat and water reclamation and exploitation. The project also addresses several issues afflicting commercial technologies (such as Reverse Osmosis and Membrane Distillation) through innovative and enabling approaches. |
