Helping energy-intensive industries recover and re-use vast volumes of waste water and heat is the goal of an ambitious new project at Brunel University London.
Brunel engineers will develop new generation water treatment and exhaust condensation systems which will allow factories to reover 30% of waste water and heat from humid gases for reuse.
Europe’s Horizon 2020 research fund is contributing €10,596,775 to the iWAYS (Innovative Water Recovery Solutions) project.
The technology, which promises to save billions in several sectors, will first be perfected for Europe’s most energy-intensive industries – chemicals, steel and ceramics – where it will have the biggest impact.
The new industrial scale heat and waste recycling technologies are forecast to cut water use by 30% to 64% and re-use water and heat from humid gases by 30%. They will also separate acids and tiny particles from run-off gases to cut environmental pollution.
“Industries release a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, of which 70% stem from heat generation,” said scientific director Professor Hussam Jouhara. “One way to reduce environmental footprint is to recover the generated heat and re-use it in other industrial processes.”
Until now, recycling waste heat has been problematic in industry because of the high costs of the technology and the low return on investment. But Prof Jouhara’s heat pipe heat exchange systems drastically cut manufacturing cost and time, making recovery an efficient and affordable option for any heat source, it is claimed.
The funding, €875,000 of which goes to Brunel, which is iWAYS’ technical lead, comes as the European Union unveiled the biggest green stimulus package in history – the European Green Deal. The deal, to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, puts green innovation at the top of the EU’s economic recovery plans from Covid-19.
Starting officially in December, the four-year iWays project covers nine European countries and 18 universities and organisations, coordinated by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.