Water use in industrial settings has various impacts on the environment, economy, and society in Europe. One of the main problems in this field is water scarcity, since 40% of abstracted water in Europe is used by industry. This is especially a problem in areas with limited water resources, pollution of water resources, general decrease in water quality, and substantial energy consumption related to water use and treatment. Despite this, and the additional effects of climate change, industrial wastewater reclamation solutions and initiatives are rare, mostly because water is not priced to reflect its true value or availability. This often discourages industries from investing in urgently needed water reclamation technologies.

Titled “A revolutionary approach for maximising process water reuse and resource recovery through a smart, circular and integrated solution”, the R3VOLUTION project will revolutionize industrial water management in the EU. To pave the way for sustainable and efficient water and resource consumption, the project develops key innovations to enable economic, environmental, and operational water reclamation, addressing solutes and energy recovery challenges.  

Four demonstration pilots

​​​Over the course of four years, the project partners demonstrate a sustainable resource recovery solution​ and develop ​tailored membrane-based treatment trains coupled with waste heat, and a digital process assistant to achieve optimal configuration for different industrial settings, minimising risks in implementation and providing critical support in operation. To revolutionise industrial water management and generate a significant impact for the EU in the next decade, the R3VOLUTION project includes four pilot-scale demonstration cases that will show the applicability and replicability of solutions in the petrochemical, bio-based chemical, steel, and pulp and paper industry. 

R3VOLUTION is coordinated by Cetaqua, Water Technology Centre, who hosted the kick-off-meeting at the beginning of February in Barcelona. The project includes 19 partners from 9 different countries.

Within R3VOLUTION VITO will design tailored functionalized ceramic membranes for nanofiltration and membrane distillation and will scale-up the most performing membranes for the implementation phase. 

In addition VITO will be coordinating the four demonstration cases, leading the bio-based chemical case. 

 

This project is funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement number 101138245.