The project “Circular Economy through industrial symbiosis of strategic sectors in the Comunitat Valenciana (MEM4ALL)”, which began last April 2019 and will last until December 2020, recently presented the results obtained during the first year of the project.
The project aims to recover waste flows from various industrial sectors (ceramics, pigments and glazes, surface treatment and toys) using membrane technology and the trans-sectoral recovery of the flows derived from the use of this technology. The participating companies (SAMCA (coordinator), COLOR ESMALT, COLORTEC QUÍMICA, CREACIONES JOVIAR, MATRIDOS y NIQUELADOS GÓMEZ) in the project are a clear representation of each of the sectors included in the project, so the results obtained can be extrapolated to each of the sectors listed.
The most relevant tasks and conclusions to date have been
– The trends to be dealt with in each of the companies have been defined and characterised:
o SAMCA: well and network water used to obtain atomized powders. In which it is of interest to obtain low conductivity and hardness.
o COLOR ESMALT: cleaning and manufacturing currents of the process of obtaining ceramic frits and pigments. In which the recovery of ceramic compounds is of interest.
o COLORTEC QUÍMICA: suction dust from the cleaning process of masterbatch formulation powders. In which the recovery of titanium dioxide is of interest, with the least possible interference from iron (Fe).
o CREACIONES JOVIAR: water from the vibrating/polishing of zámak parts. In which the maximum possible amount of zinc (Zn) is recovered.
o MATRIDOS: demetallised bath and subsequent demetallised rinse. In which it is important to recover the copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) present.
o NIQUELADOS GÓMEZ: pickling of racks and acid and basic electrolytic degreasing. In which it is interesting to recover the copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) present.
– Different membrane technologies have been selected and validated at laboratory scale for the recovery of the compounds mentioned above, such as microfiltration, nanofiltration and polymer-assisted ultrafiltration.
For the present year 2020, the possibility of developing “ad hoc” ceramic membranes for the membrane treatments that require it will be studied and different alternatives for intra- and intersectorial recovery will be defined, among the participating companies. Without losing sight of the fact that the final objective of the MEM4ALL project is to obtain zero final waste by implementing a circular economy and industrial symbiosis between different industrial sectors in the Comunitat Valenciana.
This project is partially subsidized by the Agencia Valenciana de Innovación (AVI) within the program of Consolidation of the business value chain, in the 2019-2020 call. The objective of this program is to support the development of solutions with an impact on the business value chain, which involve the application of novelty in products, processes, organizational systems, etc. with the aim of improving the exchange of information and work processes between the companies involved. In addition, the development and use of other key technologies to boost industrial and economic development is encouraged.