CIP Eco-innovation First Application and market replication projects Call 2012
Clean water is a valuable asset. More than two-thirds of our "Blue Planet" is indeed covered by water, but only 2.5 % isfresh water, which is fast disappearing. Only 60 % of the world's population is constantly supplied with fresh drinking water.The shortage of water not only affects countries in the southern hemisphere but many other countries in the EU too, especiallyduring the summer months. The awareness of the value of water has increased in Europe. It can be witnessed in theescalating cost of drinking water supply and sewage water discharge. The total demand for fresh water has also increasedand our natural European sources will be unable to compensate in the long run. It is clear that new sources of water mustbe developed.
"When asked to list the five main environmental issues that Europeans are worried about, averaged results for the EU25 show that nearly half of the respondents are worried about "water pollution" (47%), with figures for individual countriesgoing up as far as 71%."
The project
In Europe and beyond, water demand for residential and industrial usage has consistently increased and created a substantial, thus still non-explored, market for adaptable water re-use systems. A system able to recycle used water and to provide a high water quality at a reasonable cost level (considerably below water prices) is a sustainable, profitable and ecological-sound solution to address challenges of water quality and scarcity.
AQUALOOP promises such a technology and offers complete water reuse systems including heat reclamation producing germ-free high quality treated water, irrespective of whether the input water comes from grey water from houses, run off water from wastewater treatment plants or surface water and reclaims the heat of the water at the same time. The innovative water and heat reclaim technology saves more than 50% of water and 15 % of the heat consumption within a broad range of applications, such as private homes, hotels, camping sites, commercial and public buildings, industrial complexes and more. AQUALOOP formulates the vision to help water reclamation towards standardization in domestic and residential building applications alike.
The AQUALOOP installation kit consists of six components. Core components are the innovative and multifunctional pre-filter, the innovative and flexible membrane station, the patented micro and ultrafiltration membrane and the new and innovative heat exchanger. They can be easily assembled and duplicated depending on the inflow water quality and the demand in local tanks to set up complete water reuse systems. The concept offers a low maintenance where the client himself is able to maintain the product in a safe way. Setting up regional co-operation with local tank producers reduces transport costs to a minimum in comparison to delivering complete systems.
Partners
SFC Umwelttechnik GmbH (2 CB) was founded in 1999 and is a company group active in the field of environmental engineering, especially in water and wastewater treatment and energy, with offices in Austria (Salzburg), Poland, Czech Republic, India, China, Vietnam, Egypt, Dubai and with a worldwide sales network.
Its main services include design and supply of water and wastewater treatment processes as well as energy production processes for large-scale installations in municipalities and industries.
ASIO, spol. s r.o. (3 CB) was established in 1993 as a Czech engineering supplies company with international operations. The company is involved in the development, production, and delivery of technologies for wastewater treatment, water treatment and air treatment.
The wide range of water management products that it offers are employed in the treatment of wastewater from family houses, villages, towns, hospitals, and in various branches of industry. ASIO, spol. s r.o. is represented in 32 countries, through a wide network of subsidiaries and representatives. Besides its quality production base, it has built a network of sales and service centers not only in the Czech Republic, but also in a number of European countries. All these closely cooperating companies are associated in the ASIO Group. ASIO has developed one important AQUALOOP component, the HEAT exchangers. Furthermore ASIO will be responsible for the distribution of the AQUALOOP system in Eastern Europe.
Circular Economy - a project funded by the EU
Thanks to the funding, the necessary steps towards market launch could be tackled systematically. This includes, among other things, the topic of management and the creation of the prerequisites for series production, including quality and price determination. But technical issues such as process optimisation in the area of membrane technology and cost-effective production of heat recovery also played a role.
More than five years after the end of the project, we can say that the AQUALOOP kit works and has become an important product for the company, which is sold with pleasure and internationally. For INTEWA, it is a key in the company's development and positioning as a hidden champion for greywater treatment.