Project approved – VentilAQUA innovates in the production of saline by-products

January 26, 2021
Posted in News
January 26, 2021 admin

SimbioSalt – Innovation in the production of saline by-products in industrial symbiosis

R&D investment is already an established part of the VentilAQUA brand. This project brings innovation to the production of saline by-products in industrial symbiosis. Pickles produced in the cod, canned food, and tanning industries are liquid wastes with a significant negative environmental impact and high treatment costs, due to the high concentrations of sodium chloride and organic matter. The SimbioSalt project aims to study an alternative for the recovery of those wastes in which, through the combination of technologies, a solution will be developed that allows obtaining a product with commercial value – purified brine – with two possible uses: (i) the use in the industry that originated the brine or (ii) the use in the tanning industry (skin conservation and pickling), the origin of these saline products being the industries under study in this project.

The ultimate goal of SimbioSalt is, therefore, the development of a process/technology that allows the treatment/purification of brines, eliminating the organic matter they have, namely fats and proteins, and disinfecting them as well. It is intended that this treatment generates saline by-products that can be used without restrictions in the industries studied, so the project is based on the principles of eco-innovation and the circular economy.

As the brine undergoes different levels of treatment, the resulting product is being tested either in the respective industries for reuse in the manufacturing process or the skin treatment in the tanning industry. Pickles will be tested until evidence (by comparison in parallel with virgin brine) that their application does not affect the final quality of the products.

The SimbioSalt project is led by a company in the tanning industry, Demoscore, which in symbiosis with the canning company (Maçarico) and codfish (Lugrade) are looking for an innovative technological solution for the treatment and enhancement of contaminated brines. In this sense, these companies have joined forces with two R&I entities (University of Aveiro, UA, and the Leather Technology Technological Center, CTIC) and with a company producing equipment / technological solutions in the treatment of effluents, VentilAQUA, with appropriate technical skills to develop the innovative solution that integrates advanced oxidation processes, such as electrochemical processes and physical separation processes, to meet the requirements/specification of raw materials (brines).

 

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