REWACEM – Resource recovery from industrial waste water by cutting edge membrane technologies

The ReWaCEM project aimed at reducing water use, wastewater production, energy use, valuable metal resource recovery and water footprint by between 30-90% in the metal plating, galvanizing and printed circuit board industry. In order to achieve these goals, ReWaCem adopted two cutting edge membrane technologies suitable for the requirements of closed material cycles approaches and recovery concepts in metal processing industry: Diffusion Dialysis (DD) and Membrane Distillation (MD) as an integrated hybrid process.

This combination of existing technologies was adapted to fit the requirements of 4 pilot demonstration sites in representative industrial applications of the metallurgical industry in order to evaluate the accomplishment of the ReWaCEM goals.

AEE INTEC led studies on membrane distillation at the demonstration site in Fehring in Austria, at an international producer of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and project partner AT&S. A demonstration plant was designed and constructed.

Through the evaluation of the demonstration a highly attractive technological solution for low energy wastewater treatment is available to be entered into the large and growing market of metal processing. This market will profit significantly from the technological outcome of the innovation action, with cost savings and environmental benefits as relevant rewards.