Croatian company first to do EUREKA double
The annual EUREKA Lynx and Lillehammer awards have been presented at the EUREKA Ministerial conference in Prague, the eternally charming capital of the Czech Republic. The Lynx award, for outstanding technological and commercial achievement for SMEs, was won by Croatian company EcoEngineering, while the Lillehammer award for outstanding environmental benefit was won jointly by the EUROENVIRON BIOMAC project and EUROENVIRON ECDVAT project. The awards were presented during the 22nd annual ministers' meeting. The Lynx award was given by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Jiri Havel. EcoEngineering also took part in the EUROENVIRON BIOMAC project, marking an historic first for the company. 'We are very honoured for two reasons - we are the first Croatian company to win an award through participating in EUREKA, and also we are the first company to win a EUREKA award for both the company and the project,' said EcoEngineering's Director, Dr Vice Soljan. Sewage treatment relies upon 19th century technology, using bacteria to break-down waste products. This process is not completely effective, as many industrial processes generate waste that conventional bacteria cannot break down. The BIOMAC project uses bacteria, blended by EcoEngineering, that can handle these more toxic and troublesome chemicals. The BIOMAC technique uses half the energy compared to traditional treatments, and at 30 per cent of the cost. 'What we have done is to open completely new possibilities for biological waste water treatment,' said Dr Soljan. 'The process is much more efficient than the conventional method; it uses less energy and oxygen, and produces less sludge for disposal. We have tested and applied our system from laboratory to full scale, and it works even on complex pollutant mixtures such as in waste water from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and leachate from landfills. We are now partnering waste water companies and industries in many countries in Western and Eastern Europe to upgrade existing plants,' he said. Karin Yrvin, Norwegian Vice-Minister for Industry, presented the Lillehammer award to the ECDVAT project and the BIOMAC project. The ECDVAT project has developed a new dying process for cellulose-based textiles, using electrochemical rather than chemical agents. The technique reduces waste by 80 per cent at the bathing stage, and by about 20 percent overall. The most significant advantage of the technique is that the dying agents can be recycled, and the dying process can be computer-controlled for greater accuracy. Thomas Bechtold from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and a partner in ECDVAT, said he was surprised and pleased by the award, and that the technique had attracted a great deal of interest from dyeing companies: 'they can see it's technology on which they can base new products. This is the technology which is changing the state of the art and I am convinced that it will eventually become recognised as a Best Available Technique,' he said. ECDVAT brought together German company Dystar, dyehouse Getzner Textil from Austria, Thies and De Nora, respectively German filtration and electrochemical cell manufacturers, all coordinated by the University of Innsbruck's Institute of Textile Chemistry and Textile Physics. 'The environmental benefit is the long-term justification of the process,' said Professor Bechtold. 'The cost benefit is the incentive to have it installed, and the improved quality control is the reason to set it in operation.' The project has a full-scale model of 100kg capacity, 'a reasonable size', according to Professor Bechtold. 'We want to take this technology worldwide. For example, in jeans production and indigo dyes, all manufacturers use non-regenerative dyes. We want to do much more in this area. We will use the award to invest for the next level and larger scale.' EcoEngineering received a cheque for EUR 10,000 and the EUSY trophy, presented annually since 2001. BIOMAC and ECDVAT each received a cheque for EUR 5,000 and prints from woodcuts created by Norwegian artist Niclas Gulbrandsen. The Lillehammer award has been presented annually since the first presentation in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. While EcoEngineering won its own prize, the project it is part of, BIOMAC, and was thus joint winner of the Lillehammer award. The project was coordinated by Enga Luye, director of Swiss company Belair Biotech, itself a spin-off. Mr Luye spoke to CORDIS News. 'We have a great deal of interest from Geneva, to reduce the impact of biomass residue. A person can produce 4 kg of nitrogen in urine per year, which could produce something like 21 mg of nitrogen per litre of water, and traditional treatment methods can deal with this.' In Geneva, BIOMAC hope to reduce the effects of a biogas plant, which generates concentrated sludge, very high in nitrogen. 'This can occur in many major cities - nitrogen levels of around 1,000 mg per litre. This would kill all the usual bacteria, making the job impossible,' said Mr Luye. This is where EcoEngineering's bacteria come in. Their technology does not genetically modify the bacteria, but trains it to deal with this high concentration sludge. The process itself can be a secondary source of biogas, and so in theory even provide its own energy. With EU water regulations tightening, the BIOMAC project shows clear commercial potential and an environmentally sound solution to a ubiquitous problem. EUREKA organises more than 200 projects in Europe every year, focusing mainly on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Projects must include a minimum of two partners, and run for an average of 30 months, with 3.4 partners. The average budget is EUR 2 million. Partnership in EUREKA has given participants additional boosts. For example, the experience of EcoEngineering has been overwhelmingly positive. 'Being part of a EUREKA project helped us a lot because it helped us to apply our research to the market. It enabled us to become a partner with other organisations and to pool our different sorts of expertise,' said Dr Soljan. To put into perspective, EcoEngineering's turnover increased by a whopping 85 per cent in 2005, BIOMAC business contributing 82 per cent.
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