Hazardous wastewaters generated during chemical production, manufacturing, mining and other industrial activities can cause substantial harm to human health or to the environment. To limit the negative side effects of otherwise essential industries, governments closely regulate the practice of hazardous waste management. While reduction and recycling are the most desirable options for waste management, it is not always possible or economically rational and there is always a need for treatment. The problem is that currently available treatment technologies do not fully eliminate the environmental hazard. The sludge that is left over after the treatment processes is still hazardous and requires proper disposal. For most such wastes, land disposal is the ultimate destination, although it is not an attractive practice, because of the inherent environmental risks involved. A common temporary storage solution for hazardous liquid waste is an open pit or holding pond, called a lagoon.
Protection of groundwater as a resource is crucial for our survival and sustainable development. Most of EU inhabitants depend on groundwater for their drinking water, but not less important is its role as a link in the overall hydrological cycle and ecosystems through the maintenance of wetlands and river flows.
Global EcoProcess Services Oy (EPSE) has developed and patented a new technology that turns hazardous waste into valuable raw material. We are specialising in the treatment of industrial and mining wastewater containing soluble metals. High volume of wastewater containing heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, mercury, nitrogen and lead are inevitable result of industries like electronics manufacturing, heavy industry, metal and surface treatment as well as mining. This SMEI project focuses on speeding up our sales cycle for full scale market introduction in the hazardous wastewater treatment industry. Our current lab scale piloting opportunities are not sufficient to reach large industrial customers. Manufacturers and mine owners want to test new technology on their premises, yet stopping normal business operations for that is costly and involves too high risks.
Standard solution for this is portable pilot equipment (e.g. inside a movable shipping container) delivered by the technology provider that can be used on the side without disturbing the production. During the project we will build this required on-site piloting capability by developing and building portable pilot equipment and monitoring software for efficient on-site technology demonstrations. We will pilot our portable piloting equipment with 3 customers to collect and analyse market segment specific customer feedback and finalize the pilot equipment development. To take full advantage of the improved piloting process, we aim to carry out wide-scale dissemination and communication activities among potential customers, develop global partner network, and continue with our established IP protection strategy.
