Covestro leads greener wastewater project

COVESTRO is leading a research project to develop new ways to recover salt and water from industrial wastewater.

The three-year project seeks to develop greener, cheaper methods for wastewater processing, with the aim of using the treated salt and purified wastewater in electrolysis to produce chlorine for plastics production.

“A key objective of this project is to increase the salt content of the salt solutions as much as possible in an environmentally-friendly manner during the treatment process,” said project coordinator Yuliya Schiesser, a process researcher at Covestro. This will be done in part using the waste heat from the adjacent production plants, the German chemicals firm said in a statement.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop a process that benefits not just the plastics industry but other industry segments as well,” said Schiesser.

Last year, the company brought a pilot plant on stream at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site in Germany that treats salt-laden process water so it can be re-used in the production of chlorine. It is now planning a demonstration plant at the site. Partners in the project – named ‘Re-Salt’ – include the University of Duisburg-Essen University and TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences.