Deliver the Circular Economy
The circular economy extends beyond waste management. It focuses on keeping products, materials and resources in circulation for as long as possible while minimising waste and resource use across relevant stages of the value chain. Improving material efficiency is one approach that can help manufacturers manage material demand and process losses. GEA supports customers in assessing process-engineering options related to material use, recovery and resource management.
The challenge
In a world of limited resources, new economic models are needed. Here is where Circular Economy comes into scene, gaining strength thanks to the emerging regulatory trends around sustainability. Said regulations create not only pressure but also opportunities for the industry to increasingly adopt business practices that reduce the use of scarce and non-renewable raw materials and enlarge the share of alternative feedstocks, keeping resources in use for as long as possible and minimizing disposed residual waste while recovering and, where possible, regenerating products and materials at the end of their service life.
The chemical industry is looking for partners who have both integrated sustainability into their own corporate strategy and that are enabling the development of truly circular and competitive process solutions.
Our approach: GEA process expertise
GEA takes pride in applying rigorous engineering principles and technical expertise while developing process-technology approaches relevant to industry’s transition toward lower-emission production. GEA supports customers with process-engineering expertise and a broad range of technologies.
GEA is developing its expertise in integrating environmental and resource-use considerations into process and equipment design. This includes supporting customers during the early design and development stages of manufacturing processes and in projects that transform selected waste streams into recovered chemical intermediates, feedstocks or materials for subsequent use. These activities can support material recovery and circularity in selected manufacturing value chains.
Examples of selected applications include:
Separate and recover
GEA technologies have been used in selected applications to support the separation, recovery and purification of materials such as starch, sugars, salts, lignin and oil fractions. These applications can support customer-defined objectives related to material recovery, resource use or process-water management, depending on the process configuration.
Recover and purify solvents
In selected applications, multiple-effect distillation can support the recovery and purification of solvents for potential reuse in medical membrane manufacturing, subject to the relevant process and quality requirements.
Recover process water and materials
GEA evaporation technologies can support the recovery of condensate for potential reuse as process water, subject to the required water-quality and process conditions. This approach has been applied in selected wood-based processes and can support the recovery of specific compounds, such as caprolactam, from selected process streams.
When Chemistry Works With Engineering
GEA is taking bold action helping manufacturers worldwide embrace more sustainable, less wasteful and more energy-efficient and cost-effective procedures and processes.
