Abstract Summary
Industry is one of the largest water users in Europe next to agriculture and households. Circular water concepts are already implemented in industry, but the European Commission (EC) is giving specific attention to ‘Water Smart Industrial Symbiosis (WSIS)’ in which economic value and increased sustainability is created by introducing circular symbiotic arrangements between industry and water service providers. This approach will also enhance the opportunities for recovery and reuse of water embedded resources (energy, materials) and stimulate new circular business arrangements. In the EC funded ULTIMATE project we have looked into the potential of WSIS in different industrial settings. ULTIMATE has developed nine lighthouse WSIS cases In Europe, the UK and Israel, where ULTIMATE has successfully connected the water sector with the agri-food, chemical, petrochemical, biotechnology and beverage industries, and established 24 different pilot plants and three control- and monitoring systems. In addition, six concept/feasibility studies were conducted and three Greenfield assessments have been carried out to show the replication in other industrial settings. Six case studies are planning full scale implementation of the demonstrated solutions. In total 31 novel circular water technologies have been successfully tested and demonstrated, enabling water reuse, heat recovery and reuse, biogas production and utilisation, energy efficiency, and material recovery. In addition to these technological innovations, digital support tools and social innovations have been applied. Digital support tools identify symbiotic opportunities, enhance the design and operation of industrial symbiotic schemes, and assess their long-term viability, improving cross-domain interaction, resilience, replicability, transferability of solutions. Social innovations support the involvement of stakeholders, policy and governance recommendations and new business tools and arrangements. The positive experiences from ULTIMATE and take up of innovations and approaches, showing the potential to achieve a water smart industrial symbiosis, will also contribute to achieving a water smart society.
