Sustainable chemistry: toward a sustainable and efficient production
The scarcity of resources and the economical and ecological cost of waste streams from production processes do have an increasing influence on the competition potential of companies. Production processes need to fulfil increasing constraints to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels. Separation technologies are often an important energy consumer in different sectors. New developments in membrane technology open a complete new spectrum of possibilities to integrate processes stronger with separations. The combination of separation and reaction in one continuous reactor concept will result in an important benefit factor concerning speed and efficiency of conversion processes. The use of new membrane materials results in new possibilities to perform separations based on functional characteristics of target components.
Biochemical conversion systems will start from renewable organic resources or waste streams for the production of a broad spectrum of existing new basic chemicals.
Mineral wastes, mostly dumped up to now, have a potential value for reuse if the material constraints can be adapted to the necessary quality standards for reuse. Chemical immobilisation and stabilisation processes can result in the upgrading of mineral rest streams for a large variety of applications.
VITO has the objective, together with research partners (academic, industrial), to perform breakthrough research by:
- development of new concepts and applications wherein (bio)chemical conversions and membrane technology are optimally integrated;
- waste streams (including CO2) will be used as resource for the (biochemical) production and chemical stabilisation;
- continuously taking into account the control of pollutants that can be released in all kinds of processes.
The research program Sustainable Chemistry combines the thorough knowledge and extended infrastructure in the domains of material technology and separation and (bio)chemical conversion technology.
Waste valorisation
Several organic waste streams are nowadays not used and contain many components that can be used directly, but also very often after further transformation, as high value chemicals. VITO is working on the integration of these processes via microbial conversions, extractions, fractionations, separations and chemo-enzymatic processes for the upgrading of biomass to valuable basic chemicals as biofuels (biodiesel, biomethane, biohydrogen,…), biopolymers, high value amino acids and oligopetides, fatty acids, alcohols, …
The waste streams that are used are amongst others animal waste, kitchen waste combined with waste water, plant waste combined with soil remediation.
CO2 is in some cases (emissions) a resource with a negative value and in this way very interesting to be used in synthesis processes. VITO works on the development of processes whereas CO2 can be used as resources to carbonate mineral waste and to transform it into reusable mineral stones and products.
Microbial conversions of organic waste and/or biomass result in
new products for further valorisation in energy, chemistry or food
Integrated separation processes
Membranes are used intensively for the production of process water and for water treatment systems. However the application of membranes is moving also more and more toward the real process. More pronounced knowledge concerning solvent separations and the development of solvent resistant membranes will lead to new applications in chemical processes. In order to answer these needs, VITO develops amongst others a hydrophobic ceramic membrane. Pervaporation membranes allow the separation of solvents from water and vice versa leading to the purification of process streams in a sustainable way and to upgrade waste streams (e.g. dewatering of (bio)ethanol) as alternative for energy intensive distillations.
VITO has the necessary experience in sol-gel technology, template assisted deposition of top layers based on mesoporous films and nanozeolite particles. These technologies allow to make ceramic materials with extremely specific top layers. It will lead to membranes with specific characteristics, specific and sharp cut off values, defined affinities etc.
The development of so called ‘Integrated Permeate Channel’ polymer membranes means a breakthrough in the production process of polymer membranes in which a reinforcement, in the same time being used as permeate chamber, in one single step together with the membrane itself is produced. This patented procedure leads to many new applications in water treatment, pervaporation and membrane reactor technology.
The development of higher mentioned ceramic and IPC-membranes will also allow to couple reactions and separations via immobilisation of chemical and biochemical (enzymes) catalysts in membrane reactors. These integrated processes will lead further to a strong increase in specificity and efficiency of conversions.
Integrated concepts of membranes allow to produce the membrane
and permeate channels in one time. This leads to several applications
in separation technology and to the integration of (bio)chemical
reactions and purifications.
Pollutant control
It is well known as well wastewater, soil as groundwater are facing persistent pollutants (e.g. AOX, chlorinated solvents,…). VITO uses reactive (nano)materials that can degrade these compounds via chemical oxidation or reduction processes.
Bioaugmentation, the use of specific micro-organisms to degrade specific compounds, is an other way to tackle those persistent molecules. As a specific example of these strategy MTBE (methyl-ter-buthylether), an important pollutant in gasoline stations, is studied.
