Green Chemistry and Ultrafiltration membranes in the Fast Lane

Green Chemistry takes center stage as Rhys and Divya dive into the world of sustainable chemical manufacturing and the importance of the 12 principles from the US EPA. Discover the challenges and potential of market adoption and the exciting developments in green alternatives like Hydrex and bio-based polyacrylamide flocculants. 

Shift focus to Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes as we explore emerging innovations in ceramic and graphene oxide membranes, and the implications of upcoming EU PFAS restrictions. 

Don't miss the buzz about the WEFTEC conference in New Orleans, where Bluetech Research is proudly hosting a range of events, including Jamming for Water, the Breakfast Briefing and the Innovators Forum. 

Reports & Resources:

• Download the reports on Green Chemistry and UF Membranes from the BlueTech Platform
• WEFTEC 2024: Registration 

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Transcript

Divya: 0:05

Good morning, Rhys, and welcome everyone to another episode of Blue Notes.

Rhys: 0:10

Hi Divya, good to be here again. How are you doing?

Divya: 0:13

Good, good, doing well. Caught up in the October flurry, I think. Um, as it always is, the last, last few months of the year. Um, on various projects, actually busy completing a lot of projects, starting a lot of projects with the aim to complete it by the end of the year. So yeah, very, very busy, but it's good to be busy.

Rhys: 0:35

Yeah, it's fall. Autumn's always a busy time for us, especially with WEFTA coming up. And yeah, we can chat a little bit more about that later. It's been quite a dramatic week on the weather front as well with Storm Helene in the States.

Divya: 0:48

Yeah

Rhys: 0:49

very damaging hurricane and less damaging of course, but we had the heaviest rainfall in a single day here 56 years. Uh last week. Yeah, that was so that caused a bit of flooding and disruption It was very localized. So the rivers didn't rise too much, but there was there was disruption. So yeah, it's it's it's a volatile climate. All right. Just another sign of that I suppose

Divya: 1:15

Exactly. Another, another evidence that climate change is you know, we're, we, we are witnessing that and, um, speaking of climate change and everything all to do with sustainability, let's maybe jump into what's been keeping us busy lately. To start with, we're just about to wrap our wrap up our research on green chemistry. So let's define what we mean by green chemistry. In the report, we say green chemistry is a sustainable approach to chemical manufacturing. It starts with designing products or processes that minimize or eliminate the use or the creation of hazardous materials. What I found really interesting was the fact that the US EPA has a specific criteria. They call it the 12 principles of green chemistry. And you can look this up in the report or visit the US EPA's website. And you know, the 12 principles all seem like the right direction, all seem to head in the direction of achieving net zero and sustainability goals. But interestingly, there's a catch. At least I found that aspect of it very interesting in the report. Our, our report, Reece, do you want to maybe elaborate on that? Mm.

Rhys: 2:19

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's, that's right. That 12 point list is quite useful. It's, it's all about increasing energy efficiency, preventing waste using renewable feedstocks and so on. And there are a lot of products out there already on the market that fit into that green chemistry ambition, but there are issues the, the, the, with any resource recovery or green greener alternative, the market needs to be there as well. And that's, slow to develop at the moment. It's, I think it's fair to say that greener chemical formulations are a bit lagging behind the standard ones in terms of performance and cost at the moment. But you know, they have a lot of potential and there's, there's a lot of products out there already on the market being used at the moment. So, you know, we've got, uh, examples like coagulants, flocculants. There's one that product from the earlier called Hydrex which is extracted from black acacia tree bark, and that's a green alternative to traditional coagulants. Similarly Chimera, SNF, they offer bio based polyacrylamide flocculants Solvay, Solvay is, is, is, is developing a oxidant made from hydrogen peroxide. Moving towards renewable feedstocks like green hydrogen. So there's, there's a lot of activity and some of it is still in the R& D stage and some of it is beginning to get into the market now, but it's, it's making a relatively small market impact at the moment.

Divya: 3:51

And you know what, what, what was interesting for me as well when I read the report was we interviewed quite a few people, right? We spoke with suppliers, we spoke with end users, particularly utilities. And overall, as you say, there is interest in such, such chemicals, um, and you know, there's an interest in sustainable practices. But then you have to consider there's cost considerations, there's supply chain complexities and performance concerns. They're all hurdles to widespread adoption of green, green chemistry. And you also need the regulatory incentives to advance these. These, these chemicals.

Rhys: 4:27

Exactly. That's, it's, it's always so important to have that regulatory market push as with so many things in the water industry. And, uh, you know, it, it will come and even without it, we're already seeing a lot of extremely interesting formulations come onto the market. So this is a look over the horizon that what's coming down the tracks in terms of innovations.

Divya: 4:47

Yeah. And if you're, if, if you're a chemistry nerd, I would recommend you to read the report. We go into quite a bit of detail around opportunities for green chemistry across a wide area of chemicals, coagulants, flocculants, oxidants, pH modifiers, anti corrosion agents. anti foaming agents, anti scalants, reducing agents. So yeah, real chemistry geek out, I guess, um,

Rhys: 5:13

Exactly.

Divya: 5:14

for those who want to get into the detail. So that report is, will be available on the platform shortly and is actually the topic for our next web briefing. The invites will go out soon.

Rhys: 5:26

That's right. That's right.

Divya: 5:28

So let's turn our attention to another. area that we've covered recently, which is ultrafiltration UF membranes and talk about areas for potential breakthrough. For the audience of this podcast, everyone knows UF is a well established, well understood, well known technology, but you know, as with any technology, it has its pain points. I won't go into too much detail, but fouling, membrane permeability, energy efficiency, these are all outlined in the report, but what is exciting Are the areas of innovation and breakthrough that target these pain points and the report examines that in detail and also comments around the timeline for market impact. So Reese, I don't know if you want to share some highlights of that report.

Rhys: 6:09

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, as you say, it's, it's a, it's a well established market. It's already valued at something like a billion dollars per year. Globally, we estimate the is around 8%. So it's a big established market that's growing quite well. And some of the, you know, You know, innovations coming through are interesting though. I suppose the, the main biggest one would be ceramic membranes. We looked at that in 2022 and found it accounted for 7 percent of the total ultra filtration market ceramic membranes. Now that's going to 10%. So you can see that level of growth there. And that's due, we estimate that it will grow even faster in future. And that, you know, ceramic membranes are. more expensive, but they do offer higher resistance to chemical, thermal, and mechanical stress. So that's what's driving their growing market share there. And you've also got some quite interesting other developments, such as additive manufacturing 3D printing of membranes, which allows for much more intricate control over pore size, for example, and highly customized membrane structures. And there are several companies in breaking this area at the moment such as Evove for example, in the UK. And you've also got breakthroughs in graphene oxide membranes. Now that's, it's a really interesting area that's transitioned after years of academic research now coming into commercial use with again, several emerging companies on the market with solutions there. And like ceramic membranes, they have. That's robustness that makes them, you know, really attractive for water treatment and membrane modification.

Divya: 7:40

Absolutely. And, you know, we'll continue to track all of those areas, but in terms of what could disrupt this market, this, this UF market is the EU. In fact, it's the European chemical agency or ECHA have proposed new restrictions on the use of perfluorinated alkyl substances, PFAS, including polyvinylidene fluoride, PVDF. Now we don't expect this to take effect for at least another, Five, maybe 10 years, if not more, but the inclusion of PVDF in these restrictions could have a significant repercussion for the membrane industry in general. So if I were a membrane supplier, I would start focusing developments and expanding my PES product lines, or even consider ceramic membranes as a strategic alternative.

Rhys: 8:25

Yeah, exactly. That, you know, PFAS is going to become more and more difficult to use in all sorts of products and membranes are going to be no exception to that. Uh, and you know, PFAS is, it continues to be such a huge issue for the water industry.

Divya: 8:38

Yeah, and speaking of PFAS, there's actually quite a lot that we're talking about it at WEFTEC, which is coming up in the couple in, in, well, next week, in a couple of days in New Orleans. We're very excited to be there. Um, I'll just take you through very quickly some of the events that you'd like to, maybe our audience would like to earmark to join us. The Saturday, 5th of October in the evening, we're running Jamming for Water. Bluetech Research are proud sponsors of this event as are others. So we'd love to have you and host you there. The Monday morning at 10 AM, we'll run a tour of the innovation pavilion. So you'll get to meet all of the showcase companies that are joining us this year. Tuesday morning is our client, Bluetech Client Breakfast Briefing starting at 7. 30 and that's where we'll be talking about PFAS and we'll be touching upon other fast moving areas in water, artificial, artificial intelligence, lithium and general broader trends that we're witnessing in the water industry. So do join us for that one. Um, right after the breakfast briefing, starting at 9. 00 AM, we're running what we call the Innovators Forum. Again, a different type of event. Um, Not a presentation led by Bluetech, but actually more interactive with round tables on various topics. Um, so yeah, exciting, exciting and looking forward to hosting our clients for that event also. And then Tuesday evening, we'll finish with the Bluetech pitches for our companies, it's what we call the Crock Tank session. So you'll get to hear the company's pitch to a panel of judges and the judges will grill them and ask them questions. A bit like the Shark Tank approach that people might be familiar with. So. Very exciting lineup of events at WEFTEC and, you know, WEFTEC in itself is such a great opportunity to convene with thought leaders in the industry. And, um, it's always a really good opportunity to reconnect with old friends as well. So looking forward to meeting you all there and yeah. And reporting back from New Orleans the week after.

Rhys: 10:33

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, it's going to be a packed, interesting show. Hope everyone enjoys it and let's reconvene after the show

Divya: 10:40

Will do. Thanks Ruiz. Have a good one.

Rhys: 10:42

bye bye.

Divya: 10:43

Take care. Bye.