Industrielles Wassermanagement: Wegbereiter für neue Prozesse, nachhaltige Produktion und Standortsicherheit

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Water is on indispensable for the process industry: Whether as a cooling or solvent medium, as a reagent or product component. Chemical and pharmaceutical production continues to evolve – hydrogen, digitalization, circular management, new production processes. What does this mean for industrial water management?

CO2-neutrality, hydrogen production, Power-to-X processes, circular economy, and zero pollution are currently at the top of the agenda for the process industry. Water is an irreplaceable resource, especially for chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. If it is possible to integrate industrial water management into production and site management, process efficiency can be increased, circular solutions become feasible, and the transformation toward a sustainable process industry progresses. Moreover, a close integration of production and industrial water management strengthens the competitiveness of companies and locations, reduces risks of production downtime, and increases investment security in corporate development. The rising water stress at many process industry sites means that business success increasingly depends on efficient industrial water management.

Water as a key for hydrogen production

The use of renewable energies and their storage in the form of hydrogen or derivative products is one of the most important prerequisites for a climate-neutral process industry. An increasing number of initiatives across various sectors accelerate the expansion of capacities to produce and utilize hydrogen: Over 1,400 international hydrogen projects, as well as numerous reference projects in Germany such as Aquaventus, H2Giga, H2Mare, or Kopernikus, underline this development. While industry uses hydrogen as an energy storage or for high-temperature processes, R&D projects focus on hydrogen infrastructure, mass production of electrolysis technologies, and the synthesis of basic chemicals based on hydrogen.

The typical electrolyzers require about 10 to 17 kilograms of deionized water to produce one kilogram of green hydrogen. The basis for green hydrogen, green or sustainable energy, can be especially economically generated in sun-rich or wind-rich regions. However, regions with the highest potential for renewable energies are often also those with high water stress and associated water risks. Once local resources are depleted, it has an irreversible impact on the region. Therefore, alternative water resources for hydrogen production are becoming increasingly important. Examples include desalinated water and water reuse. An increasing number of seawater desalination plants lead to new challenges in wastewater disposal (emissions into the sea) and open up possibilities for the utilization of brine and concentrates. In the future, the production of green hydrogen will increase. This means that water must be used more efficiently and reused in the production process, especially cooling water and wastewater streams. Here, an optimized integrated water management system comes into play.

New hydrogen projects increasingly aim at the direct conversion of hydrogen into basic chemicals and chemical energy storage, such as ammonia, methane, or e-kerosene. The thermal energy released in this production step can be made available for other processes. Thermal desalination technologies with higher efficiency, as well as biological wastewater treatment, can benefit from the available thermal energy and move further into focus. This development is not only relevant for the hydrogen economy; new membrane separation processes or expansions of biological water treatment can also positively influence industrial water management in terms of process and energy efficiency.

“Water is the key to realizing large-scale plants for the production of green hydrogen and its derivative products such as methanol or ammonia. Therefore, we must think about an integrated water management from the outset, along with strategies for renewable energy and hydrogen production. This is the foundation for a successful green hydrogen economy. The plant construction and process engineering, as we will see at ACHEMA 2024, make a decisive contribution,” says Dr. Thomas Track, Head of the Water Management Department at DECHEMA e.V.

In addition to renewable energies, efficient and robust water-related solutions are needed:

– Expertise and planning for hydrogen and Power-to-X production and water management must go hand in hand.
– (Wastewater) treatment technologies and management concepts must be tailored to production scenarios inland, at the coast, and at sea.
– The circular management of water and material flows must be optimized.

Water for the circular economy in the process industry

Circular innovation is transforming industries worldwide and is currently at the top of the agenda for the process industry. The transition to a circular economy, focusing on the entire product lifecycle from raw material procurement to recycling, requires a comprehensive transformation of industrial processes and structures toward climate neutrality and long-term competitiveness. The associated challenges for industry also impact industrial water management.

“The value chain of future circular production will feature a high proportion of processes in the aqueous phase,” says Dr. Christoph Blöcher, Head of Infrastructure Processes, Materials & Corrosion at Covestro Deutschland AG. “Therefore, water management must be considered from the beginning of process development. New approaches are needed for aqueous residual streams to recover chemical energy and valuable substances, such as nutrients.”

Besides its classical role in industrial production and cooling, water is increasingly coming into focus in new industrial applications. Processes for (waste)water treatment will evolve overall, from water purification to the utilization of its constituents, water, and the thermal energy contained within through recovery.
Chemical recycling processes as well as processes based on renewable raw materials and biotechnological methods generate aqueous residual streams characterized by high volumetric flow and high organic and salt loads. The composition of process waters in recycling processes thus presents entirely new challenges. Examples include chemical recycling of plastics, composite materials (e.g., high-performance lightweight materials or composites for electromobility), or polymetallic composites in electronic components, battery cells, or lightweight alloys. In addition to chemical processes, various biotechnological approaches are pursued to recycle plastics, including the use of enzymatic methods. These are often associated with increasing water demand. To meet these requirements, overarching technological approaches and processes for wastewater treatment must be developed, tested, and implemented.

Pharma and hydrogen production: Water for injection purposes and ultrapure water

Not least due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical production has gained further importance and driven innovations. For the pharmaceutical industry, parts of industrial biotechnology, and laboratory sectors, industrial water management focuses on water for injection purposes (Water for Injection, WFI) and ultrapure water (Ultra Pure Water).
Rising investment and maintenance costs, high energy prices, and increasing consumer concerns about environmental impacts of production and packaging residues are prompting many pharmaceutical companies to rethink toward more sustainable production methods. Since 2017, it has also been permitted in Europe to produce water for injection not only via distillation but also, for example, via membrane processes. In the USA and other parts of the world, this method has been standard for many years. This production variant is not only more flexible and energy-efficient but also offers advantages in investment and production costs, space requirements, service and maintenance, as well as scalability and various process options for WFI systems.

Market analyses such as those by Transparency Market Research estimate the current global market for water for injection at over 20 billion US dollars (2021), with a growth outlook exceeding 50 billion US dollars over the next ten years.
The global trend toward a green hydrogen economy leads to increasing water demand for the operation of electrolyzers. Focus is on water treatment systems and recirculation cleaning systems for ultrapure water. This trend also suggests a positive development for the market of ultrapure water systems for electrolysis.

“The current demand for ultrapure water systems is still shaped by the boom in pharmaceutical industries of recent years and is further boosted by the rapidly expanding production of green hydrogen,” says Dr. Eva Bitter, Managing Director of EnviroFALK PharmaWaterSystems GmbH.

Optimizing water management: digitalization, industrial intelligence, and sensor-based process control

Digital technologies are used to increase efficiency, reduce resource consumption, and close material cycles. In the process industry, this also applies at the interface of water management and industrial production. Whether establishing modular, dynamic, and flexible production approaches or ensuring supply security through integrated water resource management: capturing the necessary information and processing the resulting data streams can only be achieved through the use of digital tools.

Especially at the interface of industrial production and industrial water management, complex plant structures for monitoring and control can be linked with IoT/IIoT-based devices and sensors. Processing large data volumes (Big Data), for example with artificial intelligence, can be outsourced cost-effectively (edge vs. cloud). These technologies are indispensable for processing and efficiently utilizing resources. The information obtained can be secured in distributed ledgers (DLT), forming a basis for automated and transparent contracts (smart contracts). All these technologies bring suppliers, manufacturers, and customers closer together and enable an overview along the supply chain. ACHEMA 2024 will showcase these linkages in its exhibition with its Digital Hub and measurement, control, and process automation technology.

“Digitalization in water management (‘Water 4.0’) has become a buzzword and will lead to far-reaching changes in both public and private sectors. Companies have long faced the challenge of strategically adapting to the new digital world and rethinking their strategies, business models, and cultures. If an organization neglects this important step, it will lose its future viability and competitiveness,” says Christian Gutknecht, Industry Manager Water at Endress+Hauser Group.

Water is a decisive resource for the process industry and energy supply, but also one of the most threatened resources. Especially in the context of the energy transition and renewable energy use, the interplay of individual processes is crucial. Digital twins can play a decisive role here. They can simulate increased demands on plant dynamics in real time, adjust production, and thus secure a key competitive advantage. The rising requirements for supply security, product quality, and plant efficiency can only be met through the digital transformation of traditional production. This trend is driven by numerous consortia developing globally valid standards for communication and plant safety, thus accelerating digital transformation.

Conclusion

The wide variety of processes and technologies – hydrogen production, circular economy, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and digital integration – clearly shows: efficient water management is a central component of the process industry. This applies across all scales, from the plant to operations and site, up to entire companies. Unlike the energy and raw material basis of the process industry, the substitution of water in industrial use faces strict limits. Only through their close interplay can industrial production and water management realize their full potential for a green, circular, and net-zero economy.