What are the most noteworthy climate technologies in 2024?
On April 24, during Shanghai Climate Week, Shanghai Climate Week, together with China ESG Alliance and Low Carbon Office Alliance, jointly held a forum on the theme of "Reshaping Climate Technology, Revitalizing the Future of Cities". At the forum, Nalco Water, a division of Ecolab, was named one of the "Top 10 Most Interesting Climate Technologies of 2024", along with nine other technologies.
On April 22, Ecolab just won the "2023 China Enterprise Carbon Neutrality Performance List - Technological Innovation Breakthrough Award". Tingyun Kong, Executive Vice President and President of Ecolab Greater China, said, "Most companies generally think that energy conservation and carbon reduction are a luxury that requires a lot of financial resources and energy. But Ecolab has always argued that with the right approach, companies can achieve both economic and environmental benefits. Through a long-term commitment to technological innovation and breakthroughs in operations, products and packaging, solutions and services, Ecolab is confident that it and its customers will be able to help itself and its customers achieve the ambitious 3050 Sustainable Development Goals. ”
Accelerate technological progress to meet climate goals
On March 19, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released the State of the Global Climate 2023 report. In 2023, a number of climate change indicators such as global greenhouse gas concentrations, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice extent, and glacier melt set new records, the report shows.
At the same time, the report also confirms that 2023 is the warmest year on record, and the last decade is the warmest decade on record.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that all major indicators are on the "alarm...... Some of the numbers are not only at the top, but are even breaking records, and change is accelerating.
According to the report, the pain and chaos caused by heat waves, floods, droughts, wildfires and rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones have thrown the daily lives of millions of people into trouble and caused billions of dollars in economic losses.
Therefore, it is more urgent to pragmatically promote the low-carbon transition and seek funding, experience and technical support on a global scale to achieve global climate goals. Including the "Carbon Neutrality Performance List of Chinese Enterprises" and "Top 10 Most Worthy Climate Technologies in 2024", etc., all carry such expectations.
So, why is "smart and innovative water reuse solutions" one of the "Top 10 Most Interesting Climate Technologies for 2024"?
"Extraction, transport, heating, cooling and treating water all consume energy, so reducing water consumption helps to reduce energy consumption, which in turn equals reduced CO2 emissions. Mi Zhou, regional vice president of Ecolab's Nalco Water Greater China Light Industry Division, said that it is therefore an effective way to use the power of water to achieve climate goals.
The "14th Five-Year Plan" for the construction of a water-saving society (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") proposes that the goal of industrial water conservation and pollution reduction is to select 50 water efficiency leaders in thermal power, iron and steel, petrochemical industry, nonferrous metals, papermaking, printing and dyeing, food and other industries by 2025, and the water efficiency of key water-consuming industries in water-scarce areas will reach the international advanced level.
The plan also proposes that by 2025, through the implementation of key tasks and key projects in key areas, the total water consumption will be controlled within 640 billion cubic meters, the water consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP will be reduced by about 16% compared with 2020, and the water consumption of 10,000 yuan of industrial added value will be reduced by 16.0% compared with 2020.
Therefore, industrial enterprises have a great demand for water reuse, but in the context of "double carbon", higher requirements are also put forward for energy conservation and high efficiency of wastewater treatment, and they are facing greater challenges.
For example, in the reuse of cooling water, after high concentration, the sediment saturation in the circulating cooling water is high, and the risk of fouling is large; the amount of mud to remove harding/turbidity reduction through traditional coagulation and sedimentation is large, the process is long, the treatment cost is high, and the operation is complex; the incorrect use of the treatment agent (scale inhibitor, dispersant, corrosion inhibitor, fungicide) in the circulating cooling water system enters the reuse system, which is easy to cause the fouling of ultrafiltration membrane pores; and the problem of microbial fouling is extremely frequent in the cooling water sewage reuse system.
The traditional circulating sewage reuse method has problems such as too long reuse process, large footprint, many system fouling and backwashing units, and serious membrane fouling, resulting in poor system reliability and difficulty in being unattended. At the same time, the water recovery rate is low, and only 50%-60% can be achieved when sludge is not allowed, resulting in high reuse water prices.
More efficient and economical water conservation and carbon reduction
How to make cooling water reuse a more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable way to save water and reduce carbon emissions?
As a participant in the compilation of the "Design Code for Industrial Circulating Cooling Water Treatment" GB50050, Nalco Water is different from traditional pharmaceutical manufacturers and water treatment engineering companies, because it has a deep understanding of cooling water quality and rich experience in circulating cooling water treatment, and the overall cooling water reuse solution developed by Nalco Water can further improve the water efficiency of the entire circulating cooling water system.
Different from traditional recycled water reuse technology, Nalco Water's total solution includes modular equipment, patented chemistries, digital platforms, and professional operation and maintenance.
Specifically, Nalco Water considers the circulating water system and the reuse system as a whole, and achieves the purpose of stabilizing the quality of the circulating water effluent through the optimization of circulating water chemicals to improve the stability of the reuse system. On the reuse side, through the patented modular process design, the process is simplified by 60% and the upfront civil engineering and equipment investment is reduced. The modular system does not produce sludge and reduces waste disposal costs. In addition, digital and intelligent tools are used to collect on-site data, and the system is diagnosed with health, and the process conditions such as dosing are quickly adjusted to improve efficiency and reduce labor costs.
At the same time, Nalco Water has also developed its own cooling water reuse chemical solutions: specially developed antiscalants to effectively solve the problem of scaling, synergists combined with a coupling process of pretreatment to effectively remove suspended solids, and simultaneously remove part of SiO2, Ba2+ to reduce sludge volume and operating costs, and improve recovery rates, synergists to remove a variety of pollutants that affect membrane fouling (including cooling water treatment chemicals), and patented fungicides combined with a process design without dead angles to effectively eliminate microbial contamination.
In Nalco Water's modular equipment, a single unit can handle up to 60 cubic meters per hour, or multiple units can be used in parallel. At the same time, because reverse osmosis is a desalination process, the quality of produced water is much better than that of tap water.
Zhou Mi said that a very important point in this solution is digital technology. Nalco Water collects water quality parameters and operating parameters simultaneously and uploads them to the smart water reuse system. Accordingly, Nalco Water's engineers and service personnel can monitor water quality and process operation, safety and production, and timely feedback abnormal alarms to escort safe and stable production. Some questions can also be submitted to the Nalco Water Digital Remote Expert Center to form remote intellectual support.
As a result, Nalco Water's total solution for cooling water effluent reuse achieves a lower overall cost. For example, due to its short process and small footprint, the investment is low. Low operating costs due to no need for dehardening, and low solid waste disposal costs due to the absence of sludge.
Taking a large data center in eastern China as an example, the data center has achieved an annual water saving of 100,000 tons and a WUE (water utilization efficiency) reduction from 2.05L/kWh to 1.4L/kWh by adopting Nalco Water's cooling water and rainwater reuse scheme, which not only meets the government's regulations on WUE, but also reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 21 tons and saves 500,000 yuan in costs throughout the year.
In other industrial water reuse fields, such as boiler water reuse, RO concentrated water reuse and process wastewater reuse in various industries, such as copper wastewater reuse in the microelectronics industry and lithium wastewater reuse in the power battery industry, enterprises need to have a deeper insight into industry water management and a more holistic and sustainable plan for the water use of the whole plant. With strong innovation, digital technologies, connected chemistry solutions, expertise and experience at nearly 3 million customer sites, Nalco Water is committed to helping customers across a wide range of industries minimize their water and climate impact, reduce their total cost of operation, create exponential value and achieve sustainable development.
Help customers save 1.1 billion tons of water by 2030
Through the Power of Water to Achieve Climate Goals, Ecolab helped customers save 829 million tons of water and reduce carbon emissions by 3.6 million metric tons in 2022 alone.
By 2030, Ecolab's goal is to help customers save 300 billion gallons (1.1 billion tons) of water annually to meet the drinking water needs of 1 billion people, and to help customers meet their carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6 million metric tons.
Ecolab's pace toward this goal is accelerating.
On March 22, World Water Day 2024, Ecolab announced its participation in the China ESG Alliance. As a member of the alliance, Ecolab and its subsidiary, Nalco Water, will use innovative science-based solutions and data-driven insights to drive more companies in environmental, social and governance (ESG) sustainability, enhance ESG value for themselves and their partners, and achieve their sustainability goals.
China ESG Alliance is jointly initiated by many well-known enterprises and institutions in the industry, aiming to gather the perspectives and ecological resources of many ESG experts, take innovation as the driving force, take digital technology as the center, incubate green and sustainable solutions, and build responsible climate technology solutions to benefit the public.
Founded in the United States in 1923, Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) is a global leader in water, sanitation and infection control services. Nalco Water, which became part of Ecolab in 2011, is a global leader in water treatment and process technology.
Notably, Ecolab has received the highest rating of AAA from MSCI (MSCI) ESG ratings. Ecolab also earned a CDP Double A rating for water security for the fifth consecutive year and a CDP Double A rating for the third consecutive year for climate change, while EcoVadis, a sustainability rating company, earned EcoVadis a 2024 Gold Award for Sustainability with an overall score of 75 that surpassed 97% of global participants.
Kong Tingyun said that in the future, Ecolab will continue to deepen its local development, link Ecolab's global R&D capabilities, and continue to contribute to China's dual-carbon economy and high-quality development through product, service and business model innovation, and promote the harmonious coexistence of man and nature.