Extraction of minerals from industrial sludge for reuse

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM

Currently, wastewater treatment processes generate sludge which is usually disposed of in landfills. However, some of these sludges contain valuable minerals which could be reused in various industries if only they could be extracted into mineral or chemical form.

Up to 2,500 tonnes of this sludge is produced each year by wastewater biotreatment and chemical treatment. Previously membrane-based technologies had demonstrated the feasibility of extracting minerals from industrial wastewater but did not have the faculty to separate multiple minerals mixed in the wastewater out into distinct streams with individually greater utility and economic value. Typically the sludge consists of the flocculation residue from wastewater biotreatment and chemical treatment, as well as the minerals they entrap in the sludge. No solutions have been tried to extract these minerals before, this sludge has always been landfilled.

Therefore GF is looking for novel solutions that can extract minerals out of industrial sludge for reuse.

Solutions GF is not willing to consider include:

• Technologies which cannot separate out a mix of minerals from the wastewater
• Technologies in which the end-product is not a concentrated brine or mineral solids
• Technologies which cannot work with either
1. high-volume industrial wastewater cheaply and efficiently, or
2. include pre-treatment methods to work with industrial sludge

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS / PERFORMANCE CRITERIA:

GF will be evaluating the solution providers on a case-by-case basis. Generally speaking, we will be looking at the following requirements and criteria:

Technical Requirements:

• Scalable for various orders of magnitude of industrial wastewater volumes
• Automated operations requiring no more manpower beyond a local control room
• Tolerant of variable quality incoming sludge/wastewater
• Preferably continuous operating mode (non-batch)

Relevant standards/regulations:

• If the technology works on high-volume industrial wastewater, the outgoing effluent must be able to meet the Sewerage and Drainage (Trade Effluent) Regulations

Product/solution development stages:

• We will be evaluating the ROI and earn back time of proposed solutions on a case-by-case basis

COST TARGET

GF will be evaluating solutions on a case-by-case basis. Generally, we would be looking at a maximum expenditure of USD $5 million including labour, testing and commissioning, and installation of any needed utilities.

TIMEFRAME FOR DEVELOPMENT

Phase 1: PoC/Pilot phase 2-4 months

Phase 2: Commercial roll-out to be determined on a case-by-case basis

Target project completion preferably commissioned by end-2024.

POTENTIAL MARKET / BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

With GF: 1 unit to begin, up to 2 units max.

Every semiconductor fab in the world could be a potential customer as well.

RESOURCES

GF is willing to support with the following support resources:

Providing relevant data, samples and possibly test/pilot sites

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

If proposed solutions prove their efficacy, GF is willing to work together with solution provider to jointly roll out globally

Contact / source: Enterprise Singapore Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge - Sustainability Open Innovation Challenge 2022 (innovation-challenge.sg)