Membrane projects get Acqueau approval label

Two water membrane projects are among seven Acqueau water-cluster proposals accepted by Eureka, the European research and development funding and coordination organization, for the award of its approval label.

These awards result from Acqueau‘s first call for proposals in July 2010. The third call has just been launched on 10 January 2011.

The Eureka label is awarded to project proposals with the potential of developing breakthrough innovations. It allows the winning consortium companies to apply for national funding in support of the labeled project and is an assessment of the quality, economic interest and viability of the projects.

The two water membrane projects are:

MICRODISC – a filtration project for water reuse and drinking water production. It implements low-energy and cost-effective technologies for removing parasites and turbidity.

LEMEDIS – related to the industrial development of alternative technologies for desalination; whilst proven as energy-efficient at lab scale, membrane distillation is still not available for industrial use. Lemedis will offer a more affordable and less energy-intensive desalination process.

The other five projects aim to prevent risks and increase security and safety of water supply and sanitation.

OPRISMA and SWARM target improving resources management, implementing new sensors and developing suitable data-collection and adapted software.

DUTS deals with controlling water quality and water flow.

BLUE BOX TOOL focuses on monitoring of water-related security issues.

AUTOMAQUA aims to develop automation technologies for wastewater treatment plants.

The organization says it is particularly pleased by the high quality of the proposals. The project consortia involved 12 countries and 48 partners affirming the value of multi-national collaboration.

SMEs and Research Institutes were well represented, leading more than half of the projects. The total value of the seven projects is € ~23 million with a mean duration of ~3 years.