Editorial Magazine 2023/4
BOOM IN INNOVATION AT ALUMINIUM TWO THOUSAND WORLD CONGRESS 12TH EDITION
The 12th edition of the Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress was defined by a great number of innovations presented by experts from over 35 countries from all over the world.
With this editorial we’d like lo highlight just one of said innovations, one of particular relevance, as it pertains to environmental protection.
More specifically, we’re talking about the unimaginable waste of water going on in anodizing plants and, though in smaller quantities, in aluminium coating plants; huge amounts of water are routinely polluted during processing, and they need to go through chemical-physical depuration before being released back into the environment.
Still, even when the concentration of pollutants in waste waters remains below the threshold defined by locally applicable laws regarding emissions, we’re still dealing with more or less “unfriendly” salts, even if in small quantities. Innovative solutions were proposed in response, including talk of zero liquid discharge, already applied in industrial settings. As of today, the most advanced, all-inclusive systems are available for waste water treatment.
Water is turning into an increasingly valuable resource, and yet only few realise that an average medium to large plant uses 20.000, 30.000, 40.000 and even 60.000 litres of water every hour; if we multiply that by the thousands of factories all over the world, by the 12/24 hours in a day and by the 300 days in a year (roughly deducting holidays and non-working days), we can easily imagine the magnitude of such waste. That’s why the aforementioned technologies were designed, with a very well-defined goal: drastically reducing water waste in clients’ production processes.
We have high hopes that these environmentally conscious innovations will be more and more renowned among companies involved in anodizing and coating of aluminium, but also among civil officials and lawmakers. It is therefore advantageous to hope for the implementation of public funding, even partially non-repayable ones, for investments towards these new technologies for partial discharge, or even better zero liquid discharge; care for the environment and for sustainability must be the highest priorities for the industry of the future, in which all of humanity is involved.
Walter Dalla Barba,
Editor, Chairman of Aluminium Two Thousand World Congress
