The call for innovation, cooperation and collaboration has never been higher. A circular economy, with its focus on minimizing waste and maximizing the use and management of scarce resources, offers significant environmental, social and economic benefits.1 Concerted efforts at building circular economies are gaining momentum, underscoring the need to accelerate the development of solutions that can be implemented.
Sulzer offers a wide range of products and solutions that contribute to circular economies and remains committed to investing in and advancing these innovative solutions. From carbon capture and utilization solutions (CCUS) that focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to energy solutions that convert waste to fuel or improve efficiencies, our solutions add ongoing value to industries and communities worldwide.
Enabling green hydrogen production
The ongoing need to reduce carbon emissions from industry and the transport sector is driving both innovation and partnerships in sustainable fuel production. One of the most ambitious projects to date is the development of NEOM, a smart city in Saudi Arabia. NEOM is building the world’s largest green hydrogen and green ammonia manufacturing facility that will demonstrate the potential of carbon-free hydrogen as a cost-effective solution for the transportation and industrial sectors globally.
Scalability of green hydrogen is considered crucial for the realization of a circular economy system and sustainable development. Produced through water electrolysis using renewable electricity, green hydrogen does not emit greenhouse gases. Moreover, much of the water used in the electrolysis process can be recovered and reused for other purposes.
As a global leader in pump technology with both a manufacturing facility and a service center in Saudi Arabia, Sulzer was selected in 2023 by Air Products to deliver a range of business-critical pumps to the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project’s production plant. With a projected capacity of some 220’000 tonnes of carbon-free, green hydrogen per year, this large-scale clean energy project underscores the power of partnership. It also highlights how Sulzer’s pioneering commitment to research and development of innovative technologies is enabling economies around the world to become more sustainable.
Sustaining growing populations
Some of Sulzer’s most life-sustaining technologies relate to wastewater treatment. With growing global population and increasing urbanization, water resources are being depleted. The World Bank’s WICER publication recently reported that water demand is expected to increase by 55% by 2050, while water availability is projected to decline by 40%.2
With water scarcity directly impacting physical health, food security, industrial development and the environment, wastewater treatment is vital to a circular economy and a more resilient future. As water is crucial for various industries including agriculture, electricity generation and mining, water circularity is projected to generate economic benefits of over $380 billion worldwide per year by 2030, not to mention the eleven million jobs it could create in this same period.3
Water circularity holds real economic and social value. At the same time, it is complex and costly. Stakeholders need to collaborate and share best practices, experience and knowledge, while building relationships and networks to scale technologies and initiatives. In support of planned water and wastewater infrastructure development in the U.S., we are expanding our America-based water business. We have recently commissioned a testing and assembly facility in Portland, Oregon, and are currently expanding our manufacturing site in Easley, South Carolina. For global water security, the need to invest in and adopt innovative technologies and solutions that enable circular water management is critical.
Recycling water for agriculture
According to the United Nations water organization, 72% of all water withdrawals are used by agriculture while 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high water shortages or scarcity.4 Bahrain, for example, where the average temperature is nearly 30 degrees Celsius, is advancing initiatives to manage water scarcity and environmental challenges.
Nordic Water, a Sulzer company based in Sweden, has recently supported the large-scale expansion of one of Bahrain’s largest wastewater treatment plants to ultimately supply irrigation water. As with all water being discharged back to the environment, the standards for agricultural reuse are necessarily high and stringent.
Limited to the plant’s original footprint, Nordic Water first replaced the plant’s rapid sand filters with their significantly more efficient DynaSand filter solution. Designed to remove suspended solids, biological materials and contaminants, Nordic Water installed 160 DynaSand filters in the original twenty concrete basins to enable continuous operation without back-washing. The solution was then integrated as part of a coordinated expansion of the site. With nine of Nordic Water’s DynaDisc filters added as a pre-filtering system, the system enables 250’000 m3 of wastewater to be recycled every day.
The innovative solution from Nordic Water supports a circular water economy by effectively providing a reliable and alternative source of water for irrigation in a water-scarce region. This is how Sulzer enhances resilience to climate change, literally ensuring water for life.
Repurposing salt sugar wood and wasteFebruary 21, 2024Sulzer is collaborating with industry, governments and educational institutes around the world to leverage its technologies and help repurpose resources for a more sustainable future. Our solutions are ensuring material inputs are being maximized to their fullest extent, contributing to the preservation of scarce resources, energy efficiency, diversion of waste from landfills and heaps of other benefits.
Recycling waste and recapturing valueFebruary 21, 2024As the basis of life on earth, carbon is present in most materials. Thus, when industrial and consumer goods are no longer of use and mechanical recycling options have been exhausted, chemistry becomes the hidden force that serves to reduce ecological impacts.
Bridging the gap with ingenuityFebruary 21, 2024Sulzer is passionate about offering lifecycle solutions for a sustainable world. Our solutions make installed rotating equipment run more efficiently, use less fuel and operate sustainably with improved performance across many industries.
