On 1 January 2023 AquaMinerals welcomed two new shareholders to its collective: the Limburg Water Authority and the De Dommel Water Authority.
Limburg Water Authority
The Limburg Water Authority Company (WBL) is an intermunicipal body which carries out treatment activities for the Limburg Water Authority. WBL strives toward circularity in its operational management, and thereby establishes the basis for the recovery of valuable resources from the wastewater and giving these new applications.
WBL and AquaMinerals have collaborated in the past on several initiatives, including the innovative vivianet and kaumera projects. They are also working together on destinations for sand and on identifying applications for dried and dewatered sludge – and, in the future, possibly for cellulose as well. The ambitious, proactive attitude of WBL, together with the (potentially) considerable volume of (recovered) resources, makes the company an important player in the Water Authority world, and therefore a valuable participant for AquaMinerals.
WBL sees a role for AqM in connecting WBL, as a producer of residuals, and the market, with a view to the high(er)-value application of these materials generated in municipal wastewater treatment. It also sees the value added in the services AqM provides in channelling the already existing material streams and (processing) chains, such as its sludge, which, starting 1 January 2023, is being generated with a different composition as a consequence of the ‘gas crisis’.
De Dommel Water Authority
The De Dommel Water Authority has been prominent for years in national initiatives and consultative bodies concerned with the recovery of resources from the water chain. The Water Authority has also itself taken several steps aimed at recovering (more) materials from its treatment processes, such as the construction of an energy and resources factory in Tilburg, its participation in the Phario project (degradable bioplastic), its feeding of processed biogas into the network and recovery of CO2. Its active role at the national level, as well as its concrete initiatives in the recovery of resources, make the De Dommel Water Authority a valuable partner in the AqM collective.
In striving to achieve a future-proof living environment, the De Dommel Water Authority has created an important space for a transition in the area of energy and circularity. In the context of the energy transition, it aims to achieve energy neutrality in its operations in 2025 and, by that same year, to halve its CO2 footprint. Moreover, in 2030 it aspires to cut its use of primary raw materials by half, to reuse effluent, and to close (resource) loops on a larger scale.
Delighted
AquaMinerals is naturally delighted with the accession of these two ambitious Water Authorities. They bring with them not only their ambition, but they also already dispose of material streams which AquaMinerals can concretely start to work with.
Eight Water Authorities have now joined AquaMinerals. This scale offers benefits in such areas as innovation, logistics, standardisation and purchasing. All of which contributes to the high(er)-value application of the materials that are generated and/or recovered during the treatment of wastewater, and ultimately to a more sustainable society.