The industrial sector’s heat demand can be reduced by several dozens of percentage points by making processes more efficient and using more renewable electricity. This would translate into up to 5 megatonnes less CO2 emitted each year. Roughly half of the energy consumed by the industrial sector goes into high-temperature drying and dewatering.

TNO’s research shows that there are considerable energy savings and efficiency gains to be made in this area. Additionally, innovative technologies would give an important boost to the Dutch economy. The driving forces behind these technological developments are Yvonne van Delft, energy expert at TNO, EERA Joint Programme Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes (JP EEIP) Coordinator, and Coordinator of the SOLIDARITY project, together with Tamara Oukes, researcher at TNO.

As part of the SOLIDARITY project, in which TNO plays a central role as a research and coordination partner, the organisation has developed three promising technologies together with its partners and showcased their potential in a number of pilot projects.

The three breakthrough technologies

These are the three technologies developed as part of the SOLIDARITY project to make industrial drying and dewatering processes more sustainable:

• Pervaporation for glycol dehydration in the oil and gas industry
• Electrodialysis for brine reuse in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries
• Drying and dewatering during paper production

“Drying and dewatering require a huge amount of energy. This is why the business community has asked us to develop innovations in this area." - Yvonne van Delft, Senior project manager, TNO & Joint Programme Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes Coordinator, EERA