Rethink the cycle. Rethink the waste.
Among others, the chemical industry produces thousands of essential products from the Earth’s raw materials every day. Resource efficiency across global value chains and operations is driving the development process in the chemical industry towards circularity. There is an increased need for designing sustainable solutions that demand fewer resources over the entire life cycle and that allow for an easy reuse and recycling at its end.
The challenge
Chemical production involves hazards hardly experienced in any other industry: complex reactions, inflammable materials, concentrated acids, heat, high pressure, risks of decomposing and explosion. Waste streams often contain mixtures of chemicals. These complex streams need to be refined and purified for valuable products to be recovered.
Besides this, the current approach to production processes is inefficient and unsustainable in the long term, based on the increasingly costly use of single-use raw materials.
Our take
GEA is developing its eco-design expertise to support customers right from the initial steps of creating manufacturing processes, through the production of new materials from transformed waste, bringing the circular economy loop to a close. GEA is rethinking engineering:
Foster sustainable business practices
We are actively driving sustainability through innovation and continuously improving processes and products by looking at the entire life cycle. This ensures that we help protect people and the environment by focusing on product and plant safety as well as continuous process optimization.
Extract value
GEA can help you implement liquid process technologies for solvent recovery there where chemical processes, often in multiple cycles, separate or clarify substances and phases or extract substances.
Remove impurities
We have a proven record recovering and crystallizing salts, detergents, and fine chemicals, helping our customers maximize economic benefit without needing more raw material.
Reutilize waste streams
We've helped reutilize process water and provide industrial wastewater treatment up to zero-liquid systems. Future-proofing our customers´ businesses in the face of limited resources.
Focus on circularity
GEA is engaged with key partners in the EU and around the world to jointly develop new ways to valorize natural biomass and vegetable residues by turning them into much sought-after functional proteins and other bioactive ingredients for use across diverse applications.
Showing initiative as role models
As an engineering group with a high level of expertise, GEA globally purchases raw materials, goods and services solely from qualified suppliers to ensure the long-term customer success.
When Chemistry Works With Engineering
GEA is taking bold action helping manufacturers worldwide embrace more sustainable, less wasteful and more energy-efficient and cost-effective procedures and processes.
„WHEN CHEMISTRY WORKS WITH ENGINEERING…”
Across industries and applications
PET (Bottle) recycling
The majority of non-alcoholic beverages worldwide are bottled in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. GEA decanter centrifuges make an ecologically and economically valuable contribution to the recycling of PET bottles.
PET ( Textile) recycling
Albeit often overlooked in conversation about pollution, the fashion industry contributes more to global carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. GEA is innovating to help make the complete separation of polycotton fibers possible.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling
GEA’s decades-long experience in non-ferrous applications translate in state-of-the-art multitasking gas cleaning plants that make possible to slash down emissions and ensure the circularity of the recycled metals.
Battery materials recycling
With over a century of expertise in evaporation and crystallization, we have designed and fabricated centrifugal separators, evaporators and crystallizers suitable for all process steps of the battery recycle process without compromising the purity of the materials.
Chemical recycling
Chemical recycling is a complex process that involves several technologies to break down waste into its basic chemical components. GEA's state-of-the-art technologies make possible to depolymerize, separate, purify and refine complex molecular structures, ensuring an efficient and effective chemical recycling.
Rare earth elements recycling
Currently, only about 1% of rare earth elements in old products, such as electronic waste, fluorescent lighting or permanent magnets, are recycled. GEA technologies make possible to recover these valuable materials, ensuring supply chain security amid an ever-growing demand and reducing the environmental impact.
Biopolymer recycling
GEA supplied the centrifuges that are essential to the process of extracting the biopolymer from the Nereda® granular sludge at the Kaumera production plant.
Carbon Capture (CCUS)
GEA provides end-to-end Carbon Capture Solutions, from waste heat recovery and gas pre-treatment to CO2 capture, conditioning, liquefaction, or conversion into CO2-based products.
Our on-demand Webinars
Watch our Expert Talks and gain all the insight on GEA constant innovations for process optimization, energy efficiency, decarbonization and sustainability.
Battery Recycling
Metal recycling means raw material security and environmental protection.
WEEE Metal recycling
Off-Gas cleaning plants for E-Scrap and Battery Recycling Furnaces.
Plastic Recycling
Process & technologies development for New Plastic Recycling in a Circular Economy.
Chemical Recycling
Break plastics down into their basic chemical building blocks that can be used for manufacturing new products.
Solvent recovery
Turning waste to value. Efficient ingredient extraction & solvent recovery by distillation.
