ResidualCycle is a decision-making support tool that encompasses all relevant aspects of the reuse of residuals, primarily those from drinking water treatment processes.
This includes:
- Available residuals (volume, quality, and their fluctuations over time).
- Potential applications of the residuals (volume, quality, and their fluctuations over time).
- Matching of supply and demand of residuals in the region.
- Logistics and costs.
- Legal aspects and permits.
ResidualCycle benefits:
- Support for logistics and planning for the reuse of residuals.
- For your clients: minimisation of residuals-related costs.
- For your clients: compliance with sustainability and commitment to Cradle-to-Cradle.
Manual
The structure of the tool is straightforward:
- Input supplier data:
details of suppliers (waterworks), quantity and quality of available residuals. - Input customer data:
details of destinations (industries, etc.) and requirements regarding quantity and quality of materials. - Find suppliers:
inquire to select suppliers for a given demand. - Find customers:
inquire to select customers for available residuals.
The results of an inquiry are presented both tabular and map form.
Software
ResidualCycle was developed to help match residual supply and demand:
- Supply: residuals generated as by-products of water treatment processes, and that are suitable for use in an off-site application.
- Demand: industries in which there is a demand for certain materials.
The tool enables the matching process on a country level.
Implementation of the tool
The ResidualCycle tool can be applied from the different perspectives:
- Waterworks: finding industries interested in certain residuals.
- Industries: finding waterworks that have available residuals of interest.
The tool is structured accordingly, both on input and output levels.
The key input parameters are: residual type, quantity and quality (in all cases: available and required, respectively). The quality parameters play an essential role in the matching process. Because transport distance is also an important consideration, the location of both waterworks and industries is provided.
The result of the matching process is a table and map showing the potential match of supply and demand for the given case. Obviously, this represents a pre-screening of a possible match. The next steps involve a series of activities, including contacting potential suppliers/industries and reviewing a number of issues (e.g., permits, logistics, costs).
Training
There are several forms of support available to ensure that you optimize your use of the ResidualCycle tool, and that you are updated on all the latest developments. Specifically, you can make use of the following options to suit your particular situation:
- A short introductory – or more elaborate- course on reusing and recycling residuals from the water cycle.
- Expanded or modified ResidualCycle functionalities to create tailored solutions.
- Consultancy services, including process management.
- Access to ResidualCycle-related projects or research.
Tool Expert(s)
References
