11.07.2018
Don´t Waste // Invest consortium meets the REMONDIS Group
On Thursday, 5th of July 2018, the Don´t Waste // Invest consortium met with the REMONDIS Group. The meeting was organised by Mr. KR Hans Roth (VOEB & Saubermacher) and Dr. Maria Ortner from the Green Tech Cluster together with the Verband Österreichischer Entsorgungsbetriebe (VOEB) and the company Saubermacher. More →
20.06.2018
The world’s largest solar thermal district heating
The largest solar thermal district heating in the world is being built in the Styrian provincial capital of Graz under the name “Big Solar”. This is being implemented, with a budget of around €100 million, by Energie Steiermark with one Danish and the two Styrian partners, Christof Industries and the Graz solar company S.O.L.I.D. In addition to the waste heat from the Sappi paper mill in Gratkorn and the Marienhütte steelworks in Graz, this showcase project will convert solar energy into district heating. A collector area of 220,000 m² together with the 900,000 m³ storage tank will cover 15% of the annual district heating consumption of the city of Graz. More →
12.06.2018
Battery recycling as a service
A new high technology recycling plant for lithium-ion batteries has been set up by Redux Recycling, a company of the Saubermacher Group based in Bremerhaven (Germany). This uses a process innovation that has been developed in-house. The process achieves a recycling level that is up to 40% above the statutory targets. In the long term the vision is ambitious: zero waste, i.e. a recycling rate of 100%. As a further step, an online portal has been created with the company Interseroh, which provides a service for organising proper transport and environmentally sound recycling of batteries from the industrial sector and from e-vehicles. The opening of the plant rounds off Saubermacher's R & D activities in the field of lithium-ion batteries, with current research being conducted on the eMPROVE and BAT-Safe projects in collaboration with Montanuniversität Leoben and the Green Tech Cluster. More →
11.06.2018
EC2i for USA & China: tailored market entry support for Styrian SME
The European Cleantech Internationalisation Initiative (EC2i) integrates the goals and strategies of five leading European cleantech clusters: Green Tech Cluster (Austria), Tweed (Belgium), CLEAN (Denmark), Tenerrdis (France), Sustainable Business Hub (Sweden). More →
18.05.2018
The world’s largest energy production from wastewater
Bailonggang is the largest wastewater treatment plant in Asia. The international technology group ANDRITZ is now extending the plant, at a cost of €120 million, with the addition of a complete sludge drying and incinerator system that will make it the largest sludge incinerator in the world. The order covers engineering, manufacture and delivery as well as supervision of assembly and commissioning. The wastewater treatment plant, with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes of sludge per day, will serve as a benchmark for similar environmental projects in China. Construction is already starting this year and the first fire-up is planned for the end of 2019. A large order has also been landed from Sweden; a bio-methane plant with a capacity of 5,000 tonnes per year. More →
16.05.2018
Action for climate protection
“Austrian oak” Arnold Schwarzenegger and leading green tech companies from his native region join forces in the context of the R20 climate protection initiative. The technological heart of green power, green heat and green mobility lies in this Green Tech Valley. Even though this Green Tech Valley with Graz at its centre is only home to 1.2 million people, the technologies invented there have big effects on a global scale: Styrian solutions allowed 550 million tons of CO2 to be saved around the world in 2017. That is 40 times more than the region emits. Above all, 20 % of global green power are generated with Styrian technology at the heart: Hydropower, biomass and solar power systems from the Green Tech Valley. More →
15.05.2018
Styrian innovation at IFAT exhibition
As always, we are one step ahead - with innovations made in Styria on show at IFAT in Munich, the world's leading exhibition for water, wastewater, waste and raw materials management. In order to support company networking on an international level at IFAT, the Green Tech Cluster invited top decision makers and key customers from the International Cleantech Network (Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Austria, etc.) to the Austrian Innovation Reception, as part of the joint event with AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA and the Upper Austrian, Cleantech Cluster OÖ. Included among the Styrian Green Tech companies presenting their latest innovations were ANDRITZ, ATM Recycling Systems, Bauer, Binder + Co, Komptech, Lindner-Recyclingtech and REDWAVE. More →
10.05.2018
Industry giant promotes wastebox.biz
Having already established success on the Austrian market, wastebox.biz is now conquering Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Wastebox.biz is an intelligent platform for waste disposal that connects customers and suppliers in real time and offers all the benefits of a modern online service. In Austria, the platform has already established 50 disposal partners. Now the globally active environmental group, Veolia, is launching the App for the first time in Germany. With Veolia as a new partner, the online platform is to be jointly developed into the leading supplier for construction site disposal. More →
06.05.2018
Solution to worldwide water scarcity
The metropolis for millions in South Africa, Cape Town, is struggling with continued water scarcity. AUSSENWIRTSCHAFT AUSTRIA therefore organised the Agri-Water Innovation Challenge, which helps South Africa to find innovative solutions for more efficient use of water. The Styrian start-up company, fluvicon, with the support of the Green Tech Cluster, won the challenge with its Forward Osmosis method. This process saves up to 50% in energy, is robust and almost maintenance free. In addition, fresh water can be obtained even from the residual sludge of wastewater treatment plants. Another award winning company from Styria is JR-AquaConSol, which scored highly with its decision support software solution for water management. More →
02.05.2018
The packaging industry Oscar
The WorldStar Packaging Award is considered the Oscar of the packaging industry. The food packaging specialist, Verpackungszentrum (VPZ) Graz, recently received awards in 4 categories at the international awards ceremony in Queensland, Australia. A gold award was received in the Food Packaging category for Packnatur® wood-based, cellulose mesh tubes and the matching Packnatur® organic wineglass labels. In addition, VPZ was presented with the Silver Sustainability Award and the Bronze President's Award. Furthermore, company founder Helmut Meininger was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award. This award was established to recognise excellence in all areas of the packaging industry, in science, technology, design and applications, in all countries of the world. More →
12.04.2018
Recycling of phosphoric acid
The Styrian plant manufacturer BDI has landed a contract in Germany to design a special plant for phosphorus recycling. The range of services provided by BDI includes the preparation of the engineering local authority approval documents, detailed engineering design and upscaling. The plant is scheduled to go into operation in 2020 and will recover 6,500 tonnes of ultra-pure phosphoric acid from around 20,000 tonnes of sewage sludge per annum. In Germany, phosphorus is a vital but scarce raw material, which currently must be imported. But with its own recycling plant, it has sufficient support from this project to meet the strategic requirements to recycle this raw material from wastewater starting in 2029 at the latest. More →
11.04.2018
Rainbow photovoltaic
Up to now, there has been little scope for varying the design of photovoltaic façades in terms of colour. However, using active glass façades from PVP Photovoltaik, it has now become possible to print PV modules with any desired colour. The underlying structure remains invisible and the modules are ideally matched to their surroundings. The base layer of the Rainbow Façade consists of modules of mono crystalline cells, with the upper glass layer individually colour printed. More →
29.03.2018
4000 cubic meters of compost per hour
On show at the IFAT exhibition (from Monday, May 14, 2018), is the Topturn X5000 from the Styrian machinery manufacturer Komptech, a newly developed self-propelled compost heap turner in the middle to upper power range. This is ideally suited to the normal heap size of many composting plants, with a width of five metres and a height of two metres. The Topturn X5000 turns over up to 4000 cubic metres of compost per hour. The turnover roller, which has a diameter of 1.2 meters, ensures high throughput and thus the best possible mixing of the composting material which is very important in composting. Further highlights from IFAT can also be experienced at an evening reception of the Green Tech Cluster on 15 May in Munich. More →
28.03.2018
6 in one hit
The Styrian plant manufacturer Binder + Co has unveiled CLARITY multiway, a unique sorting concept for lightweight packaging waste. Using only one sensor unit, up to six material fractions can be separated and sorted, for example, PET, HDPE, PP, beverage cartons, paper and cardboard. The system is fully automatic and separates the fractions, correct to technical specification, for further processing. With China halting the import of waste materials, Europe is now faced with the problem of usefully recycling waste, which was previously exported, within the EU. Styrian recycling machine manufacturers are able to make an important contribution in this field using their innovative technology. Up to date, 87% of the plastic waste across the EU has been exported to China. More →
14.03.2018
Styrian cooling for furniture giant
The workforce at the IKEA location in Singapore, in the tropics, can now look forward to some 1.587 MWh of environmentally friendly solar heat energy every year. The energy, which is generated by a 2,472 m² S.O.L.I.D. plant, is used to drive an absorption chiller for the air conditioning of the furniture store. Not only does this significantly reduce electricity consumption, it also saves 428 tonnes of CO2 per year. The system is a showcase project for the industry that demonstrates the technical and economic potential of the technology and is already the second solar cooling system from S.O.L.I.D. to be installed in Southeast Asia. More →
05.03.2018
Opportunities in emerging markets
The Styria based company Christof Industries has recently developed a user-friendly device, called SinTon, for the sterilisation of medical waste. The use of disposable products daily generates a high level of infectious residues, which must be disposed of in a cumbersome manner. Using SinTon, a combination of saturated steam and microwave energy completely eliminates the risk of germs so that medical waste can be disposed of with household waste. 25 of these Styrian high-tech devices have now been exported to Laos. This is a real revolution for the country in Southeast Asia, as medical waste in developing countries is usually disposed of in the untreated state together with household waste. This can lead to infectious diseases being transmitted to humans by animals. More →
27.02.2018
Sustainable remediation of wastewater treatment systems
An interdisciplinary group of researchers from Graz University of Technology and the University of Graz developed a new material for reducing biogenic sulphuric acid corrosion (BSC) in wastewater treatment systems. The corrosion is caused by microbiological processes and produces a strong smelling and highly toxic sulphuric acid, which damages the concrete of sewers and destroys it within a few years. By researching this process, new acid-resistant materials with an antibacterial surface have been developed. This innovative material enables sustainable remediation of damaged sewage systems and significantly extends their service life. More →
21.02.2018
Third gold for the Green Tech Cluster
In an international comparison of “Cluster Management Excellence”, the innovation related provider VDI/VDE Berlin awarded the Green Tech Cluster the highest mark of 100 points. The Styrian Environmental Technology Cluster now stands on the winners’ podium as the new No. 1 and leads the list of 1000 clusters audited worldwide across four continents. This award for outstanding strategy, spirit and achievement is already the third “Gold Medal” following awards in 2010 and 2012. The cluster recently initiated 35 industrial innovation projects for a liveable environment. More →
19.02.2018
Intrapreneurship to grow ideas
The Joanneum University of Applied Sciences together with leading partners is launching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Intrapreneurship (entrepreneurial spirit in the company). The course provides input in the form of videos, texts and contributions from speakers from academia (including the renowned California Lutheran University) and business (including Bosch, SAP, AVL, Signavio, and 3M). In collaboration with course participants, it will be possible to develop and evaluate new ideas, 100% online and free of charge, right up to the initial sales pitch. The course is open to interested persons from all disciplines and aims to bring together around 2,000 participants in a novel format. More →
12.02.2018
Connect! – Green data exchange
Connect! connects man and machine. Komptech has developed new communication technology that allows real time condition-based maintenance anytime, anywhere. The module is integrated into the machinery and transmits data, such as operating hours, fuel consumption and idle times, via mobile communication to a central server. As a result, work tasks can be accurately documented and the cost effectiveness of environmental technology machinery can be further optimised. While visiting Komptech and environmental specialists Saubermacher, Federal Minister Elisabeth Köstinger and State Governor Herman Schützenhöfer were impressed by these and other Styrian energy technologies. More →