The Water-Energy-Materials nexus in an industrial setting: legal and practical peripheries

Abstract

Due to the climate change emergency, there is an existential need to transit to a more sustainable and circular economy. Building on the European Green Deal, using quantitative and qualitative historical and doctrinal analyses, this study reviews the newest EU legislation related to water (predominantly wastewater), energy, materials and industries in search for impetuses for circular solutions and environmental sustainability. While employing the Water-Energy-Materials nexus, the paper also illustrates through a practical example, an integrated circular solution enabling to close the loop in industrial processes, aiming to significantly reduce resource waste, particularly in terms of energy and water consumption. The iWAYs project, depending on the type of industry, has demonstrated the potential to reduce waste heat and energy consumption by 10%-80% by recovering sensible and latent heat from challenging exhaust stream as well as the recovering up to 90% of discarded water from condensate stream. Additionally, the proposed solutions allow the use of 30%-60% less freshwater.