Innovation
SUEZ’s outstanding innovations in 2020
A number of important innovation achievements occurred during the course of 2020. Let's focus on 9 of them that serve to preserve the essential elements of our environment and the quality of life of the population.
From the beginning of the pandemic, the Group’s researchers, particularly at CIRSEE and in Spain, engaged with other French (Obépine network) and international players, to find solutions for combating the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. As a result of this R&D work, the Covid-19 City Watch solution was created, intended to support municipal customers in their fight against the emergence of new Covid-19 clusters within cities.
SUEZ launches COVID-19 City Watch
Credit: SUEZ group
This system combines analysis of the presence of Sars-CoV-2 virus markers in wastewater networks with a digital platform; it provides early warning signals allowing local authorities to take the necessary protective measures as early as possible.
SUEZ CircPack® is a service intended to help major brands design the most recyclable packaging possible.
SUEZ CircPack® is a service intended to help major brands design the most recyclable packaging possible.
Intended to trap fine particles and nitrogen oxides in a sensitive urban environment and to capture CO2 in the industrial environment, the carbon well developed by SUEZ and its partner Fermentalg saw its first implementation (under the commercial name Combin’air) in the playground of a school in Poissy, in the Paris suburbs.
After five years of research and development, the Valomet project, intended to recycle non-ferrous metals in bottom ash, gave rise to an industrial site, the largest in Europe, launched in Ghent (Belgium) in February 2020.
Récupération de métaux contenus dans les déchets résiduels sur notre site Valomet - SUEZ
Credit: SUEZ group
In September, SUEZ launched CircularChain, the blockchain of the circular economy, whose first application, Sludgeadvanced, aims to ensure the traceability of sewage sludge from when it is produced until it is returned to the ground.
The circular economy blockchain
Credit: SUEZ group
AFYREN, a French biotechnology company, brought together 12 players, including SUEZ (via CIRSEE), around an innovative European project aimed at developing an unprecedented biorefinery in France. AFTER-BIOCHEM will focus on creating new sustainable value chains from renewable raw materials, bringing a range of new high-value-added products to the market,
In July 2020, INRAE (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) and SUEZ signed a framework partnership agreement. For a period of five years, the aim of this agreement is to strengthen the Group’s scientific and industrial cooperation with INRAE in the water and environment sectors.
Developed by LyRE, with the SUEZ France teams, in partnership with EAWAG and KOFATE, the SewerBall is a dynamic inspection tool for wastewater networks that can be used to identify and locate the
intrusion of parasitic water. The SewerBall is a small ball with a diameter of 10 cm and is let loose in the wastewater networks in order to “see” what may be wrong. The SewerBall is capable of analyzing four physical-chemical parameters (pH, temperature, conductivity and redox potential). The SewerBall was officially presented at the Singapore International Water Week, which was held online on November 18 and 19, 2020.
SUEZ and Bouygues Construction devised ANOBI®, a connected sleeve to be placed on the forearm. Adapted to our businesses, it aims to allow operators on the ground (construction sites, waste collection, urban cleaning or installation maintenance) to use their business applications via a specifically adapted device. However, as this product has no equivalent available on the market, it was necessary to design it from scratch.
At the Zero Carbon Forum, which celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Origins.earth pilot project, which the Group is conducting in partnership with the City of Paris and the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE) to continuously monitor CO2 emissions in the capital, announced its first results. In particular, it showed that the first lockdown resulted in a 42% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the same period in 2019.