Climate change is worsening and spreading to more areas drought situations that in some territories were already endemic. A recent example has been the emergency situation in Cataloniawhere to face the possible lack of water they came to consider portable desalination plants or even transport drinking water by boat from Sagunto.
In the face of these emergencies, a European project in which the Valencian technological institute Aimplas, which is part of the Redit network, and several companies from Italy and Denmark proposes an alternative that seeks to be cheaper and more sustainable for transporting fresh water: using large hermetic bags that can be carried taking advantage of their buoyancy in the sea.
In fact, for years there has been extensive experience with tarps that take advantage of its qualities of flexibility and impermeability which are used to protect in extreme conditions. Sheets of fabric whose main material is PVC-coated polyester, which is characterized by its low price and good resistance.
However, PVC presents more difficulties in recycling than other plastics. That is why this solution poses great challenges, such as ensuring that the materials are sustainable to precisely prevent more plastics and microplastics from being dumped into the sea and at the same time guarantee that there will be no losses or mixing of indoor and outdoor water.
This is how the European TARPAULIFE project emerged to develop the manufacture of large-surface coated fabrics based on polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, which could be cost-competitive compared to PVC-coated fabrics. These compounds allow it to maintain its properties of resistance, flexibility and impermeability.with a lower environmental impact since they are recyclable. An alternative that makes it viable to manufacture bags for transporting fresh water by sea as an alternative to tankers, although this innovative fabric could be applied to other products, such as tarpaulins commonly used on trucks or covers.
Tests in Iceland and the Mediterranean
The final objective is the implementation of a production plant of coated fabrics based on polyolefin, 3 meters wide, with a production capacity of 250,000 square meters per year in the first year after completing the project.
With these large bags we are looking for a solution to transporting water from areas with a lot of production that are relatively close to other areas that may present supply problems due to drought episodesdue to situations such as the greatest seasonal demand for tourism or to respond even to emergency situations.
The Previous projects have already successfully tested a floating water bag with a modular design and a zipper connection. The objective now with TARPAULIFE is to go one step further with the coating material of these polyester bags to replace PVC with polyolefins, so that they are more sustainable and their recycling is easier.
To demonstrate its feasibility, two bags of water of 2,500 cubic meters manufactured with the new material in two locations in Europe. The water bag demonstration which will be made as a reserve of fresh water off the coast of Iceland in the North Sea and in the Mediterranean.
Bagging more than 2 million m3
The new production plant for polyolefin-coated fabricswhich will be located at the Ziplast company facilities in Milanforesees the manufacture of more than 100 bags of water in the next three years upon completion of the project, and more than 2 million cubic meters of water stored in three freshwater centers. In addition, it would avoid the incineration of more than 2,000 tons of PVC and save more than 13 tons of CO2 that would not be released into the environment.
Precisely to make the investment profitable, the project also includes applying this new fabric to other sectors, specifically for the production of ecological tarpaulins for trucks and ice covers for glaciers, and demonstration of the sustainability of the new fabric coating solution with polyolefins , with the quantification of environmental benefits and Environmental Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Costs (LCC), compared to the use of PVC-coated fabrics for all intended applications.
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