The Port of Antwerp-Bruges, with the support of VLAIO’s Innovative Public Procurement Programme, has launched a market consultation for companies in the water treatment sector.
Together, they aim to develop, test and demonstrate innovative scalable solutions for sustainable purification techniques to eliminate large volumes of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS)-contaminated drainage water.
PFAS contamination can be found at various locations throughout Flanders and Europe, including in the Antwerp port area. PFAS chains can be either long or short. Existing techniques for adsorbing PFAS with activated carbon are effective for long PFAS chains but inefficient for short chains.
The Antwerp port region contains primarily short PFAS chains that have extended further with (brackish) groundwater.
READ: Port of Antwerp-Bruges readies expanded Certified Pick up roll-out
Sustainable and scalable solutions to this specific challenge have yet to be tried on a broad scale in Flanders. As a result, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, with the help of the new Public Procurement Programme (PIO), is issuing a public tender for firms with new technology.
With this public procurement, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges hopes to create scalable solutions in an operational setting in a short amount of time.
That same month, the MSC Aurora became the first containership to travel to Antwerp with a 16-metre draft under normal entry procedures, rather than as a trial voyage.
