EnWaRec at Coatings 2026 Conference

30

Apr

The EnWaRec project was presented at the Coatings 2026 Conference in Athens, held from 20 to 22 April. The presentation provided an awareness overview of the EnWaRec project, with a particular focus on the coating solutionsbeing developed within the project.

The project’s accepted abstract was included in the conference programme and is available on the conference website under the session “Advances in organic and hybrid coatings” (https://sciforum.net/event/Coatings2026?section=#session4009)

EnWaRec welcomed the opportunity to present the project to the coatings community and to engage in exchange and discussion during the conference.

April 30, 2026

https://www.rina.org/en

RINA Consulting – Centro Sviluppo Materiali (CSM) is a leading Italian research and engineering consultancy specializing in materials science, hydrogen technologies, and circular economy solutions. Within the EnWaRec project, RINA contributes its expertise in surface engineering and advanced coatings to develop protective solutions for heat exchangers, micro-turbines, and nozzles exposed to corrosive and scaling conditions in steel industry water and energy recovery systems.

Through innovative coating technologies, RINA-CSM helps ensure the durability and efficiency of critical components that enable sustainable steel production across Europe. Additionally, by integrating digital twin modelling of water circuits in relevant operational environments, RINA supports the optimization of energy scenarios. At the same time, corrosion testing on steel components provides valuable insights into material degradation, supporting accurate life expectancy evaluations and ensuring long-term system reliability.

https://www.acciaierieditalia.com/en/home/

Acciaierie d’Italia (ADI) is the main Italian steel company and the biggest integrated steel route in Europe. It is specialised in carbon steel flat products, with a production capacity close to 6 Mt of crude steel per year. The company operates in several plants, including Taranto, Genoa, and Novi Ligure. The Taranto site, the company’s production hub, operates up to four blast furnaces, six converters, and five continuous casting machines, with advanced technologies for energy efficiency and emissions reduction. ADI Taranto plant currently manages about: 6 desalination and demineralization plants with a capacity of a maximum of 155.000 m³ /h; 51 water treatment and sludge dewatering plants with a capacity of 73000 m³ /h; 47 indirect cooling systems and 10 steam generators. ADI is continuously improving its plants, working on energy efficiency, pollution emissions reduction, and the use of renewable sources, developing and applying cutting-edge technologies. The main challenges addressed by the ADI R&D centre deal with circular economy, emissions reduction, and energetic efficiency, but also themes like process development and industry 4.0.

https://www.dillinger.de/

The Dillinger Group comprises leading companies that consistently deliver the highest quality heavy plate products and services to customers worldwide. We leave nothing to chance: from pig iron and steel production to two state-of-the-art rolling mills, as well as trading, flame-cutting, and pre-processing operations with additional services — everything comes from a single source. For this project, Dillinger will deploy its latest innovation: caster CC6 (see image), a unique vertical caster capable of producing slabs with thicknesses of up to 600 mm. This technology sets new standards in the industry. Our goal is to further strengthen our expertise in water treatment and energy recovery within the caster’s water cycles, ensuring sustainable and efficient operations. The project team of Dillinger combines the expertise of research engineers, process engineers and maintenance engineers to participate in EnWarRec.

https://www.bfi.de/en/

In EnWaRec, BFI serves as the project coordinator and leads activities for water recovery via membrane distillation, and online monitoring for scaling/corrosion tendencies. Additionally, BFI works on non-clogging heat exchanger assessment for waste heat recovery and its reuse which include sludge drying and vapour generation via heat pump. BFI also develops and tests measurement systems and performs modelling and simulation of cooling water and gas washing water circulation systems to optimize efficiency and sustainability.

https://isqgroup.com/

ISQ is a leading Portuguese technology and innovation center with 60 years of experience, conducts advanced R&D through specialized centers in low carbon & resource efficiency, materials, digital systems, and training. Collaborating with over 1,200 partners across sectors like energy, aerospace, and industry, ISQ drives technology transfer and sustainable innovation. For EnWaRec, ISQ leads Work Package 6, focusing on the environmental and economic assessments of the novel water and energy recovery technologies, together with the new dynamic water circuit management solutions. This will be done via Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) studies, helping to support the transition to a greener and more competitive steel industry in Europe.

https://www.uniovi.es/

UNIOVI focuses primarily on the development and integration of predictive models for critical water system management, particularly the creation of models to forecast corrosion behavior and scale formation, as well as future water demand. These forecasting tools, along with rule-based models for energy and water recovery—which aim to ensure stable performance, reduce maintenance, and prevent operational issues—will be integrated into a user interface and rigorously tested under operating conditions. Finally, industrial partners will assess operator acceptance of the technology, identify potential constraints, and propose necessary improvements.

https://questhub.eu/

Questhub provides state-of-the-art consultancy & technical services. It is actively involved in the development of business opportunities in the research and innovation sector. It aims at managing innovations to create and transfer social, environmental, economic, and industrial sustainability values for companies and entities through research and technology processes.

https://easyhydrosolutions.com/

Easy Hydro is an SME specialising in the design and supply of hydropower energy recovery systems, with a focus on small-scale and cost-effective solutions. Originating from over a decade of research at Trinity College Dublin, Easy Hydro has unique expertise in the design of micro-hydropower installations and the use of standard water pumps operating as turbines (Pumps As Turbines, PAT).

https://www.csic.es/es

The National Centre for Metallurgical Research (CENIM) is one of the most prestigious and traditional research centres of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) being at the forefront of research in Metallurgy and Metallic Materials since its creation in 1963. Today, CENIM is currently a multidisciplinary Centre which brings together researchers from the Science and Technology of Materials Research and one of its goals is to provide technological support to the Spanish steel industry.