Innovation Lab

For 35 years, Promeco has been requested to execute projects that vary in complexity and require some extra creativity. You could also call this farmer’s ingenuity. We regularly encounter challenges that we first want to test thoroughly on a large scale. Add to this the fact that we are incredibly passionate and a little bit stubborn; we often want to experiment and pioneer our own ideas and solutions; that might just be the answer to all of our problems! We are well equipped in our own laboratory.

Our own Innovation lab

On a surface area of 125 square metres at a beautiful outdoor location, we have various installations that, over the years, have already produced many great innovations for us. What starts with us on a small scale, often works out very well in practice. Promeco as practical implementers: we experiment on a modest scale, and thus encounter technologies that can be implemented on a large scale! For example, just look at what we have done for the city of Nuremberg.

Innovation: constantly evolving

Promeco continuously innovates. What could be done better? More sustainably? Faster? More effectively? We would like to share a few recent developments with you.

  • In the summer of 2015, Promeco launched a revolutionary innovation: the Sludge Cylinder®. Click the link for more information. Purpose: large processing capacity for sludge dewatering on small surface areas as found in urban areas.
  • Continuing on the Sludge Cylinder®, Promeco launched a new invention: the Folding Box. Click the link for more information. Purpose: also large processing capacity for sludge dewatering on small surface areas as found in urban areas. There are advantages and disadvantages when compared to the Sludge Cylinder®.
  • When better load-bearing results are required for sludge in a geotextile dewatering tube, it can be decided to stabilise sludge inside the Geotube®. When performing laboratory research for the city of Nuremberg, we attained high load-bearing capacities. You can, for example, use a solution like this for projects where the Geotube is used as final, sustainable destination – you can find more information about this on the Sludge processing page. This method enables storage location heights to be achieved of over five metres!
  • We at Promeco are unique in our use of measurement of solids. Peaty soils are organic. This must be taken into account as much as possible during the dewatering process! We use a measurement that not only measures the inorganic material, but also effectively measures the organic material.
  • We have developed a new method for removing sludge from, for example, cofferdams, that we have provisionally called ODS2 (‘Optimal Dosing System squared’). Our solids meter interprets; the position of the submersible pump can then be adjusted more efficiently, completely automatically. This enables the pump to, so to say, search for the sludge. The pumping process is thus more constant, so that the flocculation and dewatering takes place much more effectively: two processes that mutually enhance each other (hence the term ‘squared’). This process can, for example, also continue to operate outside of working hours.
  • We are focusing more attention on optimising the way in which we inject and mix flocculant in the dredging pipe. We obviously have to deal with different viscosities in the pipes. Flocculant has a relatively high viscosity, which essentially means that it cannot be easily mixed with sludge. We therefore come up with innovative solutions.