A new solution for filtering water in hospitals

10/06/2020

The John Cockerill mechanical engineering industrial group, which has its headquarters in Seraing, Belgium is offering a solution to filter hospital wastewater.

This completely mechanical technology, which does not use any chemicals, removes pharmaceutical product residues present in such wastewater.

This new product, called Medix, would eliminate nearly 80% of micro-pollutants using several filtration membranes. The project was originally started due to the alarming quantity of medicines in the wastewater. The company has been working on the product for nearly 5 years, but has been given a boost because of the pandemic. Indeed, the SARS-CoV-2 molecules are similar in size to those of the micro-pollutants that are filtered by the product. Medix could therefore be used to eliminate approximately 99.9% of the virus present in treated water.

Consequently, the industrial group believes that this is the right time to market Medix, which responds to the climate and health challenges we are currently facing. The product has been developed in partnership with the Research and Expertise Centre for Water (Cebedeau), ULiège, LIST (Luxembourg) and the SME Symbio. This project, supported by the Walloon competitiveness cluster GreenWin, provides a solution for preserving the vital asset of water quality. At this stage, a pilot station has been installed in two Belgian hospitals.  France and the Scandinavian countries are already showing an interest in Medix.