Water benign process technologies

End-of-pipe and production-integrated technologies constitute two separate technological paradigm in Dosi s sense, i.e. they embody specific outlooks, specific definitions of relevant problems and specific patterns of enquiry (Dosi, 1982, p. 148). 

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The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether inventive activities in the field of water benign process technologies vary with the size of German chemical firms. 

This chapter sought to examine how firm size relates to inventions in water benign process technologies during the 1990s in West Germany. 

We measured corporate inventive activities with by means of patent applications. In order to get data about patent applications in the field of water benign process technologies we selected the patent class C02F and used keywords. 

Because water can be considered as one of the most benign solvents available, together with its solvation powers at high temperature, its applicability for a variety of wastes is tremendous. However, based on the current developments of the process, its applicability remains limited to pumpable waste streams. In addition, it is generally understood that the waste streams with organic content in the 1-20 wt.% range is most suitable for this technology. Waste streams with 100 wt.% can be treated with appropriate dilution. However, the cost for the dilution may add prohibitively to the total cost. 

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