Agribex 2013: Delvano and ECS invest in innovative technologies for agriculture

The Fyt-O-Cleaner is an innovative technology to treat residual water of the sprayer. Residual water is the water that remains after rinsing and cleaning the sprayer. The technology is currently being tested in France on water that contains all kinds of contaminants and knows already applications in the sectors of the laundries (treatment of detergents) and hospitals (treatment of antibiotics). The system offers also potential for the processing/treatment of residual water of sprayers in the Flemish agriculture and horticulture, but this has so far not yet been tested in Flanders. Within the project Modul-H2O, the Fyt-O-Cleaner will be tested on residual water in three different Flemish companies (Family Frites, wage spray company Corneel Decorte and farm Ignace Vercruyssen). VITO and INAGRO, as knowledge institutions, will closely follow up the project Modul-H2O. The Fyt-O-Cleaner is composed of an oxidation, photolysis and photocatalysemodule. UV and oxidants reinforce each other during the treatment process whereby plant health products are broken down. Within the project, there shall be verified that all plant health products through the use of this technology in the residual water degrade. Our ultimate aim is to use the same water again in a complete safety way for the production of a new spray solution.
 
Delvano has a lot of accumulated knowledge and experience of all kinds of spray schedules and even has its own developed coil system. Now Delvano want to be the first to mount this technology on their sprayer on a smaller scale. By investing in innovation, they want to further strengthen their market position.
All companies involved in the project, the project consortium:
 •Eco Cleaning Systems (ECS): technology company which has a broad knowledge in the industrial water treatment inside and outside Belgium
 •Family Frits: Potato processing company that is still searching for new and innovative projects for sustainable agriculture
 •Delvano: the only Belgian manufacturer of self-propelled sprayers and this since 1960. In addition to self-propelled harvesters, they offer the entire range of sprayers for agriculture and horticulture
 •Belchim Crop Protection: develops and distributes plat protection products. Belchim has managed to constantly expand its range of specialized plant protection products and to settle in different countries in Europe
 •Corneel Decorte: wage sprayer from Zuidschote, who currently processes residual water of the sprayer with Sentinel and who is open to test this new technology in his company
 •Ignance Vercruyssen: agricultural company from Kortrijk that currently processes residual water of the sprayer on the basis of plat filtration and who is open to test this new technology in his company.
 
Project funding framework
 
Thanks to the Open Call ‘concepts for efficient water management’ consortia of companies and organizations get grants for a demonstration and dissemination project. This projects are created thanks to a partnership between Vlakwa, the province of West Flanders and VITO. The project ‘Modul-H2O, was approved for funding within the project framework.
In June, the Open Call ‘concepts for efficient water management’ was launched and company’s where invited to submit a demonstration and dissemination project. Thanks to this call, company’s get the opportunity to demonstrate easily sustainable techniques, materials, concepts and systems. In this way, the market introduction of innovative solutions can be accelerated. The formed consortia contains each at least one provider of an innovative sustainable invention (technology, product, concept or system) and one problem owner. In addition, the leader of the consortium is a Flemish SME, and in the consortium is at least one West-Flemish SME involved. All projects have a duration of up to one year and the project budget is limited to a maximum of 75 000 €, of which 66% is subsidized. The remaining 34% should be borne by the consortium.
 
Additional information:
 
Flanders Knowledge Center Water (Vlakwa)
Dirk Van der Stede
Managing director
E-mail : dvds@vlakwa.be
Phone.: 056/24.12.61
Cell: 0475/43.86.83