A player in sustainable development - Dalkia

OUR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The technological
challenges of the environment
Our business lies at the convergence of major challenges facing today’s world: urbanization, access
to drinking water, dwindling resources and combating climate change. Solving these challenges in a context
of population growth requires a comprehensive, industrialized approach. This multi-disciplinary dimension
is at the heart of Veolia Environnement’s research.
Modeling atmospheric pollution.
34 2007 ANNUAL REPORT VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT
Technological and industrial
solutions for the environment
Research is a priority for Veolia
Environnement, as evidenced by the
45% increase in the resources
allocated to it since 2003.
The research teams strive to provide
their company with a competitive
edge in environmental solutions. The
main focuses of their work are
managing and saving resources,
limiting environmental impacts,
protecting public health and people’s
living environments, and developing
renewable sources of energy. The
combat against climate change,
another core topic, involves several
of these areas and drives research into
optimizing our energy facilities,
capturing and storing CO2, the
development of bioenergies and clean
modes of transportation.
Much of our expertise and technology
is interlinked, involving several
divisions: sludge treatment, biomass,
biofuels, Legionellosis prevention and
industrial wastewater treatment.
Given this fact, R&D has progressed
signifi cantly toward developing
programs involving several divisions.
A new center for research
into water treatment
In September 2007, Veolia Environnement
opened a testing center alongside
the Annet-sur-Marne water production
plant in the Paris area (France).
Specifi cally designed to study
high-performance water treatment
processes, it houses some 20 pilot units.
The main objectives are to reduce
organic matter and the downsides
of chlorination, especially water taste
and the formation of undesirable
byproducts (trihalomethanes, etc.);
and to contain health risks and
emerging sources of pollution
(pharmaceutical residues, endocrine
disruptors, etc.). Research into
technological performance is backed
by establishing energy and
environmental balances to help select
the most viable processes.