CVR – Centre for Waste Appreciation, from then on only known as CVR, is a non-profit institution, founded in 2002, that provides services of investigation, scientific analysis and application of real solutions in the waste appreciation field.
It’s located in Guimarães, integrated into Minho’s University Campus and has laboratory facilities of its own where they develop their activities.
CVR currently counts on 20 permanent collaborators, among technicians and investigators trained in biology, biotechnology, environmental technology, material engineering, chemistry, and mechanical, aside from extraneous collaborations of around two-tenths of investigators coming from Portuguese universities.
Minho University, TecMinho, the Minho Industrial Association and the Steel Casting Portuguese Association are the constituent associates. However, CVR counts on over 80 founding associates that are adherent of different types, namely steel casting companies, from the wastewater management services and waste management, metalworking industry, ceramic industry, the paper industry, civil construction industry, technological centres, municipal entities and non-profit public institutions.
Regardless of the industrial activity area, CVR withholds the necessary skills to support projects and initiatives related to an ample range of industrial waste. The capacity within this centre allows them to intervene in different aspects of the process, namely in services of laboratory analysis and to provide services of specialised consulting. CVR also has an important role as an entity that provides technical and scientific support to I&D projects, having the necessary know-how to develop solutions for waste management, sustainable from an environmental and economic standpoint.
On an investigation and technological development level, CVR has acted in the following areas:
- Incorporating waste items in new materials
- Recovery of added value products (ex.:metal) with residue
- Energetic appreciation processes
- Waste recycling
- Production of biofuels and fuels deriving from residue
- Analysis of the life cycle
- Development of integrated systems in waste management
Worthy of highlight are the several innovating solutions and options developed in the investigation and development areas in the Centre, which led to sizing, project and prototype construction, pilot installation and equipment for the appreciation of technological solutions and proposed treatment operating cycles, additionally providing the definition and execution of infrastructure layout projects to implement the technologies developed at an industrial scale.