SUSTEC GMBH

Their core work

SUSTEC GmbH is an Austrian technology SME that developed an industrial process for regenerating and recovering spent acids from stainless steel pickling operations. Steel manufacturing uses aggressive acids — hydrochloric, sulfuric, or nitric/hydrofluoric mixtures — to strip oxides from steel surfaces, and these acids rapidly become contaminated waste that is both costly to dispose of and environmentally hazardous. SUSTEC's core innovation is a system that cleans and reactivates this waste acid so it can be reused in the same process, cutting both operating costs and hazardous waste volumes. Their work sits at the intersection of industrial process chemistry, waste recovery engineering, and sustainable steel manufacturing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their Phase 1 project (2016–2017), SUSTEC's framing was technical and process-oriented: acid regeneration, waste acid recovery, steel pickling chemistry. By the time Phase 2 launched (2018–2020), the project description shifted toward environmental impact reduction in stainless steel production — the same technology repositioned around sustainability outcomes rather than process chemistry. There is no evidence of expansion into other domains; all available evidence points to deep, focused development of a single proprietary technology across two consecutive funding rounds.

SUSTEC appears to be a single-technology company that successfully scaled from proof-of-concept to commercial-scale development; future collaborations would most likely involve deployment partnerships with steel producers, licensing, or integration into broader industrial decarbonization programs.

How they like to work

SUSTEC has acted exclusively as project coordinator and, consistent with the SME Instrument scheme, operated without listed consortium partners — meaning they develop and own their technology independently rather than through collaborative research networks. This suggests they are a product/technology company seeking market entry and commercial validation, not a research institution looking for co-development partners. Businesses or consortia approaching them would likely be customers or licensees, not co-researchers.

The available data shows no recorded consortium partners and no cross-border collaborations, which is characteristic of SME Instrument projects where a single company receives direct funding. Their effective network appears limited to the Austrian industrial ecosystem around Klosterneuburg, with no documented international research partnerships.

What sets them apart

SUSTEC occupies a very specific niche: proprietary acid recovery technology purpose-built for the stainless steel pickling industry, a problem most large industrial suppliers treat as a disposal cost rather than a recovery opportunity. Having progressed from SME Phase 1 feasibility through a €2.47M Phase 2 development project, they bring a validated, scalable solution rather than a research prototype. For a steel producer or industrial waste treatment company seeking a ready-to-deploy acid recovery system, SUSTEC offers a focused technology with EU-validated development history.

Highlights from their portfolio

• REGMAX
  The Phase 2 REGMAX project (2018–2020) secured €2.47M — the maximum typical SME Instrument Phase 2 award — demonstrating that the European Commission judged this technology commercially viable and market-ready at scale.
• REGMAX
  The Phase 1 REGMAX (2016–2017) at €50k represents the feasibility entry point: SUSTEC successfully used the SME Instrument two-phase pathway to take a chemical process innovation from concept to full funded development, a rare complete progression.