PITTSBURGH, PA, Mar. 13, 2012 -- Calgon Carbon Corporation (NYSE: CCC) has signed a ten-year contract with the City of Phoenix, Arizona, to provide reactivation services for activated carbon used to treat the city's drinking water. The value of the contract will depend upon the amount of spent activated carbon that is reactivated annually, which is expected to be approximately 11 million pounds. As part of the agreement, Calgon Carbon will build a reactivation facility in Maricopa County, Arizona, which will be used to reactivate Phoenix's spent carbon.
The reactivation facility, which is expected to be completed in 2013, will be owned and operated by Calgon Carbon and will have an annual reactivation capacity of approximately 25 million pounds. The facility is expected to serve as a regional center, providing custom reactivation services for other municipalities that utilize granular activated carbon (GAC) to treat their drinking water, including two additional cities in Arizona whose representatives served on the selection panel for the Phoenix project. During the construction of the facility, Calgon Carbon will utilize its existing reactivation capacity to meet Phoenix's requirements.
Phoenix is using GAC in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule, which establishes maximum levels at which disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are permitted to be present in drinking water. The GAC removes organic compounds from the water, reducing the formation of byproducts after the addition of chlorine. The city of Phoenix chose this method rather than replacing chlorine with alternative disinfectants that would not be as effective and would produce other potentially harmful byproducts.
In 2009, Phoenix awarded Calgon Carbon a $14.3-million contract to provide the initial virgin carbon for its drinking water plants. The company completed delivery of 16 million pounds of GAC to Phoenix in December 2011, and expects to begin reactivating spent carbon in the second quarter of 2012.
Commenting on the award, Bob O'Brien, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Calgon Carbon, said, "This project demonstrates that the city of Phoenix recognizes the benefits of using granular activated carbon to reduce disinfection byproducts. Since reactivated carbon is less costly than virgin carbon and the reactivation process produces far less CO2 than the virgin carbon manufacturing process, the city will also realize significant economic and environmental benefits."
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