WATKINS, CO, Jan. 19, 2005 -- On Dec. 7, the Vallejo City Council approved the signing of a contract to install a 1-MGD MIEX® Treatment System at the Green Valley Water Treatment Plant. This approval follows a very successful trial carried out in spring/summer last year which showed that distribution disinfection by-product levels could be significantly reduced using MIEX pretreatment followed by the existing treatment plant.
This is a very exciting step forward for MIEX technology from Orica Watercare Inc. in California where several trials were conducted during 2004 and more are in the pipeline for 2005. The decision by the city of Vallejo to install a MIEX treatment system came after recent approval by the Californian Department of Health Services for use of the MIEX Technology in California for Disinfection Byproduct (DBP) precursor removal to meet the EPA DBP regulations.
"After an exhaustive review of the best available technologies to meet the current and future D/DBP regulations we believe the MIEX pretreatment process is the best fit for the Green Valley Water Treatment Plant" said Franz Nestlerode, deputy water superintendent at the city of Vallejo.
The other technologies considered by the City were enhanced coagulation together with the use of chloramines and granular activated carbon contactors. The Green Valley Water Treatment Plant will be out of compliance with the EPA Stage 1 D/DBP Rule when the first full year of DBP monitoring for small systems is reported on Jan. 1, 2005. "We are anxious to have the MIEX system startup up as soon as possible so that we can bring the Green Valley Plant back into compliance" Franz said.
On-site construction of the MIEX treatment system will commence in early spring and plant startup is expected to commence sometime during the summer of 2005. Details on these trial results for the Vallejo project can be found under the "Case Studies" section of the company website: www.miexresin.com.
The corporate headquarters of Orica Watercare Inc. are in Watkins, Colo., near Denver. It has several facilities in Australia where the ion exchange resin technology for MIEX was developed. The technology utilizes a continuous process designed for removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from source water, employing a patented magnetized ion exchange resin. The resin has been developed to enable adsorption of DOC to occur in a stirred contactor, much like a flash mixer in a conventional water treatment plant. Resin beads are much smaller than conventional resin beads at around 180 micron, to allow rapid DOC adsorption kinetics in the contactor vessel. Under mixing conditions, the resin beads are dispersed to provide the maximum surface area available for adsorption of DOC.
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