ARNHEM, The Netherlands, Sept. 6, 2005 -- Akzo Nobel's MPP Systems business has secured a landmark deal for the supply of water purification units to the German Lausitz and Central German Mining Administration Company (LMBV).
The milestone contract involves supplying Chemie Park Schwarze Pumpe -- located South East of Berlin -- with five Macro Porous Polymer Extraction (MPPE) purification units for groundwater remediation.
"I am very pleased with this agreement as it not only represents MPP Systems' entry into the very demanding groundwater remediation market, but it also is our biggest deal to date," said Dick Meijer, General Manager of MPP Systems. "Compared with traditional technologies, we are highly competitive and we will continue to prove that the MPPE technology is the best available separation technology in water treatment."
Having beaten off stiff competition, Akzo Nobel's MPPE technology will play an essential role in the clean-up of Chemie Park Schwarze Pumpe, which is part of the systematic rehabilitation of the decommissioned lignite mining operations in the former East Germany. The groundwater below the former industrial area has become contaminated and contains high concentrations of various toxic compounds, such as benzene, hence the need for remediation work to take place.
"By using the MPPE technology, it means the groundwater will maintain its original nature when it is treated," commented Jan Masnica, Project Manager of LMBV. "Only extraction of the poisonous organics takes place and the remaining water environment remains unchanged. This aspect, and the fact that very low effluent levels can be reached, makes the MPPE technology ideal as it enables reinfiltration of the groundwater when it is treated."
The German authorities have made funds available for the rededication of the decommissioned mining sites, which have been earmarked for industrial and commercial use.
MPP Systems -- which recently won a contract to supply the Ormen Lange gas field project in the Norwegian Sea -- has extensive expertise in the development, marketing and servicing of separation systems for water streams.
Based in the Netherlands, Akzo Nobel (www.akzonobel.com) serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings and chemicals. Consolidated revenues for 2004 totaled EUR 12.9 billion. The company currently employs some 62,000 people in more than 80 countries. MPP Systems specializes in separation technologies for water treatment.
The patented MPPE technology (www.akzonobelmppsystems.com) is a flexible method to separate hydrocarbons from process water, wastewater or groundwater. A guaranteed removal%age of 99.9999% is feasible for aliphatics, aromatics, chlorinated hydrocarbons and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Based on extraction, the porous polymer sphere technology acts as a carrier for nontoxic and biodegradable extraction medium that absorbs and extracts hydrocarbons from water. The miniscule plastic spheres are capable of reducing contaminant concentrations in water by a factor of more than 1 million, which means that concentrations of thousands ppm (parts per million) can be lowered to below 1 ppb (parts per billion). This is done in only one cycle. Aside from clean water for recycling or discharging, the water purification unit also yields almost 100% pure hydrocarbons suitable for reuse.
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