Field Notes
NETHERLANDS: Fouling-resistant FILMTEC RO membrane technology from Dow Water Solutions has enabled the feedwater source of the DECO water treatment facility in Terneuzen, The Netherlands, to be modified to reuse community wastewater and improve water recovery by 20% and cut operational costs by 50% with minimal changes to plant design. DECO is operated by Evides Industriewater B.V. and provides Dow’s Terneuzen site with process water.
ISRAEL: Whitewater Security, a water system vulnerability assessment specialist, completed the first of a comprehensive three-phase program to safeguard the drinking water of a major city in coordination with Mekorot, Ben-Gurion University and the Israel Standards Institute.
SCOTLAND: Faber Maunsell | AECOM is working with Scottish Water Solutions on the Turret Water Treatment Works. This £24 million flagship upgrade addresses quality failures and improves disinfection control. After completion in 2010, the product from Loch Turret works will fully comply with Scottish water supply regulations and the volume of drinking water will be increased to 85 megalitres a day.
BAHRAIN: Mott MacDonald was appointed by the Ministry of Finance as Technical Adviser to the Electricity & Water Authority in Bahrain for the Al Dur Independent Water and Power Project. This new utility project will accommodate increasing demand for water and electricity, driven by the kingdom’s new industrial, commercial, residential and tourism developments. It will have a generating capacity of 1,200 MW and a desalination capacity of 48 MGD. The power plant will have four gas turbines, four heat recovery steam generators and two steam generators.
NETHERLANDS: BlueCielo ECM Solutions acquired all BlueCielo-related activity of its distributor SKA Automacão de Engenharias Ltda and reseller GAMA — Soluções em Gerenciamento Electrônico de Documentos Ltda, both based in São Leopoldo, Brazil. GAMA’s founder and director Gerson Fioravante is now BlueCielo’s marketing and sales director for Brazil.
LIBYA: Water management is “a key element” in food security, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told a ministerial conference on “Water for Agriculture and Energy in Africa: the Challenges of Climate Change” in mid-December in Sirte, Libya. Ministers from 53 African nations considered a $65 billion, 20-year “Blue Revolution” programme designed to harness Africa’s largely untapped water resources to its development.
BELGIUM: Arc Energy Resources, a principal fabricator to Hydro International, won a contract to provide special screens and Hydro-Brake flow control units as part of a CSO project for the city of Namur in the Wallonia region of Belgium. They’re integral to Hydro Storm King Overflow/Swirl-Cleanse™ systems to be installed at 35 sites in and around the city and along the river Meuse. Hydro’s first-year fundraising also topped £22,000 for WaterAid, more than doubling its target for the charity.
Metito jobs won or done in UAE, Egypt, Qatar; allies with Berlinwasser
The Metito designed wastewater treatment plant at the New Doha International Airport (NDIA) has been completed ahead of the scheduled opening in 2010.
The 28,713 m3/d capacity plant adds to Metito’s already extensive portfolio of projects around the Gulf Coast Countries (GCC) and the rest of the world. While Metito is very much a UAE-based company, it’s very active in the GCC and across the globe.
Walid Oraby, general manager of Metito-Qatar said: “Even in the current economic climate, Metito is showing they are not holding back on large projects such as NDIA, and we are very much looking forward to more business opportunities in Qatar.”
The $12.5 million plant is currently undergoing site acceptance tests, which are necessary for a plant of this size. As the airport isn’t yet completed, the individual systems will be kept under a mothballing period of nearly two years until the new airport is commissioned.
Metito also was awarded a $21 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to supply Das Island with potable water by the Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Co. (Adma Opco). Das Island is the centre of the UAE’s offshore oil industry, about 140km northwest of the capital.
And its water demineralization technology is helping six power plants — owned by Egyptian electricity companies that include: Kuraimat, Al Atf, Nubaria, Tebbin, Cairo West and Sidi Krir — to generate electricity. With a total power capacity of 8,050 MW daily, the plants’ project value is in excess of US$54 million. They treat over 30,000 m3/d of water from the Nile River with post-treated water returned to the river at a quality meeting and exceeding local environmental regulations.
In October, Metito joins forces with Berlinwasser to form the region’s leading private water utility company, Metito Berlinwasser Ltd, to target opportunities worth a potential $1 billion in CAPEX across the MENA region over the next three years. They also formed a strategic alliance to jointly develop and invest into new water and wastewater projects in China.
Grundfos shows success with MBR, pump, solar systems
Grundfos BioBooster A/S, a unit of Danish pump manufacturer Grundfos, signed a BOOT contract with Hoogesteger BV, a Dutch producer of freshly squeezed fruit juices, in the Netherlands for supply and operation of an MBR wastewater treatment plant.
The company also just released successful results of a three-year test of its MBR technology in Bologna, Italy, to reuse domestic wastewater treated by the system in irrigation of potatoes and tomatoes as part of the EU SAFIR (Safe and High Quality Food Production Using Low Quality Water and Improved Irrigation Systems and Management) Project.
In other news:
- One of the first extra large industrial pumps from Grundfos, the CR XL — the world’s biggest multi-stage inline pump — also is now used in fire-fighting equipment in Northern Jutland, Denmark, at one of the world’s most efficient heat and power plants.
- Grundfos and SunPower Corp. recently dedicated a 1.1-mW solar power system at Grundfos’ facility in Fresno, California, USA, that’s expected to cut CO2 emissions at the site by nearly 2.4 million pounds a year.
- IBM and Grundfos signed an agreement for IBM to provide servers and storage infrastructure for its two data centers in Denmark, and to deliver new infrastructure for Grundfos’ SAP environment.
- Grundfos also has launched water-utility.grundfos.com for consulting engineers and contractors in the water industry.
Christ Water Technology lands Mid-East desal projects; names new CEO
Mondsee, Austria-based Christ Water Technology subsidiary Aqua EPC L.L.C., in Dubai, UAE, completed an EPC-contract for expansion of a seawater desalination system at a five-star beach resort to 2,800 m3/d, upgrading it with the latest energy recovery technology.
Earlier in 2008, it and Aqua Engineering GmbH received a contract through local units for desalination and demineralization works at the new US$8 billion Emirates Aluminium Project — the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world. In addition, CWT chief technology officer Malek Salamor was named CEO in place of retiring CEO Dr. Karl Michael Millauer. He’s replaced as CTO by Serge Schmitt.
SSI focuses on wastewater, stormwater in South Africa
SSI Engineers & Environmental Consultants, in an ongoing design and refurbishment supervision contract awarded by the Thaba Cheweu Local Municipality in Lydenburg, South Africa, is refurbishing the city water treatment works.
This includes sand filters, settling tanks and chemical dosing equipment, as well as wastewater pump stations in Lydenburg and Graskop. More work is planned or under way in Sabie, Graskop and the Matibidi rural villages along the Blyde River Canyon.
BCP Engineers, a unit of SSI, also was involved in design and construction of 9.5km of stormwater networks as part of a 17km road project for the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality.
UK plastic valves key to African purified water solution
The brainchild of Dr Leighton James, a new product from Meckow Aquapur offers 1,000 lph of purified water for Third World countries with a range of Astore PVC-U valves in its construction. Meckow Aquapur works with eight government agencies distributing the units to 12 different African countries, benefiting over 2,000 people per unit.
