Siemens upgrades, extends Austrian wastewater treatment plant

ERLANGEN, Germany, Sept. 26, 2007 -- The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group has been contracted by the Austrian corrugating base producer Mondi Packaging Frohnleiten GmbH to extend the company's wastewater treatment plant. A fiber extraction and anaerobic pre-stage from the "Sipaper Water" line will be integrated into the existing cleaning circuit. This will allow the processing of approximately 3,600 m³/d of wastewater with a COD (chemical oxygen demand) load of 20 tons. What's more, up to 6,400 m³/d of biogas will be produced for power generation in the facility. CO2 emissions will thus be reduced considerably by the utilization of biogas and the lower power consumption of the new wastewater treatment plant. The value of the project amounts to some two million euros, and the project is scheduled to come on stream in April 2008.

Mondi Packaging produces 160,000 metric tons of corrugating base annually at its Frohnleiten facility in Styria, Austria. Wastewater produced by the plant is treated in a mechanical-biological wastewater treatment plant. In recent years the capacity of the existing plant had reached its limits.

To stabilize and optimize COD and BOD (biological oxygen demand) decomposition, Siemens will install an anaerobic stage -- designed to process 3,600 m³/d of wastewater with a COD load of 20 tons -- between the mechanical cleaning and activation stages. Numerous components from the existing wastewater cleaning system will be retained for the system expansion. The sediflotation plant will be modified to meet the new requirements and an existing preacidification thickener upgraded. The introduction of this upstream anaerobic stage means that the existing activation and final sedimentation plants will continue to be used without modification. It is worth noting that the anaerobic stage yields biogas that can be used for power generation in the facility. Siemens also supplies the equipment -- such as desulfurization, flare, gas tank and compressor station -- for processing up to 6,400 m³/d of biogas. There will be less CO2 emissions due to the utilization of biogas and the lower power consumption of the aerobic stage where less ventilation is required.

A fiber recovery dimensioned for a flow volume of 150 m³/h will be integrated into the process. This measure significantly reduces the solids concentration in the wastewater treatment plant. At the same time, valuable fibers can be fed back into the production process. The scope of supply includes a forming board with a polymer station and dosing system, as well as the complete process integration.

Siemens is also responsible for the electrical wiring and process control of the new sections of plant. Siemens products Sipaper Drives, Sipaper Power and Sipaper DCS are installed. All Siemens products, systems and components are elements of the "Sipaper Water" system that has been specially developed for wastewater treatment in the paper and pulp industry.

The Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services Group (I&S) is the integrator of systems and solutions for industrial and infrastructure facilities and global service provider for the plant and projects business covering planning, installation, operation and the entire life cycle.

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