BRUSSELS, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2007 -- Waterleau, a Belgium-based company specializing in water, air and waste treatment, and energy recovery applications, has placed three orders for PURON® modules from Koch Membrane Systems (KMS). The announcement was made by Tom Mertens, Benelux sales manager for KMS, who indicated Waterleau's order is further evidence of the growing demand for PURON membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. The units will process municipal and industrial wastewater in applications in Belgium and China.
The two plants in Belgium operate in sites that produce sustainable energy sources. One of the projects is for an industrial customer who will produce biodiesel from soy and rapeseed oil. Waterleau proposed its ATLANTIS® MBR technology, which uses PURON modules, to upgrade an existing wastewater treatment plant to the future load without having to modify existing civil structures. The PURON modules will process a flow up to 720 m³/d, increasing plant capacity to 1.8 tonnes COD/d.
The other Belgium plant is a waste-to-energy facility where potato and vegetable waste is converted into energy by biological fermentation. The wet fraction is polished by an ATLANTIS® MBR wastewater treatment system, again using PURON modules. It will be operational early next year with a capacity to produce 1.6 MW of electrical power. The dry fraction will be further dried to approximately 95% solids and will be refined into high quality fertilizer granules.
The China project is KMS's first large-scale municipal MBR project in that rapidly growing market. PURON modules were chosen for a municipal sewage treatment plant to process 12000 m³/d of municipal wastewater that contains a considerable volume of industrial wastewater from nearby textile works. The MBR process was chosen over a sequential batch reactor (SBR) to achieve a very high quality effluent. The plant is compact and completely covered, thus minimizing environmental emissions.
Operating from its headquarters near Brussels, Waterleau is one of the few global players with a complete portfolio of water, air and waste treatment and energy recovery applications. Waterleau provides services in the whole range from technology development, consultancy, design and engineering, procurement and construction to operations and maintenance.
Koch Membrane Systems Inc. has been a global leader in separation and filtration products for more than 35 years. A designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art membrane cartridges and elements, as well as complete membrane systems, KMS products are specified for the most demanding applications.
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