WARRENDALE, PA, Oct. 25, 2007 -- Siemens Water Technologies has been awarded a 2.6 million euro (AU$4.26M; US$3.6M) contract by the Gippsland Water Factory Alliance (GWFA). Siemens will supply membranes and associated core system components for a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system as part of the new water factory project in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia. The MBR will treat up to 35 million liters per day (MLD) of domestic and industrial wastewater, and will provide the feed for the reverse osmosis system to produce approximately 8 MLD of Class A recycled water for use by local industry. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2008.
The Gippsland Water Factory will be an innovative wastewater treatment and recycling system with three primary stages: biological treatment, membrane filtration and reverse osmosis. The membrane filtration system will consist of 12 cells, each with 216 membrane modules. Eight of these cells will treat domestic wastewater and four cells will treat industrial wastewater.
The MBR technology combines Memcor membrane filtration with biological, activated sludge treatment to produce effluent that meets stringent reuse standards. The membranes retain minute particles, bacteria and viruses in the wastewater, returning biosolids to the biological treatment system, which dramatically increases the efficiency of the process. By installing low-pressure membranes inside a biological reactor system, there is no need for sedimentation and media filtration to separate mixed liquor or suspended solids from treated effluent. Eliminating these extra steps reduces the space required and simplifies the entire process.
The Gippsland Water Factory project will be the first of its kind in Australia, highlighting Gippsland as a leader in sustainability and innovation. Additional project benefits include eliminating the odor problem generated by the open channel section of the Regional Outfall Sewer (ROS), the area's main wastewater transportation system. Once the project is completed, the environmental quality of the ROS will dramatically improve, as only high-quality treated wastewater will flow through it. As well, making 8 MLD of high-quality recycled water available to local industry through the use of additional RO process units will conserve potable water in this drought-stricken area.
Says David Evans, spokesperson for the Gippsland Water Factory, "What this means is that annually, around three gigaliters of Gippsland's potable water resources will be freed up for other purposes, such as drinking water supplies and environmental flows for our region's rivers and creeks. This is the equivalent to filling around 1,200 Olympic-size swimming pools each year."
The Gippsland Water Factory Alliance includes the Central Gippsland Region Water Authority and a consortium of three specialized companies: Transfield Services Limited, provider of capital project management services; CH2M Hill Australia, supplier of water and wastewater engineering, construction and operations; and Parsons Brinckerhoff Australia, for engineering delivery services in environment and infrastructure.
The MBR system for the Gippsland project will be manufactured at Siemens' Memcor manufacturing center in Windsor, Australia.
Siemens Water Technologies delivers cost-effective, reliable water and wastewater treatment systems and services to municipal, industrial, commercial and institutional customers worldwide.
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