IFAT Trade Show 2012 - Veolia Water Ireland

Veolia Water News
www.veoliawaterst.com IFAT 2012 Edition | Hall A3, Stand 139-238
IFAT Newsletter
Summary
New: Memthane ® , for
industrial high-strength
wastewater
Production of bioplastics
from sludge
Zero pollution, 100%
responsibility
Global leader in water
treatment
Soft and uranium-free
drinking water
The power of sludge
Exelys: energy-efficient
thermal hydrolysis
Roche uses energy from
wastewater
Water reuse and energy
recovery in France
Reduce CAPEX and OPEX
with new design for
digesters
Treating the Fukushima
contaminated water
Largest hybrid
desalination plant
in the world
Manage water supplies
more efficiently
Zero liquid discharge
at Shell’s GTL complex
in Quatar
Innovative water
treatment on world’s first
floating LNG
Water reuse plant in
Australian office building
Emergency mobile
drinking water systems
Three awards to Swedish
wastewater treatment
plant
Reduced carbon
footprint with CARIX ®
Heavy metal removal
without sludge
generation
Dragon Mining improves
efficiency of wastewater
treatment
Cost-effective solution
to treat ammonia
State-of-the-art online
control of wastewater
systems
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
6
6
6
7
7
7
New: Memthane ® , for industrial
high-strength wastewater
Memthane®, Veolia’s Anaerobic
Membrane Bio-Reactor (AnMBR),
delivers high-energy efficiency and
superb quality effluents, enabling
wastewater treatment system clients
to simultaneously save money
and improve their environmental
performance.
Memthane® opens the door to treating
high strength, high solid wastes
found in industries such as distilleries,
dairies (whey), bio-ethanol
producers and instant coffee plants
which were previously considered
untreatable from an economic
standpoint. Memthane® is not just
an Anaerobic MBR technology, but
a small footprint solution that offers
an array of benefits, eliminating disposal
costs while generating valuable
biogas and remaining easy to operate
and maintain.
Memthane® maximizes
renewable
energy production
while producing
superb quality effluent
that can be
discharged directly
to the sewer or often
easily reused.
The suspended
free effluent can
also facilitate easy recovery of nutrients
for fertilizer production. With a
COD removal efficiency of >98%, this
powerful green energy source offers
the possibility of making production
plants energy self-sufficient,
reducing the dependency on costly
external fossil fuels.
An innovative yet simple process
Memthane® combines two technologies
with proven track records:
Biothane’s anaerobic biological
wastewater treatment and a Pentair’s
X-Flow Ultra Filtration membrane
separation process. Influent
is fed to the anaerobic bioreactor
where the organic components are
converted into energy-rich biogas.
Next, the anaerobic effluent is processed
through the UF membrane
unit, separating the ‘clean’ permeate
from the biomass. The biomass is
returned to
the bioreactor,
while the ultraclean
filtrate is
discharged as
particle-free,
low BOD/COD
effluent, often
at levels low
enough for direct
discharge
to the sewer.
In addition to
its performance
advantages,
Memthane® delivers
significant
total operating
costs reduction
compared
with other technologies, taking
into account all elements, including
membranes, chemicals, sludge
disposal and overall energy savings.
The simple, single, fully automated
reactor system also offers the possibility
of remote control.
www.veoliawaterst.com
Production of bioplastics from sludge
Research has shown that some bacteria
used to purify wastewater in
biological treatment processes feed
off carbon, which they can convert
into biopolymers, similar to those
produced by the chemical industry.
Cella, a technology developed
by Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies’
subsidiary AnoxKaldnes,
makes it possible to augment the
biopolymer production potential
of these biological treatment processes
by creating the best possible
conditions for selection of the right
bacteria. The PHA-rich biomass
is then harvested and converted
into a valuable material for plastic
and chemical industries used, for
instance, to manufacture biobased
consumer products and chemicals.
The Aquiris North Brussels sanitation
site was chosen for the implementation
of the first prototype testing to
recover organic matter from municipal
wastewater for conversion into
valuable end-products. It provides
for an ideal facility to implement the
biopolymer production trial as well
as establish a development centre
of resource recovery. With a capacity
of an equivalent population of
1,100,000, the plant brings together
“The valuable
methane-rich biogas
produced can cover
a significant part of
the production plant’s
energy and heat
demand, as high as
100% in distilleries,
for example. ”
state-of-the art technologies for both
the wastewater and sludge management.
In Sweden, a similar ”sister” prototype
is in operation for industrial
wastewater treatment as well as a
first biopolymer recovery prototype.
In the fall of 2011, the first biopolymers
were produced by the
prototypes in Belgium and Sweden,
where various components were
fully incorporated into existing facilities
without any modification of
operating processes. Leveraging on
this initial success, the development
teams in Lund, Brussels and Paris are
now working to fine-tune the process
and optimize the raw-product
characteristics to ensure that they
match the requirements of potential
industrial partners and eventual bioplastic
and other biobased carbon
product end-users.
Zero pollution,
100% responsibility
Building a new city-center wastewater
treatment plant to meet the
growing needs of the population,
comply with European standards
and cater for sustainable development
issues was the challenge set to
Veolia Water by Marquette-lez-Lille,
in northern France. The plant will
generate a low carbon footprint
and produce biogas. It will meet
the requirements of the European
Directive on the good ecological
status of water as early as 2013. It
will be integrated into the landscape
by architects, including a 7 hectare
park and will focus on reducing noise
and odor pollution.
The plant will have the capacity to
treat wastewater from an equivalent
population of 620,000. It will feature
two separate treatment trains,
one for wastewater (2.8 m 3 /s) and
one for stormwater (5.3 m 3 /s). The
stormwater will be treated in the patented
Actiflo® ballasted flocculation
process, while the wastewater will
successively be treated by:
• Multiflo®, a lamellar settler used as
primary treatment for suspended
solids removal
• Hybas, a biological treatment
hybrid technology combining
the best of two well-known technologies:
activated sludge and
AnoxKaldnes MBBR
• Hydrotech Discfilter, used as
tertiary treatment to polish the
effluent
• For sludge treatment, the implementation
of Exelys, a new
thermal hydrolysis process from
Veolia, will reduce the quantity
of sludge produced by 20–40%
and increase the production of
biogas by 15–30% compared to
a standard digestion. After being
dried in a BioCon dryer and
stored, half of the sludge will be
used in agriculture and the other
half in a cement works.
As the Marquette-lez-Lille plant is
located in a densely populated urban
area, particular care has also been
taken in dealing with odors. Veolia
Water’s offer includes full control
over odor emissions, their treatment
and monitoring.

page 2
IFAT 2012 Edition
Global
Soft, uranium-free drinking water
leader
in water
treatment
“€2.3 billion
revenue in 2011,
10,767 employees
worldwide”
“Ensured compliance
with the revised
German drinking
water regulation in
force since November
2011 with a limit of
10μg/l uranium”
The largest Uranex plant so far
for removing uranium, and one of
the largest Carix plants for partial
desalination, is in operation in the
waterworks in Windesheim, Rhineland
Palatinate, by the Trollmühle
association.
The geologically-related uranium
content of the water is now reduced
with the aid of these two ion
exchange processes, from an average
14 μg/l to less than 0.1 μg/l. In addition,
the overall hardness is reduced
from 22° to 12° and the nitrate content
from 35 mg/l to less than 25
mg/l. About 42,000 people in 14,000
households in the local area are supplied
with 2.1 million cubic metres
of drinking water a year. The plant
was realised by Krüger WABAG, a
subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions
& Technologies.
Building work began in August 2010
and the plant was commissioned in
October 2011, after only 14 months’
construction time. The planned building
time and costs were both strictly
adhered to. The moderate increase
in water costs for the households is
offset by the absence of decentral
water softeners and the lower use
of detergents and descalers that
are harmful to the environment. In
addition, the increased demands on
the water quality and public health
care are taken into account. Finally,
compliance with the revised German
drinking water regulation in force
since November 2011 with a limit of
10μg/l uranium is ensured.
www.krueger-wabag.de
Serving municipal and industrial
clients worldwide through a network
of 135 business units, Veolia Water
Solutions & Technologies:
• delivers engineering and turnkey
design & build projects
• provides client-tailored water
treatment solutions and associated
services
Services: what we deliver
We provide customized best-in-class
water treatment service through our
expertise and 250 market-leading
technologies.
Our worldwide network of local business
units and specialized knowledge
produces added-value service solutions
tailored to the unique needs
of each client.
Value: what we create
We’re experts at reusing, recycling
and leveraging value from water for
clients.
We apply a portfolio of cutting-edge
technologies to:
• treat and reuse wastewater
• produce and recover energy
• extract raw materials
• create valuable byproducts
Responsibility: at the heart of everything
we do
We know that our performance
depends on the creativity and commitment
of our more than 10,700
employees. Our teams deliver the
water treatment solutions that improve
quality of life in communities
around the world.
Our sustainable carbon and water
footprint initiatives help clients respond
to stakeholder expectations to
reduce environmental and resource
impacts.
Clients and host communities trust us
to ensure safety and meet the most
stringent performance standards.
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies
is a fully-owned subsidiary of Veolia
Water, the global benchmark for
water services.
www.veoliawaterst.com
The power of sludge
Sludge? Beautiful? Check the
dictionary and you’ll find such
unflattering descriptors as, “mire,”
“muck,” “ooze” and “slush.” Search
for synonyms and it only gets worse:
“guck (or gook),” “slime,” “slop” and
“mud.”
But efforts in recent years to improve
the sustainability of the wastewater
treatment plants that produce
sludge is giving rise to a new vocabulary;
words like, “fuel,” “bio-solid,”
“energy,” “green,” “renewable” and,
particularly resonant in these times,
“economical.”
As municipalities and industrial
companies look for new ways to
manage increasing waste volumes
and control the costs from their
wastewater treatment processes,
the image of the once-lowly sludge
is ascending. Increasingly sludge
is being viewed and treated as a
source of valuable by-products and
agriculturally beneficial ingredients,
such as phosphorus extracted from
struvite. For many sites, however, the
real pay-off comes in the capacity to
recover energy. Proven technologies
such as anaerobic digestion, thermal
hydrolysis, co-digestion or thermal
drying are converting sludge/biosolids
into a valuable energy source.
Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies
has long regarded sludge not as
a waste but as a resource from which
to extract value for the benefit of
customers. Veolia applies an array of
technologies to custom-design value
creating solutions for customers
around the world, including:
• In Hilleroed, Denmark, the Exelys
thermal hydrolysis solution,
combined with anaerobic digestion
maximizes biogas and green
energy production, while minimizing
sludge volumes. Thermal
hydrolysis uses heat and pressure
to break down sewage sludge prior
to treatment by anaerobic digestion.
This considerably increases
the biogas yield and reduces the
quantity of sludge for final disposal.
Biogas production is increased
by as much as 40% and sludge
quantities are reduced up to 35%.
Local subsidy premiums for green
energy also make it possible to sell
excess energy for cogeneration.
The Exelys process will also be
installed at Marquette-Lez-Lille
and Versailles, in France.
• Another leading thermal hydrolysis
technology, Biothelys is being
applied to increasingly large
projects, including at the Esholt
Wastewater Treatment Works in
the UK. The biogas generated from
the process will be used to run a
seven megawatt combined heat
and power plant. The digested
sludge that is generated can be applied
as a fertilizer/soil conditioner
for all crops including cereals,
vegetables and salads as well as
for horticultural applications.
• Applying the BioCon® lowtemperature
sludge thermal
drying process allowed the municipality
of Buffalo, Minnesota,
to do much more than simply
reducing the biosolids mass from
its wastewater treatment plant,
by 95%; it also resulted in 70-80%
savings of the plant’s thermal
energy requirements, helping
reduce operating costs by 50%
(compared to disposal of wet
sludge). In addition to generating
inexpensive renewable energy,
the remaining biosolids are ready
for land application. Expressly
designed for drying of dewatered
sludge from municipal and industrial
wastewater treatment plants,
the solution utilizes a dual-belt
low temperature dryer operating
with a temperature range between
80°C - 180°C, reducing the portion
of water content in the material to
less than 10%.
• The Pyrofluid thermal treatment
solution oxidizes organic matter
contained within sewage sludge
in France, Poland and Russia
amongst other countries. The solution
reduces volumes while it can
also generate energy at plants. At
Marne-Aval in France, for example,
steam from two Pyrofluid furnaces
feed an electricity-generating
turbine, contributing to meeting
the plant’s energy needs.
Veolia’s sludge/biosolids expertise
doesn’t stop with energy recovery
solutions: “we are constantly looking
for new ways to derive value and
produce materials that are recyclable
or reusable. In Brussels, Belgium, for
example, we inaugurated a worldunique
bio-refinery prototype
capable of recovering the components
from sanitation plants and
vaporizing them into bio-plastics,
usable in certain industries”, explains
Jean-Marc Philipot, Technical Department
Deputy Manager. Veolia also
provides advanced control technologies
to optimize the environmental
and energy performance of facilities;
combined with anaerobic digestion,
the result is energy neutral wastewater
treatment plants…today!
www.veoliawaterst.com
Exelys
energyefficient
thermal
hydrolysis
Biosolids are the largest potential
energy source for a wastewater
treatment facility, and therefore
need to be utilized as effectively
and efficiently as possible. Enhanced
anaerobic digestion is now the
performance benchmark for biogas
production, with thermal sludge
hydrolysis being recognized as the
most effective pre-treatment.
However, traditional batch thermal
hydrolysis systems are somewhat
energy and capital cost intensive. A
truly continuous thermal hydrolysis
system, Exelys has been developed
to overcome these shortcomings
while maintaining a high level of
effectiveness.
Exelys is a simple process: dewatered
sludge with a high solids
concentration (± 25%, which can
be obtained from a conventional
dewatering system) is continuously
pumped under pressure into the
reactor tube. Steam is injected into
the sludge, where it condenses and
heats the sludge. The sludge flows
in a plug-like manner through the
reactor tube at a temperature of
165° Celsius and 8 bar pressure
with a retention time of at least 30
minutes. This provides the conditions
required to hydrolyse the
biological sludge and significantly

Hall A3, Stand 139-238 page 3
increase the biogas potential of this
fraction of the solids going to the
anaerobic digesters. At the end of
the reactor tube, the hydrolysate is
cooled down, first through a heat
exchanger (with heat recovery) and
finally by water addition, to reduce
its temperature and solids content so
that it can be added directly to the
anaerobic digestion process.
“The Exelys
thermal hydrolysis
process consumes
considerably less
energy per unit of
solids hydrolysed
compared to
traditional batch
systems, while
achieving at least
the same level of
performance”
Due to the continuous operation,
high solids content of the feed and an
effective control system, the Exelys
thermal hydrolysis process consumes
considerably less energy per unit
of solids hydrolysed compared to
traditional batch systems, while
achieving at least the same level of
performance. Downstream, there
are less solids requiring disposal,
leading to lower costs. Exelys is
a modular system and therefore is
very flexible, yet at the same time
capital and maintenance costs are
reduced. The high temperature and
pressures in the reactor tube also
produce a sludge hydrolysate that
is truly pasteurized.
Through its innovative design and
continuous operational configuration,
Exelys is the most energyefficient
technology available for
thermal sludge hydrolysis. And due
to the unique characteristics of the
hydrolysed sludge product, Exelys
is the ideal solution for significant
increase of the capacity of the existing
digestion systems.
www.veoliawaterst.com/exelys
Water reuse and energy
recovery in France
The Petite Californie wastewater
treatment plant, located in Nantes
(Northwest of France) was recently
upgraded to treat 71,000 m 3 /day of
wastewater, equivalent to 180,000
inhabitants. The upgrade and extension
of the plant not only improved
the quality of the treated wastewater
which is mainly discharged to the
Loire River, but also allowed the plant
to meet stringent requirements
for sustainable development with
regards to water reuse and energy
recovery.
The city of Nantes takes a keen interest
in sustainable development and
opted for an overall energy efficiency
approach which includes biogas production
from mesophilic treatemnt
of the sludge in the plant’s digesters.
Flexible solar panels have also
been installed at the plant. In total
this covers one third of the power
consumption at the wastewater
treatment plant, i.e. the energy used
for lighting and heating.
The residual sludge (12,500 T./year)
is recovered for agricultural use after
treatment by digestion, a technology
which reduces volumes by over 30%,
thus minimizing the environmental
impact of transportation.
The upgrade of the wastewater treatment
processes includes Veolia’s
patented Multiflo and Biostyr®
processes, selected on the basis of
their high technical performance, as
well as compactness. The treated
wastewater is used on-site for cleaning
activities and could eventually be
suitable for use at the nearby bus
washing station.
Despite having almost doubled its
capacity, the plant’s surface has been
reduced by half and the vacant area
has been converted into gardens.
The architecture of the premises, of
a bioclimatic type, combines mineral
and vegetal elements, with the creation
of gardens inside the building.
Fully covered, the plant is also
characterized by a minimization of
the sounds and olfactory nuisances.
A permanent network of Odowatch
electronic noses, capable of detecting
64,000 volatile olfactory elements,
was installed and enables to mitigate
the inconvenience of the odors.
“The city of Nantes
takes a keen interest
in sustainable development
and opted
for an overall energy
efficiency approach
for its WWTP”
Reduce CAPEX and
OPEX with newly
designed digesters
Sludge is now more and more
considered as a resource rather
than a waste, so focus is big on
sludge treatment and anaerobic
digestion. Anaerobic digestion is
a highly efficient and widely used
method for green energy production
and stabilizing of sludge. Digestion
converts organic solids into biogas,
significantly reducing the requirement
for sludge disposal, while at
the same time improving its final
dewaterability. The biogas produced
can be utilized for heat and power
production, while disposal costs for
the sludge are significantly reduced.
Therefore, anaerobic digestion is efficient
when it comes to reducing
costs and generating income for a
wastewater treatment plant.
In recent years, Veolia’s Danish
subsidiary Krüger has developed a
new design for digesters with the
main purpose of reducing CAPEX
and OPEX while improving the
performance of the digester.
Key elements of the new design
include:
• Construction with a flat roof and
no headspace in the top concrete
part of the digester which results
in a significant reduction in CAPEX.
The design simplifies the construction
and reduces the risk of corrosion
of internal digester surface in
acidic gas headspace.
• Integrated gas cooler (Gas Top)
that improves the gas quality, reduces
foam overflow and acts as
a flame arrester.
• Built-in cleaning and maintenance
possibilities, e.g. easy cleaning of
blocked pipes, removal of sand
and grit during operation, safe
servicing of overhead mixer and
no shut-down of the digester. All
these improvements increase the
operational reliability and reduce
OPEX.
The new design is making the
civil construction easier and much
cheaper.
The Gas Top is important to our
commitment to Service, Value and
Responsibility:
Service: Easy maintenance and
foam removal
Value: Very cost-effective system
designed to avoid expensive
maintenance
Responsibility: Very safe workplace
as gas leakages are prevented
www.kruger.dk
Roche uses energy from wastewater
The pharmaceutical company Roche
Diagnostics has built a new anaerobic
plant for the biological pre-treatment
of a partial wastewater flow at the
Penzberg site in Upper Bavaria. The
plant, which produces energy-rich
biogas, supplements an existing
membrane bioreactor system. The
new anaerobic plant was built by
Aquantis, a subsidiary of Veolia
Water Solutions & Technologies.
The new system pre-treats partial
wastewater flows especially rich
in carbon as well as biologically
degradable liquid waste from the
bio-technological production. A 480
m 3 Biobed® EGSB reactor (Expanded
Granular Sludge Bed) is used for the
biological treatment. In the course of
this process energy-rich biogas is produced,
collected and processed. The
gas is used in a combined heat and
power plant to generate both forms
of energy. The amount of electricity
thus gained will cover more than 90
per cent of the energy requirements
of the wastewater treatment plant,
and the thermal energy will be used
to heat water that supplies a newly
constructed local heating pipeline for
replacing high energy steam. Further
savings will be achieved by eliminating
the upstream aerobic high-load
step. The carbon dioxide emissions
will be reduced by about 1,400
metric tons per year, so that Roche
Penzberg will achieve a sustainable
reduction of its carbon footprint.
The Roche Penzberg plant, with a
size of approximately 350,000 m²,
is one of the largest biotech centres
in Europe and one of the leading
biotechnology research, development
and production centres of
the Roche Group. Over 30 years
of experience in biotechnological
production make the Penzberg site
a pioneer in the industrial application
of biotechnology. Today, approximately
4,800 people work on
site. In addition, the Penzberg facility
is the only international centre for
the development and production of
both diagnostics and pharmaceuticals.
Thus the Group’s Personalised
Healthcare strategy is part of daily
business in Penzberg. Test development
for patient stratification and
research support work hand in hand
with the pharmaceutical scientists to
develop products with clear benefit
for patients. The goal is to deliver diagnostics
and medicines to improve
patient’s health and quality of life.
www.vws-aquantis.com
“The amount of
electricity thus
gained will cover
more than 90 per
cent of the energy
requirements of
the wastewater
treatment plant”

page 4
IFAT 2012 Edition
Treating highly contaminated waters at Fukushima
Two and a half months: that’s the
record time it took the AREVA and
Veolia Water teams to design, deliver
and start up a system able to
treat the contaminated water at the
Fukushima nuclear power plant damaged
by the March 2011 tsunami.
The decontaminated water is then
desalinated and reused to cool the
plant’s reactors.
With a capacity of reducing water
radioactivity by a factor of 10,000
and treating up to 50 tons of contaminated
water an hour, the system
has played an essential role in stabilizing
the situation of the nuclear
plant by improving the access of
workers to strategic parts of the site,
and allowing TEPCO (Tokyo Electric
Power Company) to re-circulate the
waters that are used for cooling the
reactors.
At the heart of the solution put
forward by Veolia and AREVA was
Actiflo-Rad, a system which combines
Veolia’s proven Actiflo® and
Multiflo technologies with AREVA’s
radioactivity adsorption reagent.
AREVA’s decontamination reagent
captures the radiation and the Multiflo
and Actiflo® processes separate
the “activated” reagents from the
water by concentrating them into a
quantity of thickened sludge which
represents less than 1% of the initial
volume of water. The residual sludge
with a high radioactivity concentration
is extracted and fed into a
concrete underground pit while the
water passes through a complete
desalination and evaporation process
made up of three EVALED TC
evaporators. The desalinated water
is reused in the reactor cooling circuit
while the condensate is stored onsite
in metal tanks.
The Actiflo-Rad system can treat
up to 50 m 3 /hour of contaminated
water. It has been a key element
in TEPCO’s system which probably
avoided the release of 40,000 to
50,000 m 3 of contaminated water
into the sea.
Largest hybrid desalination
plant in the world
Fujairah 2 is the largest hybrid desalination
plant in the world, with a
capacity equivalent to 591,000 m 3 /
day of drinking water. The hybrid
desalination plant is exceptional by
its size but also because it combines
the two technologies, Multiple Effect
Distillation (MED) and Reverse
Osmosis (RO), to which is added a
pretreatment Dissolved Air Flotation
(DAF) system. This state-of-the-art
combination has proven to be a solution
which meets the requirement
for a constant, high quality drinking
water output, despite vast seasonal
variations in the power output as
well as algae bloom periods.
Hybrid desalination: the most
energy-efficient solution to produce
desalinated water
The desalination plant is linked to
a 2,000 MW power plant. The high
drinking water demand in UAE does
not vary substantially with the seasons
whereas the power demand
does: during summer, the power
demand is high due to the use of
air-conditioning whilst it is lower during
the winter months. Therefore, an
innovative hybrid solution including
MED and RO was called for to best
match the demands from a cost as
well as a performance perspective.
The hybrid design is the most energyefficient
solution for production of
desalinated water today.
The MED system composes the first
section of the desalination plant
and is the largest system of the
two. It includes 12 MED units that
are driven using steam extracted
from the three condensing steam
turbines and from the exhaust of the
back pressure steam turbine. This
provides maximum output from
the MED units during the summer.
The second part of the desalination
plant is based on RO and is driven by
power rather than steam, therefore
it can be operated independently of
steam output and be used during
winter to maintain water output
when power demand is low.
Spidflow: a new generation of
rapid flotation
Algae bloom periods are often a
problem in the region. Taking this
into account, the technical solution
put into place also features an innovative
pretreatment solution
upstream of the RO system: Veolia’s
Spidflow Dissolved Air Flotation
(DAF). Clarification of water containing
low density particles is a delicate
step, especially during episodes of
fast algae bloom. Spidflow specifically
fits seawater desalination
pre-treatment, as an upstream step
of a Reverse Osmosis membrane
treatment chain. It is especially efficient
during red tide periods and
provides unequalled water treatment
efficiency by eliminating over
99% of algae content. The efficiency
was confirmed during a strong algae
bloom in February 2011, when
Fujairah 2 was able to maintain its
daily production capacity while other
plants in the region were forced to
shut down or greatly reduce their
production.
Manage water supplies more efficiently
“The Water Impact Index expands on existing
volume-based water measurement tools
by incorporating multiple factors such as
volume, resource stress and water quality. ”
Veolia Water created the Water
Impact Index as an innovative and
comprehensive water foot-printing
tool designed to help decisionmakers
achieve sustainable water
management.
Current sophisticated water footprints
focus almost exclusively on
volume – a very good indicator to
raise awareness but not sufficient
to represent the impact on a water
resource. The Water Impact Index
expands on existing volume-based
water measurement tools by incorporating
multiple factors such as
volume, resource stress and water
quality. It examines the impact of
human activity on water resources
and provides a methodology for
establishing positive and negative
implications of how water resources
are managed. The new tool provides
additional parameters needed to
make informed choices about effective
water management.
Through the Water Impact Index,
decision makers can factor in three
essential elements – quantity of
water used, level of stress upon
water resources, and overall water
quality – and develop a much more
detailed, holistic and inter-related
understanding.
The Water Impact Index considers
both direct and indirect influences
of an activity from “cradle to
grave”– whether managing a textile
production facility or a wastewater
treatment facility. It incorporates
the volume and quality of the water
extracted and released back into the
environment and adds the Water
Stress Index (which accounts for the
level of stress on the resource). This
new index gives us the water impact
– and it includes indirect elements
from the production chain such as
energy, raw materials, chemicals,
and waste generated. Through the
Water Impact Index, one can better
evaluate how water users (humans
and ecosystems) could be deprived
of water resources through mismanagement
of water or wastewater
systems.
Tested for the first time in 2010 in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s metropolitan
area water cycle (in the United
States), the Water Impact Index,
combined with a total carbon footprint
analysis, enabled the identification
of several levers for improving
the system’s performance while
reducing its impact. In 2011, many
more projects were set up, including
the optimization of wastewater
treatment of the L’Oréal factory
at Jiangsu, China where the tool
highlighted the benefits in terms
of carbon and water footprints of
the wastewater treatment plant’s
biological treatment.
Zero liquid discharge at Shell’s
GTL complex in Qatar
Pearl GTL, located in north-east
Qatar, is the world’s largest Gas-To-
Liquid complex with an impressive
size similar to that of 450 football
fields. It includes upstream gas production
facilities and an onshore GTL
plant that produces 140,000 barrels
per day of GTL products and approximately
120,000 barrels per day of
condensate, liquefied petroleum gas
and ethane.
The design-build of the Pearl GTL
complex effluent treatment plant
was conducted by a consortium
formed from a 50/50 joint venture
between Veolia Water and Saïpem
and a local construction company,
Al Jaber.
Due to the size of the operation
and the water scarcity in the region,
Qatar Petroleum and Shell opted for
a sustainable water management
solution, e.g. zero liquid discharge,
with the water produced in the
transition from gas to liquid being
led to an effluent treatment plant,
where it is treated and reused in
the production process. The effluent
treatment plant has a capacity
to handle 45,000m 3 /day.
Veolia Water designed and completed
the effluent treatment plant,
supported by patented Veolia technologies.
In particular, wastewater
will be treated by ultrafiltration and
reverse osmosis, with the objective
of their complete reuse within the
factory process. Thus, no liquid effluent
will be discharged into the natural
environment. Reverse osmosis
brine treatment will be carried out
by evaporation and crystallization,
a technology achieving zero liquid
discharge where only salt crystals
are produced.

Hall A3, Stand 139-238 page 5
Innovative water treatment
on world’s first floating LNG
The largest floating facility ever built
“The MPPE system has
proven to be the ideal
solution to aim at zero
harmful discharge
by removing toxic,
dissolved and dispersed
hydrocarbons”
Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) has
opted for the Macro Porous Polymer
Extraction (MPPE) technology for
the Prelude FLNG-project (Floating
Liquefied Natural Gas) in Australia,
the first floating LNG plant. The
MPPE unit will be used to treat
the produced water of this floating
structure, the largest in the world
(488 meter length, 74 meter wide).
During the production of natural gas,
formation and dehydration, water is
“co-produced”. This produced water
contains dissolved and dispersed
aromatic, aliphatic and polyaromatic
hydrocarbons. Veolia’s MPPE water
treatment technology is the only
compact technology that can achieve
Shell’s ambitious environmental
goal to go for zero discharge of environmentally
harmful substances.
The Prelude FLNG project is the first
Australian upstream project with
Shell as operator. Together with
Technip and Samsung, who form the
consortium which was awarded the
construction project, Shell’s ambition
is to develop more FLNG projects
in the world. The FLNG technology
is an important development as it
reduces both the project costs and
environmental footprint of an LNG
development.
Veolia’s subsidiary VWS MPP
Systems has extensive worldwide
expertise in the development, marketing
and servicing of separation
systems for wastewater, offshore
produced water, process water and
groundwater streams.
With its robust and flexible operation
and growing range of applications,
the MPPE system has proven to be
the ideal solution to aim at zero
harmful discharge by removing toxic,
dissolved and dispersed hydrocarbons.
www.vwsmppsystems.com
Emergency mobile drinking
water systems
Eight water treatment systems have
been developed for the German
Federal Agency for Technical Relief
(THW) by Berkefeld, a Veolia Water
Solutions & Technologies subsidiary.
The THW water treatment specialist
teams are equipped with the type
TWA 15 UF transportable systems.
The modular, highly-mobile water
systems encompass various stateof-the-art
technologies which can be
combined with each other depending
on the water quality available in
the emergency area.
The plants provide the agency with
a Germany-wide network of water
treatment facilities which also fulfil
the German Drinking Water Regulations.
This means that the plants
are approved not only for disaster
relief worldwide but also for emergency
municipal water supply in
Germany. The THW thereby offers
itself as a partner to the German
drinking water suppliers for planned
or unforeseen cases of temporary
emergency supply.
Depending on the combination of
the process steps, a TWA 15 UF
system provides up to 15m 3 /hour of
clean drinking water to supply up to
about 2,400 inhabitants if the water
is fed into the grid, or about 18,000
if it is distributed in canisters.
The plant’s core component is a
highly-effective CeraMem® ceramic
ultrafiltration membrane with a pore
width of 0.1 μm by which viruses
and germs are reliably removed from
the water. The ceramic membrane is
structured as a monolith block and
therefore is especially stable. In addition,
disinfection with ultraviolet
light and chlorination ensures a safe
drinking water quality. Upstream are
a coagulation and adsorption unit
as well as pre-filtration with automatically
back-washable discfilters.
The system also includes a storage
unit for 40m 3 of drinking water and
a distribution and sludge disposal
module.
Due to the modular concept, these
water treatment plants can be
transported to the action site in commercial
aircraft and trucks, erected
without great effort and quickly put
into operation. The predominantly
automatic control and the reduced
need for chemicals ease the efforts
of the aid workers on-site.
www.berkefeld.de
Water reuse plant in Australian office building
“Designed with
sustainability
principles in mind, the
Recycled Water Plant
helps to reduce the
environmental footprint
of the overall project, as
it eliminates the need to
transport large volumes
of water to and from
centralised wastewater
treatment plants.
Through continued
innovation in design
and operating principles,
it also reduces carbon
footprint compared to
alternative treatment
systems.”
The Darling Quarter development is
a $500 million low rise commercial
office and leisure space in Sydney’s
Darling Harbour. Significant sustainability
initiatives were put in place,
including a reduction in potable
water consumption of 92% through
rainwater harvesting and onsite
wastewater recycling. The project
was awarded a 6-Star Green Star
Office Design rating by the Green
Building Council of Australia.
The Darling Quarter Recycled Water
Plant combines leading-edge biological
and membrane processes by Veolia
Water Solutions & Technologies,
including the AnoxKaldnes MBBR
(Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor) and
the hollow fibre Ultrafiltration membrane
(UF) to remove very efficiently
bacteria, suspended solids and BOD
/ COD, followed by Reverse Osmosis
to remove salts and particles larger
than 0.0001 µm and Ultraviolet and
Chlorination to kill bacteria, protozoa
and viruses. The plant produces 166
kL/day (60 ML/year) of high quality
treated water which is used for toilet
flushing, garden irrigation and cooling
tower make up.
The treatment plant was designed
by Veolia to be a completely closed
plant, with all waste streams
(screenings, sludge and brine) being
combined and sent directly to
the sewer. Veolia Water Solutions &
Technologies was the first company
to get permission from the local
water utility to discharge screenings
directly back to sewer. As one of
the first inner city treatment plants,
Darling Quarter benefits from an
innovative and efficient odor extraction
and treatment system, designed
by Veolia and residential developer
Lend Lease through a collaborative
approach from the early stages of
the project. This has now created a
benchmark for future city treatment
plants.
By using innovative and highly
efficient technologies with small
footprints, Veolia was able to deliver
a treatment plant which is approximately
25% smaller than those of
competitors, saving valuable space
for the building owner to use to earn
additional income over the life of
the building.
Long-term onsite trials have been
performed over the past six months
to optimize the plant’s operations
by reducing energy, chemicals and
waste consumption with successful
preliminary results: energy consumption
has already been significantly
reduced.
www.veoliawaterst.com.au

page 6
IFAT 2012 Edition
Three awards to Swedish
wastewater treatment plant
A 1999 joint EU-decision limiting effluent
nitrogen from large municipal
wastewater treatment plants to 10
mg/l led to the construction of an
AnoxKaldnes MBBR (Moving Bed
Biological Reactor) for post-denitrification
at the RYA wastewater treatment
plant in Göteborg, Sweden.
Furthermore, in 2006, the county
administrative board decided upon
new discharge limits for phosphorous
with 0.3 mg/l as guide value.
In practice, this meant that biomass
separation from the planned MBBR
plant as well as tertiary filtration of
the secondary effluent were needed.
After extensive pilot testing, these
functions were combined in the
Discfilter plant.
The RYA wastewater treatment plant,
one of the largest in Scandinavia,
serves the equivalent population of
about 650,000. After screening, grit
removal and primary clarification,
water is treated in the activated
sludge plant with possibilities for
pre-denitrification and simultaneous
precipitation. Trickling filters are
used for nitrification and the newly
installed MBBR for nitrogen removal
in a post-denitrification process. Water
is finally treated in the Discfilter
plant before being released into the
recipient.
The Hydrotech Discfilter was
selected for biomass separation
from the new post-denitrifying
AnoxKaldnes MBBR and for
effluent polishing following the
existing activated sludge system,
with both functions combined in
the same plant. 32 HSF2220-2F
units with a pore opening of 15 µm
were installed, each with a design
flow capacity of 900m 3 /hour.
The focus has been for a sound and
safe work environment. Odor has
been eliminated through separate
ventilation from each filter and noise
reduced to a minimum by specially
designed filter covers. Stable operation
is ensured by a centralised, selfcleaning
backwash system, on-line
control of filtration performance and
an automatized system for acid wash
of the filter panels. During the first
year of operation less than 1 ‰ of
the filter panels were exchanged.
In 2010, the architectural design of
the discfilter building was recognized
with the prestigious Kasper Salin
“With careful process
control and efficient
tertiary filtration, the
new discharge limits
of 0.3 mg/l in effluent
total phosphorous can
be achieved without
post-precipitation.
In practice, this means
that the effluent
Suspended Solids
concentration is
typically maintained
below 5 mg/l.”
prize and in 2011, the innovative
steel construction of the same building
was awarded a prize. Not only the
innovative design but also the function
has been acknowledged: Gryaab
was awarded the yearly prize of the
Swedish Water Association plant
upgrade for the improved nutrient
removal following the plant upgrade
with the AnoxKaldnes MBBR and
the Discfilter processes.
www.hydrotech.se
Reduced carbon footprint
with CARIX ®
With the selection of the appropriate
process technologies and the
design of water treatment plants,
the assessment of associated CO 2
-
emissions becomes more and more
important with many investment
decisions worldwide. Krüger WA-
BAG, a subsidiary of Veolia Water
Solutions & Technologies, has therefore
analysed the carbon footprints
of different processes for softening
of drinking water: the CARIX® ionexchange
process, nanofiltration and
reverse osmosis.
The carbon footprint represents
the total of greenhouse gas emissions,
caused directly or indirectly
by a technology. Thanks to the total
carbon footprint assessment, we are
in the position to determine different
solutions for water treatment and
indicate possible savings with the
associated costs.
The assessment
The survey carried out is based on
the values of a CARIX® unit being in
operation with the actual operating
costs and consumptions. This unit
is compared with a nanofiltration
unit and a reverse osmosis unit. A
common index is the CO 2
equivalents
(g CO 2
/m 3 product water) being generated
during the entire lifecycle. For
all three cases, an average lifecycle
of 25 years was taken as a basis. The
basic output of each plant is 244 m 3
of water per hour. The total emissions
are divided into three main
categories:
• Emissions being generated during
the operation of the unit (raw
water supply, electric power
consumption and operating
materials)
• Emissions being generated during
engineering and construction of
the unit
• Emissions being avoided due to
the CO 2
consumption.
The results
With 161g CO 2
-e/m 3 , the CARIX®
unit has the lowest carbon footprint,
which is a result of the comparatively
low electric power consumption and
the reduction of emissions by the
CO 2
being bound in the wastewater.
Compared with the CARIX® unit, the
carbon footprint of the nanofiltration
and reverse osmosis units were
higher by 68% (NF) and 88% (RO).
Key findings from the investigation:
• With all three units, the biggest
share of emissions comes from the
electric power consumption during
plant operation.
• The category raw water supply
during operation registers emissions
connected with the energy
consumption due to generation
of additional raw water.
• The emissions resulting during
plant engineering and construction,
as well as emissions resulting
from the production of the operating
materials, only represent a
small share of the total emissions.
• The “avoided emissions” are the
share of greenhouse gases being
bound through the CARIX® process
and prevented from passing into
the atmosphere.
www.krueger-wabag.de
Heavy metal removal without sludge generation
Granulate
Water containing dissolved
heavy metals
Oxidation
Iron (II) or
Manganese (II) ▼
agent
▼ ▼ pH regulation
▼
Clean
water
“Savings in waste
disposal costs
will normally
be sufficient to
finance the capital
and operating
costs for a
MetClean plant”
It has long been recognised that
adsorption processes are capable
of reducing the amount of many
metals in water and wastewater to
a very low level. Krüger’s patented
MetClean technology utilises the
adsorption process in a fluidised bed
reactor to remove a range of metals
from solutions. Krüger’s experience
includes As and the following metals:
Cd, Cr, Hg, Mo, Ni, Se, Zn, Cu, V, Ba
and Sr. Treatment efficiency is as
high as 99% in a one-step process.
By using MetClean, the weight of
the waste product is reduced by up to
20 times. The waste product resulting
from the treatment is a granule
with a dry solids content of 80-90%.
The savings in waste disposal costs
will normally be sufficient to finance
the capital and operating costs for a
MetClean plant. The footprint of
the MetClean process is relatively
small, making it a very cost-effective
solution for several applications:
• Potable water contaminated by
arsenic or nickel.
• Groundwater contamination due
to leaching of metals such as Cr
is easily eliminated by using a
dedicated fluidised bed reactor.
• Industrial wastewater from metal
treatment industries, wood preservation,
tanning etc. containing
the metals already mentioned.
• Flue gas desulphurisation wastewater
from power plants. Met-
Clean is highly suited for this
heavily contaminated wastewater
and offers a substantial reduction
in treatment and waste disposal
costs. In fact, MetClean is capable
of treating a range of metals
to lower ppb levels than can be
achieved in a traditional precipitation
plant. In this application, the
elimination of the sludge problem
is a very obvious advantage.
www.kruger.dk

Hall A3, Stand 139-238 page 7
Dragon Mining improves
efficiency of wastewater
treatment
The Svartliden Gold Mine is located
700 km north of Stockholm in northern
Sweden, and is operated by the
Swedish subsidiary of Australian
Dragon Mining. Ore from the Svartliden
Gold Mine is extracted from an
open-cast mine and treated in a conventional
crushing and processing
plant (CIL) with a capacity of 300,000
tons of ore per year. The wastewater
from the process is collected in
a sand trap. 95% is recycled while
nitrogen, arsenic and copper needs
to be removed from the remainder
before being discharged into a local
stream.
In order to meet the specified
discharge requirements, Veolia’s
Swedish subsidiary VA Ingenjörerna
suggested installing the MetClean
treatment plant, the AnoxKaldnes
MBBR process and Hydrotech
Discfilters.
heavy metals, will help Dragon Mining
meet stringent environmental
discharge limits by reducing Arsenic
(As) from the goldmine water down
to 15 ppb, Nickel (Ni) down to 45
ppb and Copper down to 9 ppb.
The AnoxKaldnes MBBR (Moving
Bed Biological Reactor) is used as a
biological treatment for the removal
of nitrogen. And finally, Hydrotech
Discfilters are used for the removal
of suspended solids produced in the
biological treatment.
VA Ingenjörerna’s control program,
VA-Operatör, ensures that daily operations
run smoothly. Due to the
construction of the plant, there are
fewer costs associated with erection
and operation. The construction also
lends support to Dragon Mining’s
desire to improve the efficiency of
the management of wastewater at
Svartliden.
State-of-the-art online control
of wastewater systems
STAR Control® improves and updates
the control of wastewater
treatment plants on the basis of
on-line measurement of ammonia,
nitrate, phosphate, etc. It comprises
advanced on-line control strategies
for biological/chemical treatment
which lead to savings in energy and
chemical consumptions.
Another advantage of STAR Control®
is stabilization and improvement
of effluent quality through better
utilization of the existing plant capacity.
The control tool can also be
an alternative first step to increase
the capacity of wastewater treatment
plants in order to postpone or
eliminate the need for expansions.
STAR Control® optimizes and controls
the plant’s processes while the SCA-
DA system performs the conventional
basic control of the plant operation
such as alarm handling, supervision
of operation of the mechanical plant
parts, maintenance plans, etc. STAR
Control® supplements the SCADA
system, as it computes and transmits
set points to the SCADA system. STAR
Control® only performs the control
through the SCADA system and when
the control basis is in order.
The operation and reporting of SSTAR
Control® are based on Internet technology
and a graphic user interface
is accessed by network browser on
LAN, ADSL or similar networks.
More recently, the STAR Control®
system was expanded with a new
module for real time control of
sewer and wastewater treatment
plant. The system predicts flow
from radar information and simple
sewer models. The flow predictions,
in combination with measurements
of the system, state results in a full
scale control of the sewer system and
wastewater treatment plant.
www.kruger.dk
The MetClean process, an adsorption
process for the removal of
www.vaing.se
Cost-effective solution to treat ammonia
With the raising awareness on
product recovery from wastewater
treatment plants, sludge digestion
for biogas production is now one
of the key processes towards the
energy producing wastewater treatment
plant. However, sludge digestion
typically means that centrates
highly loaded in ammonia but very
poor in carbon source are returned
to the main wastewater treatment
line, usually adding another 15% to
the ammonia load of the plant.
ANITA Mox is a one-step energyefficient
MBBR process treating
these centrates with little aeration
and no need for external carbon
source. The technology is based on
the growth of ammonium oxidising
bacteria and anammox bacteria as
a biofilm on the protected surface
of MBBR (Moving Bed Bio Reactor)
carriers.
Besides the treatment of centrates
from municipal sludge digestion,
with or without sludge hydrolysis,
ANITA Mox is also particularly well
suited for the treatment of other
streams with a very low C/N ratio
such as:
• Leachate
• Industrial wastewater after
anaerobic treatment (Food &
Beverage industry, etc.)
• Industrial wastewater naturally
highly loaded in nitrogen
(Microelectronics industry, etc.)
• Reject water from sludge
treatment platforms
The ANITA Mox process is being
used successfully on centrates from
Sjölunda (Malmö) and Sundets
(Växjö) Wastewater Treatment
Plants in Sweden. Despite the use
of slow-growing anammox bacteria,
the plants were started-up within
3-4 months to reach their maximum
removal capacity of approximately
90% of NH4-N and 75-80% of TN.
www.veoliawaterst.com/anita

page 8
IFAT 2012 Edition
Service | Value | Responsibility
Water is too
valuable to
be used only
once
Veolia technologies
provide more than
3.5 million m 3
of reused
wastewater
every day
www.veoliawaterst.com
World leader in water reuse through
a complete range of innovative
solutions and technologies
• Hydrotech Discfilters
• Actiflo® High-rate Sand Ballasted
Clarifiers
• Filtraflo TGV Rapid advanced
filtration and adsorption
• Biosep membrane systems
• OPUS Optimized
Pretreatment and Unique
Separation process