Water & Wastewater Asia January/February 2022

JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2022 

www.waterwastewaterasia.com 

A collective effort in 

driving smart sustainable 

solutions for industries 

Water quality monitoring 

using the SWAN 

Cleantech water 

treatment solutions enabling 

sustainability in Asia and its 

semiconductor industry

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CONTENTS 

38 

24 

CONTENTS 

04 Editor’s Note 

06 News 

54 SWA Newsletter 

63 What’s Next? 

64 Advertisers’ Index 

SINGAPORE FOCUS 

16 Water Technology Roadshow: 

A joint effort to bring science 

to life 

18 Automated micro-invertebrate 

detector with image analytics 

capabilities 

IN CONVERSATION WITH 

19 A collective effort in driving 

smart sustainable solutions 

for industries 

ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 

22 New year brings resolution on 

pollution 

24 Advanced biological filtration: 

A multi-barrier approach 

to complex water and 

wastewater contaminant 

removal 

IN THE FIELD 

28 Water quality monitoring 


2 WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022

CONTENTS 

50 

52 

59 

60 

30 Protecting against water loss 

32 Sustainable brine treatment 

“down under” 

34 Using AODD pumps to optimise 

filter-press operation 

37 Wastewater recycling plant 

steps into the future 

38 Mobile discharger addresses 

pesticide overload at WTW 

FOCUS 

40 Cleantech water treatment 

solutions enabling 

sustainability in Asia and its 

semiconductor industry 

43 How F&B manufacturers can 

benefit from going modular 

44 Climate change drives new 

focus on hygienic tank 

protection 

46 Technology in packaged water and 

wastewater treatment plants 

HOTSEAT 

50 SEKO, a partner for dosing and 

control systems 

52 Why peristaltic pumps excel in 

wastewater handling? 

ON OUR RADAR 

58 Grundfos brings efficient pumping 

solutions to Nereda wastewater 

customer 

59 Aquaporin wins a pilot for an 

energy efficiency solution to 

China’s leachate overflow 

SNEAK PEEK & REVIEW 

60 De Nora TETRA Filtration – Don’t 

Underestimate the Underdrain 

62 Meet Imagine H2O Asia’s third 

cohort of water tech start-ups 

WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 3

FROM THE EDITOR 

ANOTHER START 

Over the course of last year, the world 

arguably experienced some of the most 

immediate consequences it will encounter 

in the face of climate change. For instance, 

North America and Europe experienced 

more intense heatwaves and wildfires 

during summer. Particularly in Greenland, 

rain, instead of snow, fell for the first time at 

Greenland’s 3,200m high summit in August. 

The effect of higher temperature brought 

forth by global warming is poised to set 

Greenland melt faster, contributing to rise in 

sea level. 

Closer to Asia, Taiwan concluded its worst 

drought in 56 years in June. And in Henan, 

China, the Chinese city received a year’s 

worth of rain in just three days in what was 

dubbed a “once in a thousand years’ flood 

in July. Most recently, our neighbouring 

Malaysia experienced heavy rainfall which 

was followed by widespread flooding in eight 

states across the country in December. 

The World Meteorological Organisation 

(WMO) highlighted that extreme weather 

events are now the “new norm”, and some of 

these actually bear the footprint of humaninduced 

climate change, as WMO Secretary- 

General Prof. Petteri Taalas, noted: “At the 

current rate of increase in greenhouse gas 

concentrations, we will see a temperature 

increase by the end of this century far in 

excess of the Paris Agreement targets of 

1.5-2°C above pre-industrial levels.” 

In this issue, we spoke with Eric Lai, regional 

managing director, industry – Asia-Pacific 

and country director for Singapore, 

Grundfos, who described the recently 

concluded COP26 as “a big step forward” 

with several announcements surrounding 

the importance on strengthening water 

resilience and efficiency. One example 

is the Reducing Water Footprint 

Coalition, launched and led by the UK 

government, which calls for nations and 

non-state actors to make commitment 

on accelerating research and how water 

consumption can be reduced. To find out 

more, flip to page 16. 

And on page 40, Prakash Govindan, 

COO of Gradiant, discussed more on the 

growing importance for the water-intensive 

semiconductor industry to embrace 

sustainability in the supply chain. He 

explained: “Freshwater scarcity poses a 

major threat to economic growth, water 

security, and sustainability for our future 

generations. 

“The challenge of providing adequate and 

safe drinking water is further complicated 

by climate change and the pressures of 

economic development. These stresses 

drive the need to make the most out of our 

limited water supplies.” 

A new year is just starting to unfold, and 

plenty of opportunities and possibilities 

awaits to be filled. And with the Lunar New 

Year just around the corner, the Water 

& Wastewater Asia team would like to 

wish all our readers Gong Xi Fa Cai and a 

progressive and prosperous 2022. 

Cheers, 

Josephine Tan 

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NEWS 

VEOLIA AND PARTNERS BUILD UP 

EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR 

IDENTIFYING COVID-19 VARIANTS 

IN WASTEWATER 

The Vigie Covid-19 solution now can track signs of 

the Omicron variant in wastewater (Photo credit: Pixabay) 

Veolia, the IPMC, start-up IAGE and the 

Bataillon des Marins Pompiers de Marseille 

(BMPM), continue their collaboration to 

optimise Vigie Covid-19, their solution 

to detect and quantify the presence of 

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Launched in 

September 2020, this method has already 

made it possible to detect and quantify 

the Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants, then 

the Delta variant last summer, and now the 

Omicron variant. 

Used experimentally as a complement 

to existing clinical data, the presence 

of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater has the 

potential to become a new indicator to 

help manage the pandemic. In France, 

the National Reference Laboratory 

appointed by the Ministries for Health and 

the Ecological Transition, has therefore 

launched a process to harmonise and 

consolidate such monitoring methods. 

The Vigie Covid-19 solution is “the most 

operational” in Europe for quantifying 

SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater to date, Veolia 

claimed. With the polymerase chain reaction 

(PCR) screening techniques, the solution 

allows to identify the presence of known 

mutations originating from existing variants 

and evaluate their concentration. Then, the 

sequencing methods identify the mutations, 

as well as the variants proportions. 

Philippe Sébérac, technological and 

scientific expertise director for Veolia, 

commented: “With the success of our 

third campaign that demonstrates the 

effectiveness of Vigie Covid-19, we 

are now ready, in agreement with our 

partners, to make it available to a greater 

number of stakeholders. A large-scale 

rollout would make it possible, by 

tightening up the territorial network, to 

cross-reference these data with those of 

local health authorities. 

“Our method can thus constitute a 

complement to clinical trials in the fight 

against the spread of the pandemic, 

by providing readable information and 

dynamics consistent with the incidence 

rates reported by health authorities in 

Europe.” 

DUPONT AND WATER.ORG PARTNER TO 

INCREASE GLOBAL ACCESS TO SAFE WATER 

Both organisations agree to bring sustainable water 

solutions for people living in poverty (Photo credit: 

Unsplash.com/Liz Martin) 

DuPont and Water.org have partnered to 

increase global access to safe water, with 

a focus on communities most vulnerable 

to the consequences of water scarcity. The 

partnership combines the former’s technical 

expertise in water filtration and purification 

solutions with the latter’s expertise in financial 

solutions to the global water crisis. 

Both organisations intend to collaborate on 

ways to innovate and deploy climate-resilient, 

sustainable water solutions that can scale to 

people living in poverty. 

HP Nanda, global vice-president for DuPont 

Water Solutions, elaborated: “We believe the 

pending water crisis can be avoided, and 

water can become abundant, affordable and 

accessible to everyone – no matter where they 

live.” 

As a start, DuPont awarded Water.org an initial 

grant to provide 100,000 people with one year 

of access to safe water or improved sanitation, 

in areas facing water scarcity and climate 

challenges in the countries where Water. 

org works. This includes India, Indonesia, 

Bangladesh, the Philippines, Cambodia, 

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mexico, Brazil, 

and Peru. The funding supports Water.org’s 

solution, WaterCredit, that is designed to 

break down the financial barriers between 

people living in poverty and access to safe 

water and sanitation. 

Kimberly Kupiecki, sustainability leader at 

DuPont Water Solutions, added: “Reliable 

access to safe water is a game-changer for 

those who spend hours walking miles each 

day retrieving unsafe water for basic needs. 

It allows young children to attend school, 

families to create wealth, and improves 

health and wellbeing overall. SDG 6 – while 

itself a critically fundamental goal for human 

prosperity – is essentially interconnected 

with almost every other goal for sustainable 

development.” 


NEWS 

DE NORA INSTALLS CLORTEC 2250 FOR 

SINGAPORE’S WATER DISINFECTION PROJECT 

De Nora has clinched one of the largest water 

disinfection projects in Asia at the Johor 

River Water Works, the largest water works 

located in Malaysia. This project will see De 

Nora’s ClorTec 2250 on-site hypochlorite 

generator replacing existing liquid chlorine 

and ammonia systems at Johor River Water 

Works. 

In total, De Nora will provide 11 ClorTec 2250 

units across all three plants on-site. Each unit 

De Nora will provide on-site hypochlorite generation 

systems for Singapore’s Johor River Water Works 

will be equipped with an electrolyser capacity 

of 1,020kg per day, exceeding the tender 

requirement of 900kg per day. 

This win follows other successful projects 

with the water utility company in Singapore 

where De Nora ClorTec systems have been 

installed at multiple locations, including 

Chestnut Avenue Waterworks, located in the 

west of Singapore. 

De Nora ClorTec 2250 on-site hypochlorite 

generation system uses three common 

consumables – water, salt, and power – to 

produce chlorine-based disinfectants by 

passing a solution of sodium chloride through 

an electrolytic cell and converting the chloride 

ions into sodium hypochlorite. According to 

De Nora, it provides a “safe, economical and 

effective solution for drinking water treatment 

without creating or transporting hazardous 

chemicals”, thus ensuring the safety of 

personnel and the surrounding community. 

As part of the tender process for the Johor 

Water Works project, the ClorTec 2250 

systems had to meet stringent performance 

and efficiency targets in Factory Acceptance 

Tests (FAT) across a period of six months. 

Of particular concern to the end user 

is the formation of by-products like 

chlorate, perchlorate and bromate. These 

by-products, the company added, are 

emerging contaminants of concern in water 

sources globally, and awareness of these 

contaminants is increasing in Asia. 

De Nora ClorTec on-site hypochlorite 

generation systems are optimised to help 

minimise production of these by-products, 

especially chlorate. In tests performed at 

Chestnut Avenue Waterworks, De Nora 

demonstrated that on-site hypochlorite 

generation systems produced by-products 

such as chlorate and perchlorate at “4-6 times 

lower” than the recommended value set out. 

The ClorTec 2250 unit at Johor River Water 

Works is expected to be operational by March 

2023. 

WAVIN PARTNERS VECTUS TO PROVIDE THE INDIAN MARKET WITH 

ACCESS TO WATER AND SANITATION SOLUTIONS 

Wavin, a solutions provider for the 

building and infrastructure industry 

and an Orbia business, has announced 

it will be acquiring a majority stake in 

Vectus Industries, a manufacturer of 

plumbing and drainage pipes in India. 

With this joint venture, Orbia’s building 

and infrastructure businesses will operate 

at the forefront of India’s growing water 

management industry, supporting 

customers in the residential, commercial, 

industrial, infrastructure, and agricultural 

sectors. 

The deal is expected to close in Q1 2022 

and represents an important strategic 

investment. Wavin has been expanding its 

product and regional footprint as Vectus 

will continue to provide plastic pipes and 

tanks to support the above- and belowground 

building segments, complementing 

Wavin’s solutions for drinking water, 

wastewater and rainwater management. 

Applications range from sustainable urban 

and semi-urban building environments to 

efficient residential plumbing systems. 

Said Ashish Baheti, managing director of 

Vectus, commented: “The Indian pipes, 

fittings and water tanks market has been 

growing rapidly over the last decade. 

By combining our strong distribution 

network and deep understanding of the 

Indian market with Wavin’s technological 

expertise and global footprint, we will 

be positioned to capitalise on India’s 

huge growth potential and deliver for our 

customers. 

The complementary strengths of this 

partnership will enable it to play a key role 

in the real estate development of India’s Tier 

2 and 3 cities and continued government 

investment in affordable housing. 

Said Sameer Bharadwaj, CEO of Orbia, 

added: “With national expenditures in 

building and infrastructure ramping up, 

India is positioned for a strong recovery 

and increased demand for solutions 

that enable the continued development 

and resilience of rural and urban India. 

This acquisition provides us with local 

presence and know-how, expanded 

capacity and a strong dealer and 

customer base for our end-to-end water 

management offerings that advance life 

around the world.” 


NEWS 

EVOVE TO CO-DEVELOP INDUSTRIAL 3D PRINTING CAPABILITY 

UK technology business Evove has sealed 

a joint development agreement with Meta 

Additive, part of the Desktop Metal family, to 

produce an advanced additive manufacturing 

solution for 3D printing its ceramic Separonic 

membranes. 

Part of Evove’s development plan for the 

Separonics product line is to create a 

blueprint that will underpin the global rollout 

and establishment of regional manufacturing 

hubs. 

Describing the collaboration agreement as an 

important milestone in the commercialisation 

of the Separonics product line, Chris 

Wyres, CEO of Evove, explained that this 

scalable and cost-effective manufacturing 

capability will enable the company to deliver 

ceramic membranes with “transformational 

performance gains and enhanced utility at a 

significantly lower carbon cost”. 

Simon Scott, CEO of Meta Additive, 

continued: “We utilise binder jet technology 

along with novel functional binders to 

provide advanced additive manufacturing 

(AM) solutions that will tackle current and 

future challenges. We are confident that our 

products will enable Evove to eliminate the 

issues associated with traditional ceramic 

manufacturing techniques, including 

shrinkage, energy intensive thermal 

processing and slow production speeds.” 

The project will commence with the 

production of ceramic membranes. They 

have distinct advantages, especially in harsh 

environment with hot and acidic fluids, but 

up to now have been fragile in operation and 

costly to manufacture. 

“3D printing ceramic Separonics with 

Meta’s AM technologies using the latest in 

material science means we can effectively 

eliminate the challenges, high cost and 

carbon footprint associated with traditional 

ceramic manufacturing processes,” Wyres 

explained. “Furthermore, 3D printing allows 

us to produce novel precision engineered 

Milestone in commercialisation of additive manufacturing of 

membranes (Photo credit: Unsplash.com/Minkus) 

architectures that optimise the fluid dynamics 

and integrity of the membrane, delivering 

game-changing performance, reducing 

energy usage for filtration and separation, and 

extending membrane lifetime.” 

Evove aims to establish the first full-scale 

manufacturing process in the northwest of 

England before the end of 2022, to facilitate 

industrial testing of ceramic Separonics at a 

customer’s site shortly thereafter. 

THE WATER COUNCIL AND SCS GLOBAL 

SERVICES PARTNER ON WATER STEWARDSHIP 

As businesses across the world confront 

increasing water challenges and growing 

calls for tangible accomplishments on 

sustainability, The Water Council has 

partnered with SCS Global Services to meet 

this challenge by improving corporate water 

stewardship outcomes and reporting. 

The new partnership will include development 

and rollout of programmes to help companies 

move beyond traditional water management 

to “credible and verified” water stewardship 

that addresses enterprise-wide challenges 

and opportunities. 

Dean Amhaus, president and CEO of The 

Water Council, said: “As The Water Council 

expands our water stewardship services, it is 

exciting to start 2022 with the announcement 

of this new collaboration with SCS Global 

Services as they have a reputation as a 

third-party verifier of environmental and 

sustainability performance. We have 

informally worked with SCS for several years 

and see them as a critical partner as we roll 

out a new water stewardship programme 

early this year.” 

Multiple factors have been influencing 

companies to address water-related 

challenges in their value chains. These 

challenges include supply disruptions, 

climate impacts, and calls from stakeholders 

to take action to achieve measurable water 

stewardship outcomes. High on the list 

is the expanding call for companies to 

demonstrate tangible environment, social 

and governance (ESG) results, including an 

expectation to prioritise water-related actions 

and commitments with the same vigour with 

which companies have been addressing 

greenhouse gas reduction and recycling 

initiatives. 


NEWS 

SENSAT, BRITISH LAND AND PARTNERS CREATE A “DIGITAL TWIN” 

IN MAJOR STEP TOWARDS CANADA WATER MASTERPLAN 

Sensat has mapped and brought 

together all past, present and 

future data of Canada Water’s 

53-acre site in one digital replica, 

working with partners British Land, 

a UK property development and 

investment company, and Amodal, 

an information management firm 

for the built environment. Providing 

an up-to-date visual resource, 

Sensat has ensured British Land 

and their delivery partners to 

better understand the site and its 

constraints to expedite options 

appraisal process, feasibility 

reporting, and risk evaluations. 

Embarking on a £4 billion (US$5.4 

million) project to redevelop Canada 

Water’s 53-acre site, British Land, in 

partnership with Southwark Council, 

has been developing a new town 

centre for Southwark and London 

communities that complements 

the local area, making an active, 

positive, long-term contribution to 

local life. As part of the Canada Water 

Masterplan, British Land selected 

Amodal and Sensat to provide a 

complete overview of the entire site, 

where multiple teams and project 

stakeholders can easily visualise site 

conditions without having to be on 

site, supporting project decisionmaking, 

contingency planning, and 

frictionless collaboration. 

David Walters, programme director 

at British Land, commented: “The 

ability to both accurately scan the 

site and confidently pull together lots 

of disparated data into one single 

platform, is amazingly powerful. The 

speed of iteration helps for quicker 

options appraisal, more efficient 

handover processes, and better clash 

detection to reduce contingency 

costs. It’s been an invaluable 

resource when thinking through 

phasing. 

“Adopting a Common Visualisation 

Environment, such as Sensat’s, 

enhances our visualisation capability 

and has proven instrumental when it 

comes to data validation. By scanning 

the site using drones, and displaying 

this highly-accurate data in Sensat’s 

platform, we have been able to 

establish disparities between the 

actual locations of assets and their 

previously documented locations. 

Spotting problems early, ahead of 

the design phase, means we can 

significantly reduce the level of risk 

contingency costs, which could easily 

be into millions.” 

Thread of 

information provides 

the missing link 

for overarching 

site accessibility, 

planning and 

coordination for the 

length of the scheme 


NEWS 

GRADIANT SECURES FIVE NEW DBOOM PROJECTS 

IN SE ASIA AND EXPANDS LEADERSHIP TEAM 

Gradiant has announced the award of five 

design-build-own-operate-maintain (DBOOM) 

water treatment projects in Indonesia and 

Vietnam. The company will provide water 

treatment solutions through a customised 

approach using its suite of technologies to 

treat water and wastewater for industrial 

and municipal clients. These projects have a 

production capacity of 40,000m 3 per day. 

Gradiant has further announced the hiring 

of managing directors Thai Nam Nguyen 

for Vietnam, and K Sadanand for Indonesia. 

The new leadership appointments affirm 

Gradiant’s growth and investment priorities in 

the rapidly industrialising Asia-Pacific region. 

Sadanand brings over 35 years’ experience 

in the water industry, of which 10 years has 

been in the Indonesian market, working 

for companies of Solenis, Nalco Water, GE 

Water, Fichtner, and Ion Exchange. Nam has 

over 25 years’ experience in the water and 

wastewater treatment industry in various 

roles as country representative, and projects 

and business development director for 

companies such as Veolia Water Solutions. 

“Customers are adopting our customised 

and complete solutions which they 

acknowledge will significantly reduce cost 

and simplify management of their water 

and wastewater treatment operations,” said 

Sadanand. “With rapid industrialisation 

pressures and increasingly strict 

environmental regulations, our clients 

will need to solve their water challenges 

in performance- and cost-optimised 

approaches. We are excited to help solve 

water and wastewater problems in Indonesia 

by providing sustainable end-to-end 

solutions.” 

Since its inception in early 2020, the 

Gradiant Vietnam team has achieved 

substantial headway in the region 

with a growing pipeline of projects 

that are contracted, or in late-stage 

negotiations. “Our technologies are an 

apt fit for the value-driven Vietnamese 

market. This coupled with our team’s 

ability to develop, deliver, own, and 

operate as end-to-end solutions will 

enable our clients to fully address their 

water and wastewater challenges,” Nam 

added. 

Sankar Natarajan, who heads the 

company’s project acquisition efforts 

for South East Asia, concluded: “Asia- 

Pacific serves a critical role in the 

global supply chain with over 40% of 

the world’s manufacturing. Vietnam 

and Indonesia require effective and 

optimised water solutions to balance 

rapid industrialisation with sustainable 

growth.” 

SUEZ WATER TECHNOLOGIES & 

SOLUTIONS ACQUIRES SENTINEL 

MONITORING SYSTEMS 

SUEZ – Water Technologies & 

Solutions has completed the 

acquisition of Sentinel Monitoring 

Systems, a microbial monitoring 

company headquartered in Tucson, 

Arizona, the US. The latter develops 

products that provide real-time and 

near-real-time solutions to monitor 

the effectiveness of microbial control 

within life sciences ultrapure water 

and manufacturing processes. Under 

this purchase agreement, SUEZ has 

acquired all of Sentinel Monitoring 

Systems’ business. 

Microbial monitoring plays a critical 

role in ensuring the safety of patients 

from harmful bacteria viruses, and 

other contaminants. Sentinel’s 

technology can detect individual 

microorganisms “150 times faster 

than convention methods”, the 

company claimed, reducing the 

risk of microbial contamination and 

allowing manufacturers to respond 

quickly to control risk and minimise 

impacts to downstream operations 

before irreversible damage is created. 

As a result, SUEZ will become a 

supplier to offer the full range of 

compendial water testing methods to 

life science markets, including total 

organic carbon, conductivity, bacterial 

endotoxin testing, and bioburden, 

increasing productivity, lowering 

operating costs, and improving risk 

management. 

Yuvbir Singh, CEO of SUEZ Water 

Technologies & Solutions, commented: 

“Sentinel Monitoring Systems is a 

company with a strong track record 

of pioneering innovation since it 

launched in 2014. As we continue to 

grow our business, we believe that this 

acquisition broadens our analytical 

instruments portfolio and is an 

opportunity for SUEZ, our customers, 

employees, and partners around the 

world.” 

Acquisition broadens 

SUEZ’s analytical 

instruments portfolio, 

and provides new 

and existing market 

opportunities for 

microbial monitoring 

(Photo credit: 

Pixabay) 


NEWS 

SÉCHÉ ENVIRONNEMENT 

EXPANDS INTO WASTEWATER 

SERVICES SECTOR IN THE 

GREATER PARIS REGION 

The Séché Environnement Group has opened its doors to eight 

operations centres and their 233 employees offering expertise 

in maintaining wastewater networks and servicing wastewater 

facilities across the Greater Paris region. Harnessing a fleet of over 

130 production and service vehicles – including high-pressure 

cleaning trucks, tanker, trucks, pumps, and more – as well as 

network video inspection technologies, the teams will continue 

leveraging their expertise to service the needs of a wide range of 

customers, including local authorities, manufacturers, real estate 

and food service professionals, and private industries. 

Séché Environnement has already carved a foothold in the region 

through its presence in the decontamination market, especially at 

certain project sites in Greater Paris, and also in the hazardous 

waste sorting and treatment sector, but the organisation has now 

consolidated its local footprint by integrating these wastewater 

treatment activities. The company can now draw on these skills 

in buoyant markets to create industrial and commercial synergies 

by delivering an extensive array of services to a wider customer 

portfolio. 

Maxime Séché, CEO of Séché Environnement, commented: “As 

we head into the New Year, we are delighted to welcome the new 

teams of experts in wastewater treatment services among our 

ranks. These activities broaden the range of high value-added 

services for our customers and dovetail seamlessly with our 

existing business activities in a key geographical sector, namely the 

Greater Paris region.” 

NEW ALFA LAVAL CM CONNECT 

LEVERAGES DIGITALISATION TO 

OPTIMISE HYGIENIC PROCESSING 

The new Alfa Laval CM Connect marks the next step in the digitalisation 

journey to drive innovation and growth for customers in the hygienic 

processing industries. The CM Connect is a subscription-based 

condition monitor and cloud gateway, and enables plant operators to 

access data of rotating equipment on processing lines from a remote 

location. 

With data on runtime, trend analysis, and time to next service close at 

hand, plant operators can make informed maintenance decisions using 

their personal computers and mobile devices. This protects process 

continuity and critical assets, improves workplace safety, saves time 

and money, and delivers competitive advantage. 

As Industry 4.0 evolves, the CM Connect is a next step on the customer 

digitalisation journey, expanding the Alfa Laval range of condition 

monitoring solutions. With complete visibility of all connected assets, 

plant operators can detect issues that impact future performance, 

prevent unplanned downtime, and improve asset management. 

Acting as a gateway communicating via Bluetooth, the CM Connect can 

link up to 10 Alfa Laval CM wireless vibration monitors launched last 

year. It then transmits the data over a 4G cellular network to the cloud 

for review and analysis on an intuitive, user-friendly dashboard. 

Advanced vibration analysis enables detection of any deviation from 

pre-set equipment threshold values. Should deviations occur, an SMS 

or e-mail notifies users who can take action in real time based on data 

analysis. 

“Focus on what matters. The CM Connect lets plant operators plan and 

prioritise maintenance based on actionable data,” said John Walker, 

portfolio manager, pumps, Alfa Laval. “Rather than replacing wear parts 

in advance of their useful service life, operators can spend time and 

money when and where maintenance is required.” 

Séché Environnement incorporates eight centres specialising in maintenance 

services for wastewater networks and facilities 

Besides linking the CM wireless vibration monitors, the CM Connect can 

also act as a sensor. It measures vibration, inboard temperature, and 

total runtime when mounted on Alfa Laval LKH, SRU, SX and DuraCirc 

pumps, or other rotating machines, such as agitators or mixers. 


NEWS 

RUSCO EXPANDS PRODUCT LINE WITH THREE NEW FILTER CARTRIDGES 

With an aim to improve water quality through 

innovation, Rusco expanded its product 

portfolio with the introduction of three new 

filter cartridges, including a carbon block, 

pleated and melt blown spun media. The new 

cartridges are designed to enhance sediment 

removal capabilities and widen applications 

to address chemical contamination concerns. 

Michael Klump, president of Rusco, 

explained: “With our new cartridges, 

customers can now count on us for 

protection against everything from a grain 

of sand during pre-treatment, which over 

time damage costly appliances, to invisible 

chemicals like arsenic and lead. We are 

excited to now offer a complete line of 

filtration products which can be combined to 

filter any of the harshest water conditions.” 

Previously offering mesh filters limited to 

a 15μm capacity, the latest instalment of 

spun and pleated filter cartridges improves 

sediment removal efficiency to as low as 

1μm through advancements in composition, 

surface area and pore size. The activated 

carbon units, which operates at a rate of 

10μm, address areas not covered by existing 

products, including taste and odour, lead and 

chlorine, and volatile organic compounds 

(VOCs) and chemicals. 

A line-up of six different types of filter 

cartridges is now offered by Rusco. Each 

is compatible with the company’s existing 

filters to include the Rusco Spin-Down and 

Sediment Trapper filter units, known for 

their clear housing that makes it easy to 

identify when it’s time to clean or replace. 

Users can maximise efficiency by pairing 

filters with the Rusco Smart Ball Valve, which 

automatically flushes filtration systems with a 

voice command using existing home 

automation or simple 

click of a button via 

smart device. 

Rusco’s new 

filter cartridges 

features 

improvements 

targeted at 

small sediment 

and harmful 

contaminants 

like arsenic 

and lead 

WHY WATER SUSTAINABILITY IS CENTRAL TO THE SUCCESS OF THE SDG? 

What are the strategies and practical 

solutions that businesses and institutions 

can implement the world over, to ensure that 

water – the most precious resource on Earth – 

is managed sustainably? 

Global leaders in sustainable development 

address this fundamental question and make 

the case for concerted action to help ensure 

availability and access for all to water and 

sanitation services in a new episode of SDGs: 

The Rising Tide. This podcast series from 

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) explores 

corporate innovation in support of the 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The episode features two professionals in 

water management – Dennis van Peppen, 

international water programmes team lead at 

the Netherlands Enterprise and Development 

Agency, and Chong Mien Ling, CSO of 

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency. 

They discuss the importance of a global 

water agenda and the role of business in its 

implementation. 

Van Peppen framed the challenge facing the 

global community, and why such as important 

agenda is not receiving sufficient focus at the 

moment: “In many places of the world, we are 

reaching the limits of our water resources. We 

urgently need a global water agenda, which 

simply does not exist. 

“Climate has become a matter of survival 

for humanity and is being recognised as 

such, but there is less of a sense of urgency 

when it comes to water and the challenges 

associated with water management. Only 

those people who are working on the inside 

can clearly comprehend the crisis on the 

horizon.” 

Chong sets out how Singapore’s historical 

and geographical context, in which it relied 

on water imports from Malaysia, has led to a 

more innovative approach to securing water 

supplies of their own. He said: “Singapore is 

one of the most water-stressed countries in 

the world. We quickly realised that we simply 

could not continue with business as usual. 

At the same time, we started to look into 

innovative technologies out there to help us 

reduce the amount of energy required in all 

processes linked to water management. In the 

end, we learned that small things can make a 

big difference.” 

The first six episodes of The Rising Tide can 

be accessed now on Spotify, Apple, and 

Google podcast. 

Latest GRI podcast explores role of business in water 

management 


NEWS 

US LARGEST ION EXCHANGE PFAS TREATMENT 

FACILITY COMMENCES OPERATION IN 

YORBA LINDA 

The Orange County Water District (OCWD) 

and the Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD) 

has begun operating what is dubbed the US 

largest ion exchange (IX) treatment plant to 

remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances 

(PFAS) from local well water. 

PFAS are a group of thousands of manmade, 

heat-resistant chemicals that are prevalent 

in the environment and are commonly 

used in consumer products to repel water, 

grease, and oil. Due to their prolonged use, 

PFAS are being detected in water sources 

throughout the US, including the Orange 

County Groundwater Basin, which supplies 

77% of the water supply to 2.5 million people 

in north and central Orange County. Despite 

playing no role in releasing PFAS into the 

environment, water providers must find ways 

to remove it from their local water supplies. 

Steve Sheldon, president of OCWD, 

commented: “We worked closely with YLWD 

to rapidly construct this treatment facility to 

remove PFAS from groundwater and ensure 

that they continue to meet all state and federal 

drinking water standards.” 

YLWD, one of 19 water providers that pump 

water from the groundwater basin, has 

all 10 of its groundwater wells impacted 

by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 

perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), prompting 

it to temporarily shut down wells and 

transition to purchasing imported water 

sourced from the Colorado River and 

Northern California. These wells were among 

dozens of wells throughout Orange County 

that were removed from service in 2020 after 

the state of compounds no longer produced 

in the US. 

Located at the existing YLWD headquarters 

in Placentia, the PFAS Treatment Plant uses 

an IX treatment system made of highly porous 

resin that acts like magnets that adsorb and 

hold onto contaminants. It consists of 11 IX 

systems, a 25 MGD booster pump station 

Yorba Linda Water District is a public agency serving 

residents of Yorba Linda 

and an upgraded onsite chlorine generation 

system. During treatment, contaminants 

such as PFAS are removed from the water 

before it goes into the distribution system. 

Construction began last March, and the 

facility will be capable of treating up to 25 

million gallons per day. 

Phil Hawkins, president of YLWD, concluded: 

“Bringing this treatment facility online is 

very important for our customers. It means 

YLWD can safely increase its use of local 

groundwater, which is less expensive and 

more reliable than imported water.” 

FIRST GLOBAL RIVER DATABASE DOCUMENTS 40 YEARS OF CHANGE 

The database of four decades of changes in 

the world’s largest rivers could become an 

important tool for urban planners seeking to 

better understand river deltas and the large 

portion of Earth’s population that lives there. 

The database, created by researchers at The 

University of Texas at Austin, uses publicly 

available remote sensing data to show how 

river centrelines have moved over the past 

40 years. The information can be used to 

predict how rivers and their deltas will move 

over time, and will help policymakers manage 

population density and future development in 

these areas. 

“When we think about river management 

system, we have very little to no information 

about how rivers are moving over time,” said 

Paola Passalacqua, who leads the ongoing 

analysis. The research is funded by the US 

National Science Foundation (NSF), and is 

published in Proceedings of the National 

Academy of Sciences. 

Laura Lautz, programme director in NSF’s 

division of earth sciences, added: “The 

availability of abundant satellite data, coupled 

with advances in machine learning, have 

made it possible to map actual channel 

migration rates, and how river deltas are 

changing through time, at a global scale that 

wasn’t possible before.” 

The database includes three US rivers – 

the Mississippi, the Colorado, and the Rio 

Grande. Although some areas of these 

rivers’ deltas have experienced migration, 

overall, they are mostly stable, the data 

show. Aggressive containment strategies 

to keep the rivers in their places, especially 

near population centres, play a role in that, 

Passalacqua said. 

Average migration rates for each river delta 

in the database help identify which areas 

are stable and which are experiencing 

major river shifts. The researchers also 

published more extensive data online that 

include information about how different 

segments of these rivers have moved over 

time. The information could help planners 

see what’s going on in rural areas against 

urban areas. 


NEWS 

SATERI AND 

CONSERVATION 

INTERNATIONAL 

COLLABORATE TO 

RESTORE HEALTH 

AND BIODIVERSITY 

OF CHINA’S LARGEST 

FRESHWATER LAKE 

Sateri and Conservation International has 

announced their partnership on the wetland 

conservation of Poyang Lake, China’s largest 

freshwater lake. This initiative aims to improve 

the ecosystem’s health, restore biodiversity 

and provide sustainable livelihoods to local 

people. 

Located at Jiangxi Province, in the southeastern 

part of the country, Poyang Lake 

plays a critical role in regulating floods in 

the Yangtze River, and is a vital ecosystem 

for the environment, culture, and economy. 

The lake supports the livelihoods of more 

than 45 million people living in the province, 

and contributes more than 15% of the 

Yangtze River’s annual runoff. It is also a 

wetland of national and global importance – 

providing a habitat for flora and fauna of high 

conservation value, including the critically 

endangered Siberian crane and finless 

porpoise. 

The five-year partnership, which began in 

2019, evaluates the health of Poyang Lake 

and develops strategies for managing 

and protecting it, while also supporting 

communities to live in harmony with nature. 

To guide this work, a preliminary assessment 

of the Poyang Lake was conducted using 

Conservation International’s Freshwater 

Health Index. This scientific tool analyses 

the health of the freshwater ecosystem, and 

measures human uses, needs and impacts 

providing decision makers with clear, 

scientific guidance on how best to sustainably 

manage these wetlands. 

Richard Jeo, field division senior vicepresident, 

Asia-Pacific, Conservation 

International, explained: “Water security 

and biodiversity loss are two of the most 

pressing challenges facing humanity and 

the environment. Our strategic partnership 

with Jiangxi Provincial Forestry Bureau 

and Sateri at the Poyang Lake, China’s 

largest freshwater lake, demonstrates how 

government, corporate and communities 

Tundra swan in Poyang Lake (Photo credit: YangFan) 

can work together on conservation, and will 

go a long way towards addressing these 

challenges, and finding solutions that benefit 

both people and nature.” 

This project also supports the United Nations’ 

(UN) Sustainable Development Goals and 

China’s commitment at the UN Biodiversity 

Conference (CBD COP 15) by improving 

protection and management of the Duchang 

Nature Reserve and Poyang Protected Areas 

Network for these important wetlands. 

Allen Zhang, president of Sateri, concluded: 

“The protection of biodiversity and the 

sustainable use of resources in production 

must go hand-in-hand. The Poyang 

Lake initiative is a good example of how 

manufacturers can support nature-based 

solutions in parallel with community 

development. It also aligns with our Vision 

2030 aspiration to be net-positive, giving 

more than we take.” 

SWA SEALS MOU WITH NTUC TO ACCELERATE 

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE LOCAL WATER SECTOR 

In an attempt to strengthen business 

cooperation and spur workforce 

transformation within the local water sector, 

the Singapore Water Association (SWA) 

and National Trades Union Congress 

(NTUC) have signed a memorandum of 

understanding (MoU) with an aim to foster 

partnerships and build capabilities among 

Singapore water companies to emerge 

stronger through digitalisation, sustainability, 

business transformation, training and 

internationalisation. 

Witnessing the MoU signing on 2 Dec 2021 

were Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general 

of NTUC, and Harry Seah, deputy chief 

executive of PUB, Singapore’s national 

water agency. The ceremony was held 

in conjunction with the Singapore Water 

Industry Nite (SWIN), which returned in a 

virtual edition after a two-year hiatus. 

Representing about 300 companies, the SWA 

will be engaging its members to participate 

in the Group Operation and Technology 

Roadmap (OTR) that will be introduced in 

Q1 2022. This initiative brings together the 

relevant agencies – including PUB, small and 

medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), NTUC U 

SME, and NTUC Training and Transformation 

Group – to ultimately uplift the republic’s 

water industry and workforce. 

The partnership between SWA and NTUC will 

strengthen business corporation while supporting 

local water businesses in their digital transition 

Starting last December, the SWA has also 

launched an online Digi Expo. The platform 

features an international language interface 

chatbot for global visitors, and offers visitors 

to network and gain leads for their business 

and stay up-to-date with industry events via 

the Programme Feed and Resource Pages. 

Businesses can also leverage on the platform 

to hire new talents and keep track of visits 

and updates via the activity log. 


NEWS 

NX FILTRATION STARTS PILOT WITH DRINKING 

WATER UTILITY WMD IN THE NETHERLANDS 

WMD, the drinking water utility of the 

province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, has 

initiated a pilot project with NX Filtration. The 

objective of the pilot project is to test director 

nanofiltration (dNF) technology on the removal 

of various micropollutants from WMD’s 

groundwater sources. 

WMD services over 200,000 households and 

companies across Drenthe with the supply of 

drinking water. Amongst its key initiatives as 

part of its 2023 vision, WMD seeks to invest in 

new water treatment technologies to remove 

an increasing amount of micropollutants from 

water derived from groundwater sources. 

These pollutions, which include nickel-iron 

alloys (Ni/Fe) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic 

acid (EDTA), are mostly a result of agricultural 

and industrial activities in the second half of 

the last century. 

Initial lab-scale tests with NX Filtration’s dNF 

technology demonstrated “high removal 

of Ni/Fe, EDTA and other micropollutants”. 

Therefore, WMD now decided to expand its 

pilot programme to test dNF technology in 

a full-scale setting, based on NX Filtration’s 

large scale Mexpert pilot system. 

WMD works with NX Filtration on a pilot project 

to test dNF technology on the removal of various 

micropollutants from WMD’s groundwater sources 

Advantages of the dNF technology for WMD 

include the one-step treatment setup that 

can be applied directly to the source water, 

the fact that desirable minerals remain part 

of the produced water, and the energy-saving 

and chemicals-avoiding characteristics of NX 

Filtration’s dNF technology. 

The pilot programme is expected to run 

from November 2021 to the summer 

of 2022. 

BLACK & VEATCH’S NUTRIENT REMOVAL 

PROJECT STANDS UP TO RECORD CALIFORNIA 

WET-WEATHER EVENT 

ammonia and most nitrate from the effluent, 

addressing concerns of both local and 

downstream ecosystem impacts. 

When the combination of two weather 

phenomena – a bomb cyclone and 

atmosphere river – inundated Northern 

California with record-breaking rainfall last 

October, Sacramento’s biological nutrient 

removal (BNR) facility did more than just 

weather the storm; it flexed its muscle 

in keeping the Sacramento River, and 

subsequently the Sacrament-San Joaquin 

Delta, clean. 

With a maximum capacity of 330 MGD, 

the Sacramento Regional Wastewater 

Treatment Plant (SRWTP) is one of the largest 

BNR projects ever designed by Black & 

Veatch, and incorporates some of the latest 

advancements in BNR technology. 

The BNR facilities were placed fully into 

service just before the newly equipped 

SRWTP would face its first major test – 

when the cyclone and atmospheric river 

combined to dump a record 5.44 inches of 

rain on the capital city. This was the most 

rain Sacramento had been in one 24-hour 

period in more than 141 years, and put the 

strain on the region’s critical infrastructure, 

including wastewater conveyance and 

treatment facilities owned and operated by 

the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation 

District (Regional San). 

Willian Yu, senior civil engineer with Regional 

San, commented: “This was a gigantic 

storm, one that far exceed the ‘100-yearstorm’ 

event. At one point, there were more 

than 500 MGD coming into the wastewater 

treatment plant. 

“We were able to run the maximum 330 

MGD through the treatment plant while 

storing the remainder in equalisation basins 

for later treatment. The facilities performed 

well, demonstrating the necessary flexibility 

to handle such an extreme event while 

continuing to discharge cleaner effluent into 

local waterways.” 

Black & Veatch provided planning, design, 

construction support and start-up and 

commissioning services for the new 

BNR facilities. The BNR system relies on 

microbial populations within aerobic and 

anoxic environments to remove nearly all 

The BNR project is a cornerstone project in 

the Regional San EchoWater programme, 

initiated in 2010 to address stricter effluent 

discharge mandates issued by the State 

of California. The new BNR facility and 

additional tertiary treatment facilities, 

designed by others and currently in 

construction, will help Regional San to 

meet compliance and discharge cleaner 

water into the Sacramento River, driving 

enhanced environment water quality in the 

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Regional 

San also provides recycled water for 

potential non-potable reuse. 

Sean Goris, project manager for Black & 

Veatch, concluded: “Anticipating peak flows 

is always a critical design consideration 

when building these large-scale wastewater 

treatment facilities. We designed the SRWTP 

BNR facilities with significant flexibility that 

allow operators to bring additional treatment 

basins on-line rapidly. As illustrated by 

this last event, this flexibility helped fortify 

resilience for the utility, Regional San; the 

Sacramento community; and the local and 

downstream environment.” 



WATER TECHNOLOGY 

ROADSHOW: 

A joint effort to bring 

science to life 

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency initiates the 

Water Technology Roadshow to profile promising 

water research projects happening in Singapore and 

promote industry uptake for further development. 

With small land size, limited natural resources 

and increasing water demand in tandem with 

the growth of our population and economy, 

Singapore is consistently ranked as one of the 

world’s most water-stressed countries. And 

in the face of climate change, the city-state is 

also vulnerable to effects such as increasing 

temperatures, rising sea levels and more 

extreme weather events. 

Centre of Innovation (EWTCOI) and 

Separation Technologies Applied Research 

and Translation Centre (START). 

As the water agency’s investment begin to 

bear fruit and technologies mature, more 

focus is placed on strengthening the nexus 

between academia, research institutions 

and the industry. Moreover, the agency 

places high importance to ensure research 

outcomes of the laboratory are translated and 

commercialised into processes, products, 

and services for the market, to ultimately 

generate economic and societal payoffs for 

Singapore. 

However, this transition to real-life 

applications can be a complex process. To 

this end, PUB collaborates with academic 

institutions such as NTU, NUS and SUTD, 

translation infrastructure EWTCOI and 

START, industry partners like IPI Singapore, 

Singapore Membrane Consortium and 

Singapore Water Association, by providing 

a conducive environment to pursue the 

development of innovative water technologies 

in Singapore. The Singapore Water Exchange 

(SgWX) is the physical hub where the 

team strings efforts together, and where 

collaborative projects for the development of 

a vibrant water ecosystem are conducted. 

To overcome these challenges, PUB, 

Singapore’s national water agency, has 

invested greatly to push forth R&D in the 

water domain to develop a water system that 

is adequate, resilient, and sustainable. Over 

the years, R&D efforts have helped PUB adapt 

to the evolving needs of the industry and 

the onset of climate change. The efforts will 

continue to guide PUB in navigating through 

emerging challenges, especially in its latest 

role as the national Coastal Protection Agency. 

Such R&D efforts not only foster water 

research excellence within the Institutes of 

Higher Learning (IHLs) such as Nanyang 

Technological University, Singapore (NTU), 

National University of Singapore (NUS), and 

Singapore University of Technology and 

Design (SUTD), they have also seeded the 

growth of dedicated translation centres such 

as the Environmental and Water Technology 

The first edition of the Water Technology Roadshow was co-organised by PUB and NTU with an aim to provide 

insights into promising water technology research 



The Water Technology Roadshow is one 

such initiative, established to provide 

a dedicated platform to showcase 

promising water technologies to the global 

water industry, and promote uptake of 

these technologies for translation and 

commercialisation through licensing and 

adoption. The roadshow enables enterprises 

to tap on the science and technology 

expertise within the IHLs and research 

institutions to catalyse the industry’s 

development of innovative solutions, meeting 

the evolving needs of customers worldwide. 

The inaugural Water Technology Roadshow 

was held last May and technologies 

from NTU, NUS, SUTD and START were 

presented to a global audience, including 

water technology companies such as 

DuPont, Kurita, SUEZ, and Xylem. The eight 

presentations featured a range of water 

technologies which include membranes, a 

capacitive deionization technology, and an 

algal proliferation and prediction system. 

The guest speaker for the roadshow was 

Christopher Gasson, owner and publisher of 

Global Water Intelligence (GWI), who said: 

“The technologies presented represent a 

rich dividend from Singapore’s extraordinary 

investment in water over the past 15 years. 

They are a combination of cutting-edge 

innovation and practicality, and every single 

technology presented was both immediately 

relevant and represented a meaningful 

advance in the state of the art.” 

The second edition of the Water Technology 

Roadshow took place last November, 

with a thematic approach to feature Next- 

Generation Membrane Technologies. Three 

membrane technologies were showcased 

through presentations by EWTCOI, NUS 

and NTU. IPI Singapore also shared insights 

on the Membrane Technology Landscape. 

The presentations were well received by the 

audience who were able to receive first-hand 

responses from the presenters through the 

Q&A segments. 

The second edition of 

the Water Technology 

Roadshow returned last 

November with a focus 

on Next Generation 

Membrane Technologies 

to encourage translation 

and commercialisation 

Moh Tiing Liang, deputy director of the 

industry and technology collaboration 

department at PUB, highlighted the 

importance of having good teamwork from 

the various stakeholders to bring about 

successful editions of the Water Technology 

Roadshow. He said: “Working with our 

partners, we brought multiple stakeholders 

together, curated technologies to be 

showcased and developed an exciting 

programme. It is fulfilling to see good 

feedback from the participants, with many 

saying they will attend future editions of the 

roadshow.” 

The Water Technology Roadshow will 

return for a third edition coming April, 

to coincide with Singapore International 

Water Week. PUB will continue to work 

closely with important academic and 

industry partners, to extend the outreach of 

promising water technologies to the global 

water industry to promote their translation 

and commercialisation, and reinforce 

Singapore’s position as a global hydrohub 

with innovative water solutions. 

S/N Technology Showcases Presenter 

1 Advanced Membrane System for High Recovery in Water 

Reclamation 

Associate Professor Chong 

Tzyy Haur, NTU 

2 System for Forecasting Algal Blooms in Singapore Associate Professor Vladan 

3 High-yield Membrane for Efficient Desalination of 

Brackish Water 

4 Low-energy Water Desalination and Purification 

Technology 

Babovic, NUS 

Professor Neal Chung, NUS 

Associate Professor Yang 

Hui Ying, SUTD 

5 Low Pressure Nanofiltration Membrane Technology Stevie E, START 

6 Low Energy Reinforced Flat Sheet Membranes Goh Li May, START 

7 Tri-bore Hollow Fibre Membranes for Membrane 

Distillation Application 

8 Graphene Oxide-based Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration 

Membranes 

9 Synthetic Water Channels with High Ion Rejection 

Property 

10 Synthetic Water Channel-based Biomimetic Membranes 

for Desalination 

Dr Sebastian Hernandez, 

START 

Dr Goh Shuwen, EWTCOI 

Professor Prakash Kumar, 

NUS 

Please contact pub_sgwx@pub.gov.sg should you have interest in the above techologies. 

Professor Wang Rong, NTU 



AUTOMATED MICRO- 

INVERTEBRATE 

DETECTOR 

with image analytics 

capabilities 

By Lei Lei, Du Yu, Melissa Tay and 

Nicholas Ho 

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the micro-invertebrate 

detector that consists of multifilter-based concentrator 

and optical detector 

BACKGROUND 

Regular operational monitoring of chironomid, 

commonly known as midges, larvae, at 

the water treatment plants is necessary to 

detect for early signs of chironomid larvae 

infestation. The current monitoring method 

for chironomid larvae is very laborious as it 

relies on plant operators to manually collect 

samples, and a trained analyst to manually 

identify and count live and dead chironomid 

larvae under a microscope. 

To reduce the time and manpower needed 

for sample collection and analysis, PUB 

and the NM3 Tech team jointly proposed 

a new system to automate the detection 

of chironomid larvae in water. This system 

can detect chironomid larvae in 1,000 litres 

of water sample within an hour with quasicontinuous 

detection mode and minimal 

maintenance requirements. 

This solution will be trialled at selected PUB 

installation, starting this year. 

METHODOLOGY 

Figure 1 shows the system structure of the 

micro-invertebrate detector. In the multifilter 

concentrator subsystem, a stainless-steel 

filter of pore size 40μm is fixed on the filter 

holder to concentrate the larvae in 1,000 

litres of water. Thereafter, the trapped larvae 

will be flushed down into a small volume 

of concentrated sample by spray nozzles 

positioned around the filter. The sample is 

then transferred into the optical detector for 

image capturing using a scanning imaging 

system. The morphology of the trapped 

particles and their movement information will 

be recorded and analysed with a computing 

processor comparing with the derived image 

database. 

In the optical detector, an initial coarse 

scanning of the whole filter area using 

0.5X magnification will be done to identify 

the regions of interest. Subsequently, a 

camera with higher magnification of 2X will 

be positioned at the individual particle of 

interest to capture detailed images for the 

final artificial intelligence (AI) identification. 

Furthermore, the viability is analysed based 

on their mobility using image similarity 

comparison method over the observation 

period. The whole working process is 

programmable and controlled by the system 

software. 

CURRENT ACHIEVEMENTS 

The working prototype was installed at a 

PUB installation for a three-month site trial. 

The system was operating continuously 

under 24/7 operation mode, and the system’s 

No. of 

Samples 

Total 

Spiked 

Larvae 

Results from blind spiked test samples 

Manual Counts 

(from captured 

images) 

Figure 2: The working procedures of the images 

capturing, identification and viability analysis 

stability and reliability were validated with 

1,744 samples analysed on-site. The system’s 

detection accuracy was validated with 

151 blind test samples spiked with varying 

numbers of chironomid larvae. An accuracy 

of more than 80% was achieved for the 

detection of chironomid larvae. 

FUTURE PLANS 

Phase 2 study is planned to complete a lab 

version detector with multiple water sample 

loader, while further improving detection 

accuracy. In addition, the mechanical design 

of the system will be improved for both indoor 

and outdoor applications. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

This project was funded by PUB, Singapore’s 

national water agency under R&D grant 

(RND-Q4-43). We thank PUB for the financial 

and technical support provided. 

Lei Lei is CEO and Du Yu is scientific consultant at 

NM3 Tech. Melissa Tay is senior biologist and Nicholas 

Ho is biologist at PUB Water Quality Department. 

Detector 

Counts 

% AI Accuracy 

(Manual vs. 

Detector 

Counts) 

% Accuracy 

(Spiked vs. 

Detector 

Counts) 

Blind test 151 292 265 235 88.7% 80.5% 



A COLLECTIVE 

EFFORT IN DRIVING 

smart sustainable 

solutions for industries 

(from L-R) Representatives at the MoU signing are Eric Lai, regional managing director, industry – Asia-Pacific and country director for Singapore, 

Grundfos; Humphrey Lau, group senior vice-president, global industry business, Grundfos; Georgina Phua, deputy principal, development, 

Singapore Polytechnic; and Loh Yew Chiong, senior director, computing, chemical and life sciences clusters, Singapore Polytechnic 

The digital age has great 

potential for sustainability. Not only 

does it support the economy 

while embracing a greener 

planet, it also increases resource 

efficiency and reduces waste, 

as Josephine Tan writes more. 

Digitalisation opens the door to a more 

sustainable business model, declared 

Eric Lai, regional managing director, 

industry – Asia-Pacific and country 

director for Singapore, Grundfos. 

He told Water & Wastewater Asia: 

“For businesses, it is becoming 

increasingly important to realise that 

we are in a transition journey into the 

digital era, especially when it comes 

to operating sustainably. This trend 

brings forth the opportunities for 

partnerships to bring the extensions 

beyond achieving sustainability goals. 

Separately, there is also Industry 4.0 

and the trend on smart factories, 

where automation and data exchange 

can help create productivity gain. 

“At Grundfos, we have developed 

digital and intelligent technologies that 

has the capability to align productivity 

and sustainability for the industry.” 

GETTING THE CIRCULATION 

GOING 

Last February, the Singapore 

government unveiled the Singapore 

Green Plan 2030, a whole-of-nation 



movement to advance the republic’s 

national agenda on sustainable 

development. The Green Plan charts 

ambitious and concrete targets over 

the next 10 years, strengthening 

the country’s commitments under 

the United Nations’ Sustainable 

Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda 

and Paris Agreement, and positioning 

the republic to achieve its long-term 

net-zero emissions aspirations as soon 

as viable. 

Lai said: “We reflect on the green 

ambitions that the Singapore 

government has put up in the 

Singapore Green Plan 2030. This 

is important, especially with water 

conservation and resilience among 

some of its top priorities. 

“In terms of the next milestone, the 

path towards a more sustainable planet 

is to embed our solutions into a circular 

economy globally. This is very crucial 

especially when the world population 

is growing rapidly towards 9.7 billion 

by 2050, the demand for resources 

will be even more, and therefore the 

importance of producing less with more 

is key going into the future.” 

The circular economy is a model which 

Lai suggested would encourage to use 

less, more wisely, and extending the 

lifecycle of natural resources through 

three core principles – design out 

waste and pollution, keep products and 

materials in use, and regenerate natural 

systems. These three principles, he 

stressed, will support the population 

“better and stronger into the future”. 

Limiting wastage is another method 

that can help industries to save 

resources. Particularly for water, it is 

one of the key resources in industrial 

production; millions of gallons of water 

are being used in various activities 

across the production chain. He cited 

an example whereby a cotton t-shirt 

requires about 2,500 litres of water to 

be produced. Hence, Grundfos aims 

to utilise smart technology to ensure 

that the industry processes, where 

water and energy is being used, will 

be used on an intuitive, on-demand 

and effective manner, he added. 

Further on climate change, while the 

world is still not on track in terms of 

limiting the impending temperature 

increase of 1.5ºC, Lai described 

the recently concluded COP26 as 

“a big step forward” with several 

announcements surrounding the 

importance on strengthening water 

resilience and efficiency being made. 

One such highlight is the Reducing 

Water Footprint Coalition. Launched 

and led by the UK government, 

the coalition calls for nations and 

non-state actors – including cities, 

regions, and states – to make 

commitment on accelerating research 

and how water consumption can be 

reduced. 

Beyond COP26, the Race To Zero 

global campaign has mobilised 

a coalition of net zero initiatives, 

representing 733 cities, 31 regions, 

3,067 businesses, 173 of some 

of the biggest investors, and 622 

higher education institutions, to rally 

for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon 

recovery that prevents future threats 

and unlocks inclusive, sustainable 

growth. 

“More than 20% of the world’s 

water companies by revenue have 

now signed up the Race To Zero 

campaign. The campaign requires 

signatories to halve emissions by 

2030 and reach net-zero by 2050 

at the latest,” Lai revealed. “There’s 

still a lot of work to be done ahead 

of us but these are some of the good 

examples evolved out of COP26.” 

For Humphrey Lau, group senior vicepresident, 

global industry business, 

Grundfos, the biggest outcome of 

COP26 was the agreement among all 

countries to revisit and strengthen their 

current emissions targets to 2030. He 

elaborated: “Previously, it was every 

second or third year or even five years, 

but it’s actually the first time where all 

the countries have signed on to the fact 

that they are going to revisit the targets 

every year. I think the private, public and 

academia collaboration are going to be 

key to combat some of the big issues 

discussed at the summit. 

“It’s important for companies who are 

working on sustainable solutions to be 

able to demonstrate that they are actually 

committed and going forward by setting 

their own sustainability goals. For us at 

Grundfos, we have already set out our 

sustainability goals more than 10 years 

ago, where we state that we will not 

emit more CO2 than in the year 2008, 

regardless the volume we manufacture.” 

SUCCESS LIES IN PARTNERSHIPS 

To accelerate the development of smart 

sustainable solutions for industries, 

Grundfos signed a memorandum 

of understanding with Singapore 

Polytechnic (SP), an educational 

institution in Singapore, to co-develop 

energy and water efficient smart 

solutions that support industries 

in the republic in their efforts to be 

sustainable, through collaboration, 

talent development, and sustainability 

education. 

In alignment with the Singapore Green 

Plan 2030, the partnership will explore 

and develop smart sustainability 

solutions for industries, as well as drive 

initiatives focused on the UN’s SDGs 

such as SDG 6 for Clean Water and 

Sanitation and SDG 13 for Sustainable 

Consumption and Production Patterns 

for climate action. 



Explaining the reasons behind 

the partnership with SP, Lai said 

Grundfos recognises that Singapore 

is “on a promising trajectory”, 

and one of them is to become 

a sustainable city-state to set 

a benchmark for the region. He 

continued: “As a global water solution 

provider, Grundfos has focused on 

sustainability and we believe that we 

have a part to play in supporting this 

ambition. 

“SP is a natural choice for us as we’ve 

been working together closely for 

the last decade. Also an institute of 

higher learning, SP is in the position 

to take lead in driving sustainability 

through innovations and growing 

the youths to be job-ready. Youths 

today also has a growing passion on 

sustainability issues.” 

Both Grundfos and SP have kickstarted 

this initiative with a pilot 

project at the former’s facility in 

Singapore. This includes feasibility 

studies followed by implementation of 

a rainwater harvesting system, solar 

power as alternative power source 

at the facility, and applying digital 

solutions in the production building. 

The final outcomes of this pilot 

project will help Grundfos’ further 

reduce its water and carbon footprint. 

subsequently implemented with 

industry manufacturers in Singapore 

through pilot projects. 

To achieve this, the three-year 

partnership will focus on sustainability 

education and talent development. 

Grundfos and SP will look to roll out 

a comprehensive range of solution 

packages, projects, events, courses, 

and trainings to proactively promote 

sustainability and smart sustainability 

to the industry, which includes webinar 

sharing sessions, seminars, and 

conferences. 

Lai further highlighted three critical 

skillsets that youths and professionals 

need be equipped to ultimately 

support businesses in achieving 

sustainable operation. First is the 

foundation knowledge which is a 

basic understanding of environmental 

science and climate change awareness 

as well as the knowledge about the 

social issues that are most prevailing 

in the industry and community, and 

learning how each of these issues will 

have an impact on the business. 

As businesses and the world are 

changing and evolving fast, the 

second skillset to be equipped with is 

forward thinking. Here, it is to identify 

opportunities for change and plan for 

long-term success. In relation to this, 

he added that talents should have a 

strong knowledge of sustainability 

practices, while keeping an eye on the 

horizon for new situations when they 

arise. 

Finally, the third skillset is cultivating 

creativity in problem solving, as he 

explained: “Talents and professionals 

need to find answers and develop 

creative solutions to new and complex 

challenges. With this mindset, there 

will be a higher likelihood to succeed 

in a world where sustainability is 

increasingly getting important. 

Although there will be challenges to 

overcome, pivoting these thoughts 

around sustainability practices that will 

have innovative ideas allow us to be 

open-minded to try things.” 

Acknowledging Lai’s points, Lau 

added that new candidates are to have 

an understanding in applying their 

knowledge in a real-world context. 

“That’s where we can play with the 

industry or practices in an industrial 

context. I think it’s important to 

combine the cutting-edge academic 

theorists with actual, down-to-earth, 

real-life cases,” he said. 

The partnership will also see both 

parties contributing complementary 

expertise, knowledge, and talent 

that will advance sustainability 

efforts for industries. SP will facilitate 

the various touchpoints between 

academia and industry, while 

Grundfos will tap into its extensive 

network and industry knowledge to 

provide staff and students with the 

necessary resources and industry 

opportunities to successfully codevelop 

innovative sustainable 

solutions. These solutions will be 

At Grundfos, we have 

developed digital and 

intelligent technologies 

that has the capability 

to align productivity and 

sustainability for the 

industry. 

Eric Lai, 

Regional Managing Director, Industry 

– Asia-Pacific and Country Director for 

Singapore, Grundfos 



NEW YEAR BRINGS 

resolution on pollution 

With sector-wide recognition that a step-change is required to 

deliver the environmental improvements required by all stakeholders, 

a new year brings fresh opportunities for supplier and water company 

collaboration, writes David Frost, chief executive of Ovarro. 

We can expect more scrutiny in the year 

ahead – customer priorities are changing 

and expectations will only increase, as 

concluded by research published by the 

Consumer Council for Water (CCW), in July 

2021. 

A smarter approach to network 

management is now non-negotiable for 

the water and wastewater industry, which 

has historically been conservation in the 

adoption of data-led solutions. The good 

news is that at all levels, this is now clearly 

recognised; commitments have been made 

and mechanisms put in place to enable 

innovation and collaboration in 2022. 

During 2021, it became clear that 

communities have ever-strengthening 

connections with their local water 

environment. Any detrimental impact this 

industry, or any other, may have on the 

quality of rivers and seas is no longer 

acceptable in the eyes of customers. 

This is reflected in the intense scrutiny from 

regulators, politicians and the media we 

have seen over the past 12 months, most 

recently in the UK Parliamentary Committee 

on Water Quality in Rivers, in measures 

set out in the Environment Bill and the 

government’s Storm Overflow Evidence 

report. 

Ofwat’s PR24 performance commitment 

document PR24 and beyond, published 

in November last year, recognises that 

an outcomes-based approach to PR24 

will include pollution incidents and 

environmental performance. 

The Environmental Agency’s latest 

environmental performance report also 

made clear its expectation for a “trend to 

zero serious pollutions”. The agency says it 

will always seek to hold those responsible 

for environmental harm to account, with 

the report noting fines for environmental 

offences were starting to reach the same 

level as the highest fines for crimes in 

financial services. 

Ovarro has worked collaboratively with 

utilities to monitor their water and wastewater 

networks for more than 30 years. It is these 

close partnerships that allow our R&D teams 

to respond to specific industry needs and 

challenges, meaning we are able to support 

utilities with their environmental protection 

commitments. 

One way in which we are doing this is through 

BurstDetect, a cloud-based early-warning 

system that detects rising main sewer 

bursts. This new technology was developed 

in collaboration with UK utilities, in direct 

response to the urgent challenge to reduce 

pollutions. Cost-effective and sustainable, 

the technology transforms existing data into 

actionable insight, while increasing real-time 

and predictive capabilities. 

Across all areas of business and operations, 

having the correct technology and processes 

in place will set the stage for the water sector 

to regain customer and regulatory trust and, 

most importantly, ensure greater protection of 

treasured watercourses not only in 2022, but 

for decades to come. 


SINGAPORE 

INTERNATIONAL 

SINGAPORE 

WATER 

INTERNATIONAL 

WEEK 2022 

WATER WEEK 2022 

THE GLOBAL PLATFORM TO SHARE AND 

CO-CREATE THE GLOBAL INNOVATIVE PLATFORM TO WATER SHARE SOLUTIONS AND 

CO-CREATE INNOVATIVE WATER SOLUTIONS 

Singapore International Water Week 2022 returns from 17 to 

21 Singapore April 2022, International alongside Water the CleanEnviro Week 2022 Summit returns Singapore. from 17 to 

21 April 2022, alongside the CleanEnviro Summit Singapore. 

As one of the first international water shows to be held 

As in-person one of in the Asia first since international the COVID-19 water pandemic, shows SIWW2022 to be held 

will in-person bring stakeholders in Asia since from the COVID-19 government, pandemic, utilities, industry SIWW2022 and 

academia will bring stakeholders together to share from best government, practices, utilities, policy development 

industry and 

in academia water, and together present to share the latest best practices, in technological policy development innovation. 

in water, and to present the latest in technological innovation. 

With the opening up of international travel lanes into 

Singapore, With the SIWW2022 opening up is of expected international to attract travel close lanes to 15,000 into 

Singapore, SIWW2022 is expected to attract close to 15,000 

What sets SIWW apart? 

What sets SIWW apart? 

17 – 21 April 2022 

17 – 21 April 2022 

Sands Expo & Convention Centre 

Marina Sands Expo Bay Sands, & Convention Singapore Centre 

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore 

ON-DEMAND PERIOD 

ON-DEMAND PERIOD 

17 April – 31 May 2022 

17 April – 31 May 2022 

international, regional and local attendees looking for solutions 

to international, urban water regional challenges, and local and attendees to build and looking renew for solutions business 

partnerships. to urban water And challenges, in advocating and to urgent build climate and renew action business for a 

sustainable partnerships. water And future, in advocating SIWW2022 urgent will climate focus on action emerging for a 

themes sustainable of climate water future, resilience, SIWW2022 net zero, will resource focus on circularity, emerging 

sustainability themes of climate and digital resilience, water across net zero, its programme. resource circularity, 

sustainability and digital water across its programme. 

SIWW2022 is the place-to-be if you wish to build brand 

exposure SIWW2022 for your is the products, place-to-be as well if as you establish wish to new build leads brand 

business exposure opportunities. 

for your products, as well as establish new leads and 

business opportunities. 

SOLUTIONS & 

TECHNOLOGY 

SOLUTIONS & 

Innovation TECHNOLOGY and 

solutions in urban 

water Innovation management, and 

for solutions municipal in urban and 

industrial water management, users 

for municipal and 

industrial users 

GLOBAL EVENT, 

REGIONAL 

FOOTPRINT 

GLOBAL EVENT, 

REGIONAL 

A FOOTPRINT global water event 

with strong relevance 

and A global application water event 

to with Asia strong relevance 

and application 

to Asia 

BUSINESS & 

NETWORKING 

BUSINESS & 

Gathering NETWORKING of 

industry, utilities 

and Gathering governments of 

for industry, business utilities 

collaboration and governments and 

partnerships 

for business 

collaboration and 

partnerships 

URBAN 

SUSTAINABILITY 

URBAN 

Co-located SUSTAINABILITY with 

CleanEnviro Summit to 

advance Co-located sustainability with 

agenda CleanEnviro for built Summit urban to 

environment 

advance sustainability 

agenda for built urban 

environment 

THOUGHT 

LEADERSHIP 

THOUGHT 

Insights LEADERSHIP on latest 

trends, solutions and 

case Insights studies on latest in various 

thematic trends, solutions areas and 

case studies in various 

thematic areas 

Success of SIWW 2018: 

Success of SIWW 2018: 

Top Regions at SIWW 2018 

(excluding Top Regions Singapore) at SIWW 2018 

(excluding Singapore) 

Over 500 

Water Leaders 

Over 500 

Water Leaders 

Over 

24,000 Over 

Participants 

24,000 

Participants 

14% 

14% 

From 110 

Regions and 

From Countries 110 

Regions and 

Countries 

EUROPE 61% 

ASIA 

EUROPE 61% 

ASIA 

S$23 Billon 

S$23 Billon 

In Total Value for Business 

Announcements 

In Total Value for Business 

Announcements 

Statistics reflected based on Singapore 

International 

Statistics reflected 

Water 

based 

Week 

on 

2018 

Singapore 

International Water Week 2018 

Organised by: 

13% 

AMERICAS 

13% 

AMERICAS 

4% 

MENA & 

AFRICA 4% 8% 

MENA & 

OCEANIA 

AFRICA 8% 

OCEANIA 

Stay connected with us: 

Organised Singapore International by: Water Week Pte Ltd, 

a company set up by Singapore’s Ministry 

Singapore of Sustainability International and the Water Environment Week Pte and Ltd, 

a PUB, company Singapore’s set National up by Singapore’s Water Agency Ministry 

of Sustainability and the Environment and 

PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency 

Stay connected 

info@siww.com.sg 

with us: 

info@siww.com.sg 

@waterweeksg 

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@siww 

@siww


ADVANCED 

BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION: 

A multi-barrier approach to 

complex water and wastewater 

contaminant removal By Alex Betinardi and Stanley Shmia 

Since Flint, Michigan, and other 

communities brought the issue of water 

safety to the headlines, even non-water 

professionals are familiar with common 

contaminants like lead and arsenic. But 

there remains some ambiguity around 

“emerging contaminants” that are now 

appearing in water supplies, particularly 

as regulations to mitigate them are 

under development with no clear 

guidelines yet available. 

Emerging contaminants, or 

contaminants of emerging concern 

(CECs), include a variety of chemicals 

– including pharmaceuticals and 

personal care, and household 

cleaning products. CECs enter the 

environment constantly, a result of the 

tens of thousands of chemical-based 

products people use every day. 

While the traditional mindset was 

“dilution is the solution to pollution”, 

we now know that this is not true. 

As CECs have made their way into 

rivers and streams, tests show there 

are measurable quantities of these 

contaminants in the water and aquatic 

ecosystem. These contaminants 

can impact aquatic life and, as they 

accumulate in the food web, they put 

non-aquatic species at risk when 

they eat contaminated fish. There 

are serious concerns about the 

health risks to terrestrial organisms, 

including humans. The risk to human 

health is still uncertain but include 

endocrine-disrupting activity and other 

toxic mechanisms, including some 

recognised as carcinogens by the US 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 



Traditional treatment plants were not 

designed to remove these modern 

organic and synthetic contaminants. 

Recognising this, many municipalities 

are searching for new ways to 

effectively meet the challenge. The first 

step is understanding the nature of 

these contaminants. 

MICROPOLLUTANTS AND 

ENDOCRINE-DISRUPTING 

COMPOUNDS 

With 70% of Americans taking 

prescription drugs compared to 48% 

just five years ago, pharmaceuticals 

mainly reach the water supply 

through the discharge of effluent from 

urban wastewater treatment plants. 

Wastewater from households, hospitals 

and industries is discharged into the 

sewer systems. Traditional wastewater 

treatment plants collect the wastewater 

and remove pollutants. However, 

persistent micropollutants such as 

pharmaceuticals remain in the water. 

Studies have shown that the 

contaminants present in water, 

including endocrine-disrupting 

chemicals (EDCs) can impair 

development, fertility, and reproductive 

function in non-human mammals, 

humans, and aquatic wildlife. 

Another chemical of particular 

concern, 1,4-dioxane was popular as 

a reagent, a stabiliser for chlorinated 

solvents for metal degreasing, to 

purify pharmaceutical ingredients and 

make the small pores in membranes. 

Now, the EPA has labelled the 

synthetic chemical a likely carcinogen. 

While 1,4-dioxane does not easily 

biodegrade in the environment, it 

dissolves completely in water, even at 

high concentrations, making it difficult 

to remove once it enters the water 

system. 

Micropollutants, including 

pharmaceutical, EDCs and 1,4-dioxane 

are not easily treated by traditional 

methods. Treatment options for 

pharmaceutical micropollutants, EDCs 

and personal care products including 

advanced oxidation process (AOP) 

used in conjunction with UV disinfection, 

ozonation, or peroxide. Other options, 

such as granular active carbon (GAC) 

filtration and membranes, can be less 

effective or require heavy maintenance, 

and membranes and other technologies 

concentrate micropollutants but do not 

actually destroy or oxidise them. These 

processes are conducted downstream 

during a wastewater polishing step. 

CYANOBACTERIA AND TASTE- 

AND-ODOUR COMPOUNDS 

Cyanobacteria, commonly called bluegreen 

algae, are naturally occurring in 

aquatic ecosystems. They are also an 

important part of the food web and are 

eaten by simple organisms and some 

fish. Some types of cyanobacteria can 

produce toxics called cyanotoxins, 

which can be harmful to humans and 

animals. More typically, they produce 

an unpleasant earthy or must tasteand-odour 

compound such as geosmin 

and methyl-isoborneol (MIB), in surface 

water. While these are not toxic, they 

can cause aesthetic issues in finished 

drinking water. 



Treatment options include chorine 

disinfection, and chlorine dioxide. In 

wastewater, a flocculation or flotation 

dissolved air flotation (DAF) unit 

combined with chlorine for DAF can be 

used downstream. 

TOTAL ORGANIC COMPOUNDS 

AND DISINFECTION BY- 

PRODUCTS 

While chlorine disinfection to treat 

water for drinking was one of the most 

meaningful public health successes 

of the 1900s, the reaction between 

chlorine elements and organic or 

inorganic matter in source water can 

form compounds called disinfection 

by-products (DBPs). The organic 

matter in source water that can react 

with chlorine is measured as total 

organic carbon (TOC). DBPs are a 

serious human health concern because 

of the associated increased risk of 

cancer development and adverse 

reproductive effects. For this reason, 

some DBPs are regulated, including 

trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic 

acids (HAAs), chlorite, and bromate. 

DBPs are the result of traditional 

treatment and, thus, cannot be 

treated away. To decrease the chance 

of public exposure to dangerous 

DBPs, water utilities may change 

upstream treatment methods and 

focus on identifying and reducing 

organic carbon prior to disinfection. 

Conventional treatments include 

coagulation and sedimentation or 

variations, such as dissolved aerated 

filtration (DAF); adsorption clarification; 

ozonation used in conjunction with 

GAC in adsorption phase, where 

suitable; and membrane filtration in the 

ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration 

range. Using other oxidants, such 

as peroxide, either before chorine 

disinfection or as an alternative is 

another way utilities address DBP 

concerns. 

OZONE FOR TACKING THE 

MICROPOLLUTANT PROBLEM 

Ozone has long been used to oxidise 

a wide variety of pollutants in water, 

wastewater and industrial applications. 

An oxidant with fast reaction time, 

no added chemicals, and reduced 

DBPs, ozone is an appealing option 

for water and wastewater treatment 

and is used as part of an advanced 

oxidation process to address emerging 

contaminants. 

For example, an Italian company 

based near Rome produces a large 

quantity of biodiesel primarily from 

used frying oil sourced from Italy, 

France, Spain and Holland. They also 

make distilled fatty acids, glycerine, 

and vegetable olein as a by-product 

of the biodiesel process. Their organic 

wastewater treatment system included 

physical-chemical processes, 

activated sludge, and GAC, but 

their growing business was placing 

stress on their wastewater treatment 

facilities. They were faced with a 

higher recalcitrant chemical oxygen 

demand (COD) after the biological 

stage with a significant increase in 

GAC consumption. The discharge 

COD target is 250ppm. 

The company investigated multiple 

technologies to reduce their GAC 

consumption, including ultrafiltration, 

but the high level of membrane 

maintenance required to reduce 

fouling made it a costly and labourintensive 

option. They needed a more 

economical solution to reduce GAC 

consumption. De Nora was selected 

to pilot a 30g/h ozone generator fed 

with liquid oxygen (LOX). Experiments 

were performed with ozone alone and 

with ozone and peroxide (Ozone-AOP). 

Results showed that Ozone-AOP was 

a faster treatment option than ozone 

alone – not surprising since molecular 

ozone is a slower-reacting agent 

than the hydroxyl radical formed in the 

Ozone-AOP reaction. 

The final design of the system 

required a 17kg/h ozone generator in 

a containerised package, with ozone 

water mixing achieved with a doublestage, 

side-stream pump injection 

system. A small amount of the ozone, 

about 0.5kg/h, is used for sludge 

reduction. The system has been running 

successfully since 2014, ensuring 

COD level below the discharge limit 

and improving biological process 

performance through the partial sludge 

oxidation process. 

Due to the short water cycle, the 

population density in specific areas, 

and heavy presence of pharmaceutical 

industries, some locations in 

Switzerland have a micropollutant 

issue. At a water treatment plant in St. 

Blaise, Switzerland, where diclofenac, 

oestrogens, antibiotics and other 

compounds were found in the water 

supply, the TOC averaged 8ppm. In 

2011, De Nora installed a pilot ozone 

generator unit with a capacity of 6ppd 

and an ozone concentration of 10%wt. 



Contact was up to 10 minutes. 

Ozone was effective against all the 

micropollutants analysed, including 

Atenolol, Atenololsaure, Benzotriazol, 

Carbamazepine, Clarithomycin, 

Diclophenac, Gebapentin, 

Hydrochlorothiazid, Levetriazepam, 

Mefenamisnaure, Methyl-benzotriazo, 

Sulfamethoxazol, Trimetoprim, 

Valsartan, and Venlafaxin. Doubling 

the contact time made minimal 

difference in effectiveness. 

MULTI-BARRIER TREATMENT 

APPROACH TO CEC 

As seen in the examples above, we 

know ozone alone can effectively 

oxidise target pollutants. When ozone 

is combined with a biologically active 

filter (BAF), the result is a multi-barrier 

advanced bioactive filter process that 

provides several additional process 

benefits. 

Instead of the complete oxidation of 

the targeted organic compounds with 

ozone alone, the De Nora Tetra ABF 

bioactive filter uses a lower dose of 

ozone to partially oxidise and break 

the long chain recalcitrant carbon 

into smaller biodegradable organic 

compounds. The smaller chain organic 

compounds are then removed in the 

downstream BAF. This process allows 

for lower ozone doses, and lower 

capacity ozone equipment versus 

conventional ozone only treatment. 

This, in turn, may reduce capital costs 

and energy consumption. In addition, 

the ABF process does not require 

upstream reverse osmosis (RO) or UF 

membranes commonly used with other 

types of direct and indirect water reuse 

schemes. 

The synergy created by combining 

ozone and BAF treatment has proven 

effective in removing common DBPs 

and provides a biologically stable 

effluent by oxidising assimilable 

organic carbon (AOC) generated by 

ozonation alone. This may reduce the 

risk of downstream biofilm growth in 

the filter. 

ABF USED FOR TOC REMOVAL 

AND DBP REDUCTION 

In the summer of 2019, a 9 MGD 

water treatment plant in Pennsylvania 

commissioned a De Nora pilot to 

evaluate the use of ozone and BAF 

to treat settled surface water. They 

were hoping to improve their TOC 

removal and achieve significant DBP 

reduction without adversely impacting 

current water quality performance. 

The existing plant has six filters at 

576sf/filter designed for 16 MGD. 

Media is 4-inch anthracite on top 

of 1-inch sand. A containerised 

ABF pilot was deployed featuring a 

20-foot-long, high-cube container with 

ozone generation equipment having 

a capacity of 20g/h, and two 8-inch 

diameter BAF with capacity to handle 

a total flow of 6gpm. The system is 

operated automatically, with remote 

control and monitoring capability 

through cellular communication. 

Specific objectives for the pilot were 

to achieve close to a 50% reduction in 

raw water TOC that could be reliably 

and consistently achieved with the full 

combined treatment train throughout 

the year. In 2017, raw water TOC 

reached 10mg/litre. With respect to 

DBP reduction, the pilot goal was to 

achieve a 25% reduction of the mean 

TTHM value and a 25% reduction of 

the mean HAA5 value. Additionally, 

all other regulated parameters would 

show no significant increase as 

compared to the plant values of the 

pilot testing period. 

The pilot ran for six months and the 

ABF effluent averaged 47% greater 

TTHM removal than current plant 

performance, exceeding pilot objective 

of 25%. Pilot control anthracite had 

2.2 times higher effluent TTHM than 

ABF. The percentage of TOC removal 

in the ABF pilot relative to raw water 

decreased by 45%. 

SUMMARY 

As the chemical load in the waterborne 

waste stream increases 

in volume and diversity due to 

contaminants of CECs, DBPs, and 

other micropollutants, water utilities 

are challenged to find solutions to 

ensure water quality and safety. 

New pollutants require new 

approaches. 

By combining two technologies, ozone 

generation and BAF, the De Nora tetra 

ABF bioactive filter offers a costeffective 

approach to today’s treatment 

challenges. The De Nora Tetra ABF filter 

is designed to target micropollutant 

and DBP reduction for both direct 

and indirect water reuse plants and 

DBP reduction at drinking water 

treatment plants, offering measurable 

improvements in water quality and 

operational efficiency. 

Alex Bettinardi is global product manager, ozone, De Nora 

Water Technologies; and Stanley Shmia is global product 

manager, filtration, De Nora Water Technologies. 


IN THE FIELD 

WATER QUALITY 

MONITORING 


Figure 1: Subnero Water 

Assessment Network’s 

robotic SwanBot 

Water bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and 

rivers are an integral part of population 

centres. Communities depend on them for 

multiple purposes, including food, agriculture, 

and leisure activities; and more importantly, 

they can be the primary sources of drinking 

water. Any event that disrupts these water 

bodies, such as pollution or an algae bloom, 

can have a large impact on lives and the 

ecosystem as a whole. Therefore, there is a 

need to monitor the waters proactively on a 

regular basis, so that issues can be detected 

and addressed early. 

CHALLENGES IN WATER QUALITY 

MONITORING 

Conventional methods used for water quality 

monitoring can be time-consuming and 

labour-intensive. These methods often require 

personnel to travel to the site to measure 

water quality parameters and collect samples 

for laboratory analysis. In the event of bad 

weather or site hazards, such methods may 

pose risk to the personnel or cause delays in 

acquiring data. The use of automated fixed 

stations that measure water parameters at a 

few selected locations may alleviate some of 

these issues, but such stations lack mobility 

and their measurements may not always be 

representative of the entire water body. 

New challenges such as climate change and 

labour shortages have surfaced in recent 

years. According to studies, observed 

increases in harmful algal blooms (HAB) have 

been linked to the effects of global warming. 

HAB adversely impacts drinking water 

systems and public health, if contaminated 

water is consumed. Worldwide labour 

shortages have been attributed to the ongoing 


IN THE FIELD 

COVID-19 pandemic. This combination of 

such factors puts a strain on resources that 

can be dedicated to water quality monitoring. 

As water plays a crucial role in our lives, there 

is a growing need to face these challenges 

by improving operational efficiency of water 

quality management. Water utility companies 

have been starting to leverage on artificial 

intelligence (AI) and numerical simulations 

to improve their operations planning and 

decision-making. Such methods rely heavily 

on data, and hence adoption of smart 

monitoring solutions to provide high quality 

data is essential. Smart monitoring solutions 

tap on cloud technology to collect water 

quality data remotely, increasing efficiency 

of data collection, reducing the reliance on 

manpower, and putting the data in the hands 

of decision-makers in a timely manner. 

SUBNERO WATER ASSESSMENT 

NETWORK 

The Subnero Water Assessment Network 

(SWAN) is a smart solution that has been 

used by PUB, Singapore’s national water 

agency, to monitor the water quality of 

reservoirs in Singapore. The SWAN is a 

cloud-based network of autonomous surface 

robots (SwanBots) that collects water data 

in reservoirs (see Fig. 1). The collected water 

quality data is made available to the decisionmakers 

in real-time through the SWAN’s 

intelligent SwanCloud software. The SWAN 

leverages technology to tackle the challenges 

associated with conventional water quality 

monitoring. 

are sent to the SwanCloud instantaneously, 

and is available for visualisation in real-time 

as charts and heatmaps. The probe can also 

be lowered to measure water parameters at 

varying depths. If further laboratory analysis 

is required, SwanBots can autonomously 

capture water samples at specified locations 

in the water body, and bring them to the 

shore. 

Another key feature of SWAN lies in its 

scalability. Multiple SwanBots can be 

deployed together to efficiently monitor large 

water bodies (see Fig. 2). SWAN also has a 

modular software architecture and exposes 

APIs which facilitate integration with diverse 

assets, such as weather stations, smart 

buoys, drones and more to provide a holistic 

view on the water body. Should the user own 

any existing sensors or assets that collects 

water quality data, they can be connected to 

the SWAN for the convenience in accessing 

the water data on a centralised data platform. 

LEARNINGS FROM THE SWAN 

DEPLOYMENT IN SINGAPORE’S 

RESERVOIRS 

When the SWAN was first deployed, 

known as NUSwan then, experiments were 

conducted to compare the measurements 

taken by the SWAN with those measured 

through conventional manual measurements 

and water sampling. These results were 

published in the report Interactive monitoring 

in reservoirs using NUSwan by a research 

team from the National University of 

Singapore (NUS). It was observed that the 

probe measurements and samples taken by 

the SWAN were consistent with the manual 

measurements taken. The SWAN was also 

found to increase chances of capturing spikes 

or hotspots of water quality parameters in 

highly dynamic environments, where such 

events would otherwise be overlooked. This is 

critical in ensuring that water problems can be 

detected early and quickly treated before they 

become difficult to manage. 

Entering an age of unprecedented threats to 

water resources, there is a need to embrace 

autonomous technologies such as SWAN 

to help monitor water quality smartly and 

efficiently. The SWAN provides up-to-date 

water quality data from the places that matter, 

empowering water management agencies to 

make fast and informed decisions. This is key 

to safeguarding the previous water resources 

in the long run. 

Part of this project is supported by the 

National Research Foundation, Singapore, 

and PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, 

under its Competitive Research Programme 

(CRP) (Water). 

The SwanBots can either follow preprogrammed 

paths under the direction of 

reservoir managers, or adaptively determine 

efficient data collection routes under the 

guidance of machine-learning techniques that 

are part of the intelligent SwanCloud software. 

A multi-parameter probe onboard each 

SwanBot measures water quality parameters 

such as pH, temperature, conductivity and 

blue-green algae, amongst many others, 

providing critical information on the health of 

the reservoir. The measured water quality data 

Figure 2: Multiple SwanBots deployed in a single reservoir for faster and more efficiency water quality monitoring 


IN THE FIELD 

PROTECTING 

against water loss 

Pedro Barbosa, product owner at Fotech, a bp 

Launchpad company, looks at the current threats 

to water pipelines and explores how advanced 

distributed acoustic sensing technology is 

supporting operators to monitor and maintain 

their networks better. 

Water is a precious resource, yet it is lost 

worldwide on a vast scale. According to the 

World Bank, non-revenue water loss costs 

an estimated US$15 billion per year 1 . There 

is enormous pressure for water operators to 

minimise leakage and to reduce risk across 

their networks while simultaneously making 

cost savings. Minimising water loss can 

ultimately be achieved through effectively 

monitoring and maintaining the integrity of the 

water pipeline networks. 

CURRENT THREATS TO PIPELINES 

Water loss is a major problem worldwide. 

For example, Skopje, Croatia, lost 22% of its 

water in 2020 2 . There are a few reasons that 

typically cause loss – aging pipelines are more 

susceptible to failure, and if made from steel, 

could experience corrosion that results in 

leaks; mechanical damage can cause ruptures; 

or water can be stolen by being siphoned off. 

Theft is also a significant threat to pipelines. 

Indeed, an Australian study revealed that 

up to half of the world’s water supply is 

stolen annually 3 . It is particularly prevalent 

in agricultural settings where crops need 

constant irrigation. 

CHALLENGE WITH EXISTING 

MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES 

Internal-based monitoring systems, which 

infer the presence of a leak, have traditionally 

been used to check for leaks. These systems – 

such as mass balance and real-time transient 

modelling (RTTM) – use computational 

pipeline monitoring (CPM) to calculate 

different operational conditions. However, they 

tend to have low sensitivity to small leaks and 

long detectability times. As a result, leaks are 

often missed or alarms are only raised after 

large quantities of water have already been 

lost. 

In contrast, external-based systems, such as 

fibre optic sensing, take direct measurements 

of different response dynamics associated 

with the leak, such as the noise produced by 

the leak. This provides a quicker detection of 

smaller amounts of water leakage. 

There is a critical need for a continuous 

monitoring solution that enables water 

operators to detect leaks and theft attempts 

not only quickly but also accurately. This is 

where advanced sensing technologies comes 

into play. 

DAS SMART SOLUTION 

One technology that can monitor pipelines 

for both leak detection and disturbances 

related to attempted theft is distributed 

antenna system (DAS). For example, Fotech’s 

LivePIPE solution uses photonic sensing 

DAS technology that turns a fibre optic cable 

running alongside a water pipeline network to 

thousands of vibration sensors, able to detect 

disturbances along the length of the pipeline. 

The technology has the ability to send 

thousands of pulses of light along the fibre 

optic cable every second and monitors the 

fine pattern of light reflected back. When 

acoustic or vibrational energy – such as that 

created by a leak or by digging – creates a 

strain on the optical fibre, this changes the 


IN THE FIELD 

reflected light pattern. By using advanced 

algorithms and processing techniques, DAS 

analyses these changes to identify and to 

categorise any disturbance. Each type of 

disturbance has its own signature and the 

technology can inform the operator, in real 

time, what happen, where it happened, and 

when it happened. 

Combining information gathered from multiple 

monitoring and maintenance sensors into an 

overarching view, provides water companies 

an understanding of what is happening on a 

pipeline at any given moment. Only then can 

operators maintain and respond to any events 

before they become major incidents. 

References 

1. Reducing Water Loss in Developing Countries 

Using Performance-Based Service Contracting 

(worldbank.org) 

2. Wasted Water: Leaking Pipelines Threaten to Let 

Balkans Run Dry | Balkan Insight 

3. Up to half of world’s water supply stolen 

annually, study finds | Murray-Darling Basin | The 

Guardian 

FINDING FAULTS FAST 

LivePIPE technology provides a smart barrier 

along the entire length of the pipeline, which 

can detect and alarm leaks of different sizes 

and their position along and around the water 

pipeline in real time. DAS can detect vibrations 

caused by water being forced through a 

pipeline rupture, or by ground displacement 

associated with small leaks in pipelines that 

would otherwise remain undetected. 

If the source of a leak is a tiny orifice, it could 

remain undetected or it could take days for 

the location of an incident to be identified 

with existing CPM systems. DAS is able to 

detect leaks as small as 20 litres per minute, 

raising the alarm in just 90 seconds, by which 

only 30 litres will have escaped. This speed 

is an improvement by a significant order of 

magnitude to existing technology. DAS can 

identify water leaks from many different sized 

orifices, even as small as 1mm, 

MAINTAINING NETWORK INTEGRITY 

Maintaining pipeline network integrity and 

protecting against leaks and malicious theft 

are some of the biggest priorities for water 

companies due to the efficiency improvements 

that can be made and resulting cost savings. 

By gaining visibility of the integrity of their 

entire network, water companies can protect 

against water loss, and can safeguard their 

assets and bottom-lines while reducing risk. 

DAS provides a critical layer of additional 

intelligence, with its continuous monitoring, 

and can detect and pinpoint the location 

of multiple threats simultaneously, such as 

small leaks and third-party interferences. This 

technology can also be integrated with existing 

monitoring systems to complement them. 

Energy Recovery 

Making industrial wastewater 

treatment affordable. 

Energy Recovery’s suite of energy recovery devices (ERDs), from the Ultra PX 

to the PX Pressure Exchanger and Turbocharger, significantly reduces energy 

waste in industrial wastewater treatment. Our ERDs decrease your energy 

consumption by up to 60%, and allow you to reduce the load on thermal 

equipment, helping you reach your ZLD/MLD goals. Energy Recovery has 

brought our globally recognized, unparalleled reliability from desalination to 

industrial wastewater. 

energyrecovery.com 


IN THE FIELD 

SUSTAINABLE BRINE 

TREATMENT“down under” 

Designed to reduce on wastewater and chemicals, Lanxess Lewatit MDS TP 208 

ion exchangers were being used for efficient brine treatment in Coogee Chemicals’ 

chloralkali facility. 

ion exchanger can be relied upon to 

help meet stringent purity standards, 

Lanxess said. 

Chloralkai production at the Coogee 

Chemicals site in Lytton, a suburb of 

Brisbane, Australia, began when the first 

resin was added to the system more than 

five years ago, and has been delivering 

performance. The ion exchange columns 

are filled with Lewatit MDS TP 208 finelydispersed 

resin, which protects the sensitive 

electrolysis membranes by removing 

impurities such as hardeners and barium 

(Photo credit: Coogee Chemicals) 

The Lewatit MDS TP 208 

monodisperse ion exchanger 

from Lanxess has unleashed a 

new approach to a simplified and 

sustainable sodium chloride brine 

purification. In Australia, the system 

has already been demonstrated 

its capabilities for half a decade 

at chloralkali producer Coogee 

Chemicals, absorbing more impurities 

than its MonoPlus equivalent. 

With longer cycle times, the Lewatit 

MDS TP 208 is able to reduce costs, 

and the process is said to produce 

less waste and rinse water, which 

makes it easier to operate a system 

for chloralkali production. Hence, the 

TRACK RECORD IN BRINE 

TREATMENT 

Coogee Chemicals is one of Australia’s 

largest chloralkali producers and 

operates three production facilities, 

all of which work with ion exchange 

resins from the Lewatit brand. The 

company’s Lytton site in a suburb of 

Brisbane has gained an additional cell 

room to cover demand for products 

such as sodium hydroxide, sodium 

hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid for 

the chemical industry, water treatment, 

mining and swimming pool industry. 

The greenfield product was designed to 

ensure that the regulatory requirements 

regarding waste reduction could be met 

reliably, ultimately leading to savings on 

operational waste and sewage disposal 

costs. 

The amount of waste produced by 

brine production per year in Lytton is a 

total of 4,200m 3 lower than in a facility, 

which uses ion exchange resins with 

standard particle sizes. This translates 

to conserving precious water resources 

at the same time. The outcome is 

based on the use of the Lewatit MDS 

TP 208 finely-dispersed resin, which 

protects the sensitive electrolysis 

membranes by removing impurities 

such as hardness and barium. Since the 


IN THE FIELD 

Ion exchange resins can be used to replace the magnesium and calcium ions found in hard 

water with sodium ions. 

Average impurity level after secondary brine purification with Lewatit 

MDS TP 208 over a period of five years (Photo credit: Lanxess AG) 

facility was commissioned in July 

2016, it has not only systematically 

complied with all specifications for 

brine purity required by membrane 

manufacturers but also, in some 

cases, even surpassed them, further 

improving the efficiency of the 

facility in the process, the company 

reported. 

With the revision of industry 

standards, the original targets of 

IN THE FIELD 

USING AODD PUMPS TO 

optimise filter-press operation 

As the use of filter presses expands from strictly industrial applications to 

consumables, air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps have become 

an ideal solution for liquid-transfer applications. Paul McGarry, sales manager 

for All-Flo and PSG, elaborates more. 

Historically speaking, it was around 

70 years ago that the filter press – which 

was invented a century earlier in the 

UK – gained a foothold as a first-choice 

technology in industrial liquid-handling 

applications in the US. By their design 

and operation, filter presses are used as 

a tool in separation processes, namely 

where solids must be removed from a 

liquid stream. The sludge that is separated 

as the solid-laden liquid moves through 

the filter press can be easily removed 

and disposed of. The cleaned liquid can 

then be moved to the next stage of the 

production process, or recirculated back 

into the filter press for further processing. 

In this role, the filter press has performed 

admirably in industrial applications, but in 

recent times, enterprising manufacturers 

of consumables, some of which must be 

produced in hygienic or sanitary operating 

conditions, have found that filter presses 

can further optimise their operations. 

This article will take a look at three 

markets and applications where filter 

presses can shine – one traditional, a 

second that has seen a reimaging of 

its production processes, and one that 

requires reliable operation in extreme 

conditions. Additionally, the pump 

technology – positive displacement (PD) 

air-operated double diaphragm (AODD) – 

that is ideal to perform with filter presses, 

will be explained. 


IN THE FIELD 

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT 

Industrial water and wastewater 

applications are ones where filter 

presses have proven their worth 

from day one. This is an application 

where large volumes of solids and 

liquids need to be separated on 

a daily basis. The filter press is 

ideal for this application because 

of its method of operation. As the 

solid-laden slurry is pumped into 

the press, two chambers are filled, 

which facilitates the formation 

of thick slurry “cakes”. While the 

chambers fill, the pressure inside the 

system increases to the point that 

when the chambers reach capacity, 

the liquid is filtered out with the aid 

of streams of compressed air or 

water. This dewatering leaves behind 

solid slurry or sludge cakes that are 

ready for disposal. 

An advantage in this cake-creation 

process for the operators of water 

and wastewater plants is that instead 

of having to dispose large amounts 

of wet slurry, the outcome is a flow of 

neutralised water and a comparatively 

small amount of cake, which reduces 

disposal costs. 

To operate properly, filter presses 

require good filtration and constant 

system pressure so that the flakes 

that form the slurry cakes are not 

destroyed. This means that pressures 

of up to 100psi is generally required. 

The filter-press process in water and 

wastewater treatment also requires 

that various types of ancillary liquids 

be used. In many cases, these 

liquids – including things like milk 

of lime, which is very abrasive, and 

a variety of alkaline – cannot be 

released into the environment. This 

necessitates the need for a reliably 

leak-free pumping technology that is 

compatible with a wide range of liquid 

types. 

All-Flo production line 

CREATING A LESS-STICKY 

SITUATION 

Everyone has at least seen a depiction 

of the manufacturing process for maple 

syrup – a series of buckets connected 

by plastic tubes are hung from maple 

trees, which are trapped, allowing their 

sap to flow into the buckets. When 

enough is collected, the sap is boiled 

until it reaches the point that can be 

called pancake-ready maple syrup. 

This is a time- and labour-intensive 

process, but one that was performed in 

that manner for hundreds of years. 

That is until recently. It has only been 

in the last two to three decades that 

maple syrup production has become 

fully mechanised and modernised, 

with many producers now utilising a 

reverse osmosis production process 

that reduces the time and cost to 

manufacture maple syrup. Enter the 

filter press – or as syrup manufacturers 

have begun calling it the “syrup press”. 

Instead of repeatedly boiling the sap 

to create syrup, today’s process sees 

the sap passed through the filter 

press in what is called the evaporation 

stage. As evaporation occurs, the sap 

is separated into the sticky, syrupy 

solution widely recognised with a 

water-like by-product that is removed. 

To get the production process started, 

pumps are used to transfer the raw sap 

into the filter press at the beginning of 

the production process. 

SURVIVING THE DEEP FREEZE 

There are some industrial production 

processes that require the finished 

products to be manufactured with the 

aid of components that need to be 

separated in extremely cold operating 

conditions. In fact, in some cases this 

requires the use of a liquid like ethanol 

that has been cooled to a temperature 

that can be as low as -40°C. It is at the 

beginning of these types of processes 

that pumps are used to push a mixture 

of the raw material and the supercooled 

ethanol through the filter press. 

Because many of these types of 

processes are also used in the 

production of goods made for human 

consumption, they must be produced 

under the strict auspices of hygienic 

or sanitary manufacturing regulations. 

This means that the pumps must not 

only be able to manage extremely low 

temperatures, but also be compliant 

with US Food & Drug Administration 

edicts, as well as those of Europe’s 

Restriction of Hazardous Substances 

(RoHS) directive. Specifically, the RoHS 

3 regulation lists the maximum levels – 

less than 1,000 parts per million – that 

can be present of such substances as 

lead, mercury and cadmium in finished 

consumable products. 

Additionally, since ethanol is classified 

as an explosive substance, the pumps 

used in the production of goods that 


IN THE FIELD 

require it during the manufacturing 

process must be certified for use 

according to the ATEX Category 

II guideline that governs use in 

atmospheres that feature gases, 

vapours or air and dust mixtures that 

could explode. 

THE AODD SOLUTION 

For those looking to optimise 

their filter-press operations, no 

matter the industry or product, 

AODD pumps offer a number of 

operational advantages, including 

dry-run capability, compatibility with 

liquids of varying viscosities and 

pressures, good controllability, and 

an inherently leak-free design that 

features no gaskets or seals. AODD 

pumps also have no drives, rotating 

parts and rotary shaft seals. 

Other PD pump technologies have 

been used in conjunction with 

filter presses, but each of the more 

popular ones have shortcomings 

that can prevent them from being the 

best choice: 

• Piston diaphragm: Can be 

prohibitively expensive to 

operate since they require both 

electricity and air to function. 

• Progressive cavity: Cannot dry 

run or handle large abrasives, 

and also require electricity to 

operate. 

• Hose piston: Liquid transfer 

occurs through the use of 

hoses, which wear out faster 

than diaphragms and, at 

some point, will be at risk of a 

catastrophic failure. 

To this end, AODD pumps are able 

to outperform their PD cousins in 

filter-press applications because 

of their simple design and method 

of operation. A pair of diaphragms 

that are connected via a diaphragm 

rod work in unison to move the 

liquid through the pump. While one 

side of the pump is in suction mode, 

the other is in discharge mode. As a 

diaphragm moves inwards, it creates 

suction. This suction causes the balls 

that are located on the check valves 

to move towards each other. As this 

happens, the ball on the top closes 

the valve while the ball on the bottom 

moves away from the valve, opening a 

path that allows the liquid to enter the 

pumping chamber. 

As the diaphragm moves outwards, 

the discharge motion causes the 

balls to move away from each other. 

As this happens, the top valve opens 

and the bottom valve closes. This 

allows liquid to exit the chambers 

and discharge through the top port. 

This process constantly alternates 

between the two chambers to create 

a continuous cycle. The pump 

diaphragms are driven by pressurised 

air that is directed left and right by the 

movement of the main air valve. 

The result is a pumping process that 

remains volumetrically consistent at 

flow rates of 200gpm or higher, even 

with varying liquid viscosities and 

transfer pressures. Start-up is also as 

simple as attaching a compressedair 

hose to the pump’s air distribution 

system (ADS) and turning it on. AODD 

All-Flo maple syrup 

pumps also require a smaller footprint 

than piston diaphragm or progressive 

cavity pumps, which allow them to be 

used in tighter operating areas. 

Many manufacturers of AODD pumps 

are now also producing hygienic and 

sanitary models that can be used 

in the production of consumable 

products, or in operating atmospheres 

that require a pump with an ATEX 

rating. This further expands the 

operational range for AODD pumps 

that can be used in conjunction with 

filter presses. 

CONCLUSION 

The filter press has been proven 

to perform reliably in a number of 

industrial applications that require 

the separation of solids and liquids, 

but its application range, it has been 

found, does not end there. The 

producers of consumer goods, some 

of which are manufactured in extreme 

atmospheres, are finding that filter 

presses can be indispensable parts 

of their manufacturing operations, but 

only if partnered with the proper pump 

technology. More and more, the best 

technology for use with filter presses 

is proving to be the AODD pump, the 

operational characteristics of which 

can help optimise operations in a 

number of critical industries. 


IN THE FIELD 

WASTEWATER 

RECYCLING 

PLANT STEPS 

into the future 

One of the world’s largest dairy companies will be 

installing a wastewater treatment and water reuse 

facility at its new dairy plant in Jakarta to achieve 

99% organic content removal to meet recycling 

and sustainability standards. 

The facility will also benefit from minimal 

waste disposal costs, brought forth by 

application of the anaerobic process and 

sludge dewatering units. 

“The GW&E technology employed 

here is a huge step into the future of 

sustainability and recycling for livestock 

industries and agribusiness producing 

waste with high organic content,” said 

Michael Bambridge, managing director 

of CST Wastewater Solutions. He 

added that the technology being used 

in Indonesia is widely applicable to 

dairy and meat applications, throughout 

major livestock processor nations 

such as New Zealand, Australia and 

increasingly, South East Asian nations 

striving for clean, green production 

facilities. 

Major components of the GW&E process 

employed at PT Frisian Flag include: 

• Primary treatment by SUPERFLOT- 

AIR dissolved air flotation 

• Secondary treatment by COHRAL and 

AEROFIX moving bed biofilm reactor 

secondary treatment 

• Water reuse system including 

PURAQUA disc filtration, ultrafiltration 

and sanitary reverse osmosis 

The gas balloon (left) and the lagoon cover (right) under which anaerobic bacteria convert waste to biogas, 

which is then stored in the balloon at the Oakey COHRAL installation 

The new facility of PT Frisian 

Flag, a subsidiary of the Royal 

FrieslandCampina, is scheduled for 

startup in 2022, and will be using 

technologies to produce potable recycled 

water from the plant wastewater. 

The Global Water & Energy (GW&E) 

technologies employed include a Covered 

High Rate Anaerobic Lagoon (COHRAL) 

system of a type already implemented in 

one of Australia’s largest meat processing 

facilities, at Oakey in Queensland, where 

it improved water quality, reduced odour, 

while producing biogas to reduce fossil fuel 

demands. 

The Jakarta facility will not only achieve 

quality potable water outputs for recycling, 

but also the biogas generated there during 

treatment can later be used in the factory to 

decrease fossil fuel dependency. The plant 

is engineered to produce up to 6,000Nm 3 of 

biogas per day. 

The compact GW&E COHRAL plant 

involved in the Jakarta project occupies 

just half the footprint of comparable 

covered anaerobic lagoons. Bambridge 

added that it is also more efficient in 

breaking down organic content than 

general energy-hungry and odours open 

aeration lagoons in service globally. 

Pre-treatment that is part of the GW&E 

COHRAL process also leads to better 

recoveries of valuable protein and fats 

which would normally end up in the 

wastewater. This provides a further gain 

to the bottom line as well as increasing 

reliability by isolating clogging waste 

from the high performance wastewater 

treatment plant, he concluded. 


IN THE FIELD 

MOBILE DISCHARGER 

addresses pesticide 

overload at WTW 

The TransPAC mobile powder handling and carbon 

dosing system houses a split-frame bulk bag 

discharger, two flexible screw conveyors, a control 

panel and the Transvac ejector to mix and inject a slurry 

of powdered activated carbon (PAC) into the municipal 

water stream. 

The mobile unit requires only 

connections to an electric power 

supply, the municipal water stream, 

and an external water supply. 

Environmental impact and site 

preparation are minimised, as well 

as the need for maintenance and 

planning permission. Flexicon added 

that the system is safe to operate, 

and simple to control. 

The water treatment works was 

restored to compliance as the 

dosed carbon successfully removed 

pesticide traces from the main 

water stream. Dosing is “accurate 

and steady” without over-dosing or 

wastage. 

From the BFF-C-X Bulk-Out splitframe 

bulk bag discharger, PAC is 

automatically transferred from a half 

tonne bulk bag through a flexible 

screw conveyor to a surge hopper 

from which a second flexible screw 

conveyor meters the powder into the 

Transvac ejector. 

Bulk bag and lifting 

frame of the BFF-C-X 

Bulk Out split-frame 

bulk bag discharger 

are forklifted onto 

the stationary 

discharger frame 

inside the container 

When a water treatment works in 

northern England faced a spike in 

pesticide concentration exceeding the 

allowable concentration limit for the 

incoming water, the site was forced 

to shut down. The company then had 

to divert water from a regional water 

treatment works to provide clean 

drinking water to its customers until 

the issues is addressed. 

The solution arrived in the form of a 

mobile, lorry-mounted carbon dosing 

system, housed in a 6m long steel 

shipping container that was delivered 

and activated within one day. 

Supplied by Transvac Systems, the 

TransPAC mobile powder handling 

and carbon dosing system includes a 

bulk bag discharger and two flexible 

screw conveyors from Flexicon and 

Transvac’s ejector system for mixing 

and injecting a slurry of powdered 

activated carbon (PAC) into the 

municipal water stream. 

SPLIT-FRAME DISCHARGER 

FITS INSIDE CONTAINER 

A forklift loads the 1.8m high 

bag-loading frame and 500kg bulk 

bag onto the 0.9m high stationary 

discharger frame inside the shipping 

container. Once the bag spout is 

untied, the powder flows into a 5m 

long, 80mm diameter flexible screw 

conveyor leading to the 930 litres 

capacity surge hopper. A second 

3.5m long, 67mm diameter flexible 

screw conveyor moves the carbon 

powder from the hopper outlet to 

the intake of the ejector that doses 

the PAC into the municipal water 

stream. 


IN THE FIELD 

The 5m long flexible screw conveyor (left) from the bulk bag discharger moves the carbon powder to the surge hopper, from which the second 3.5m long flexible screw 

conveyor moves the powder to the intake of the Transvac ejector (right) 

The conveyors are curved to fit 

the tight space within the shipping 

PAC POSES HANDLING 

PROBLEMS 

through a transition adapter located 

forward of the drive at the discharge 

container. 

PAC adsorbs the pesticide on its 

end, thereby preventing powder from 

surface, and the carbon and adsorbed 

contacting bearings or seals. 

From the control panel, the 

material are subsequently removed 

operator sets the speeds of the 

as sludge in the flocculation process. 

Transvac has deployed its mobile 

conveyor drives to automatically 

However, the extremely fine powder, 

TransPAC dosing systems in a number 

dose the proper amount of PAC 

according to the site water flow. 

Low- and high-level sensors in the 

surge hopper signal the controller 

to start or stop flow through the 

first flexible screw conveyor when 

the hopper contents reach low or 

high level. 

with an average particle size of only 

20 microns and a bulk density of 

230kg/m 3 , is prone to dusting. 

Both the bulk bag discharger and 

flexible screw conveyors prevent 

dusting. The bag outlet spout is 

connected to the feeder by a Spout- 

of UK water treatment works for similar 

emergencies for pesticide, or taste or 

odour problems and as an alternative 

to traditional PAC batch dosing 

systems, which are large, complex and 

costly, and require long lead times by 

comparison. 

Extra fine PAC is 

prone to dusting, 

but is contained by 

the flexible screw 

conveyors and dusttight 

connection at 

the discharger’s bag 

spout interface 

Lock clamp ring, which creates a 

The carbon dosing portion of 

“secure, dust-tight” connection 

the TransPAC system includes a 

between the clean side of the bag 

header tank for incoming water, 

spout and clean side of the bag spout 

a booster pump and the ejector. 

interface. 

The velocity of the water flowing 

through a venturi creates a low- 

Each flexible screw conveyor consists 

pressure zone in the ejector that 

of a stainless-steel screw rotating 

entrains the carbon powder into the 

inside a durable polymer tube that 

treated water stream at a rate set at 

contains the fine powder as it is 

the control panel. The unit operates 

conveyed. The conveyor discharge is 

with no moving parts. 

likewise dust-free, as powder exists 


FOCUS 

CLEANTECH WATER 

TREATMENT SOLUTIONS 

enabling sustainability in Asia 

and its semiconductor industry 

The water-intensive semiconductor industry has been experiencing a surge 

in demand for chips as nations and businesses accelerate their digitalisation 

strategies. This, in turn, will require increased water recycling and even greater 

quantities of ultra-pure water. Prakash Govindan, COO of Gradiant, elaborates 

on the growing importance for the water-intensive semiconductor industry to 

embrace sustainability in the supply chain. 

Asia-Pacific plays a critical role in the 

global supply chain as it hosts over 

40% of the world’s manufacturing. 

Given the importance of the 

region, the effects of environmental 

impacts are heightened – as are the 

economic and social benefits that 

can be recognised with the adoption 

of sustainable practices. This is 

compounded by the region’s rapid 

industrialisation and large population 

base, where responsible management 

practices are even more essential to 

balance economic growth and quality 

of life. 

In early 2021, the Singapore 

government unveiled the Singapore 

Green Plan 2030, aimed at moving the 

city-state towards fulfilling its green 

aspirations. An important aspect of 

the Green Plan is the use of circular 

economy models to maximise the 

lifecycle of natural resources, allowing 

them to be used many times over to 

reduce the overall volume of waste 

produced. 

Key beneficiaries of circular 

economy models are water-intensive 

industries, which consume valuable 

freshwater from an already waterstressed 

regions. By 2025, half 

of the world’s population will be 

living in water-stressed areas. 

Freshwater scarcity poses a major 

threat to economic growth, water 

security, and sustainability for our 

future generations. The challenge of 

providing adequate and safe drinking 

water is further complicated by climate 

change and the pressures of economic 

development. These stresses drive the 

need to make the most out of our limited 

water supplies. 

WATER AS A CRITICAL RESOURCE 

The recovery and reuse of wastewater 

with advanced treatment technologies 

have become a growing trend to 

achieve water sustainability. Essential 

industries such as semiconductors, 

pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and food 

and beverage rank among the world’s 

most water-intensive sectors. A large 

semiconductor manufacturing facility 

may require up to 5 million gallons of 

municipal water per day, using water to 

Figure 1: Overview of 

the ZLD wastewater 

treatment process 

(Photo credit: 

Gradiant) 


FOCUS 

produce silicon wafers or cool down 

equipment – this is equivalent to the 

daily domestic water consumption of a 

city with a population of 136,000. The 

manufacture of one 300mm integrated 

circuit, alone, will require 2,200 gallons 

of water. Recent droughts in Taiwan 

and Arizona, two major areas for 

semiconductor manufacturing, have 

threatened global supply chains, 

operational continuity, and expansion 

plans. 

The World Bank estimates that 80% of 

all wastewater is disposed of without 

treatment. Without proper treatment 

and disposal, industrial wastewater can 

pollute our freshwater resources. This 

not only renders them unfit for reuse 

and consumption but also disrupts the 

delicate marine ecosystems that can 

have far-reaching impacts on the natural 

environment and the communities 

that rely on these ecosystems for the 

livelihoods. 

REDUCING WASTEWATER AND 

TRANSFORMING IT INTO A 

RESOURCE STREAM 

Technological advancements in 

water treatment now allow industries 

to recover and reuse wastewater, 

remove contaminants, and even 

reclaim valuable products from waste 

streams. In recent years, the industry 

has developed advanced treatment 

processes capable of delivering 

cost-effective results at lower energy 

and chemical requirements. Zero 

Liquid Discharge (ZLD) is a rapidly 

growing approach where almost 

all water is recovered and reused, 

thereby minimising discharge to 

the environment and freshwater 

withdrawals. Valuable minerals that 

would have otherwise been disposed 

of as waste are recovered for beneficial 

reuse. This produces purified recycled 

water and recovered minerals that could 

be used for other industrial or economic 

benefits – which creates a continuous 

resource loop, or a circular economy. 

As freshwater resources become 

scarce, economies worldwide 

are becoming more stringent on 

wastewater quality and quantity, 

leading to industries’ increased 

adoption of ZLD solutions. Reaffirming 

the growing importance of wastewater 

management amid the COVID-19 

pandemic, industry research has 

forecasted the global water reuse 

market to grow at a CAGR of 12.2% 

from 2022-2027, reaching 

US$38 billion by 2027. Asia-Pacific 

will lead this growth, mainly due 

to population growth, social and 

economic development, and 

increasingly stringent environmental 

regulations. 

ENABLING THE 

SEMICONDUCTOR SECTOR TO 

MEET SUSTAINABILITY GOALS 

Brand owners and manufacturers 

increasingly face operational 

continuity, financial and social 

pressures to drive sustainability in 

the supply chain. New technologies 

are helping us to find better ways to 

use our limited resources through the 

product lifecycle – from the mining of 

raw materials through manufacturing 

and disposal. Some examples of 

sustainable solutions in the cleantech 

water sector are water reuse, ZLD, 

targeted treatment of contaminants, 

and resource recovery. Wastes 

can be reduced or engineered out 

from the manufacturing process – 

water consumption and wastes are 

minimised, and whenever possible, 

recovered and reused for other 

beneficial purposes. 

There is an urgent need today for 

improved sustainability in the supply 

chain of wafer fabrication and 

semiconductor manufacturing. We 

Figure 2: Ultrapure water system for semiconductor manufacturing 

(Photo credit: Gradiant) 

Figure 3: Water recycling potential in a semiconductor manufacturing 

plant (Photo credit: Gradiant, adapted from Singapore PUB) 

Figure 4: Separating waste streams for optimised treatment and 

reuse (Photo credit: Global Water Intelligence) 

are experiencing a global shortage 

of the semiconductors required to 

control everything from automobiles 

to smartphones to appliances. The 

semiconductor market is forecasted 


FOCUS 

to grow by 17.3% in 2021, on top of the 10.8% 

growth in 202. Global sales reached $439 

billion in 2020 – fuelled by the spike in demand 

for computers and electronics devices. At 

this same time of unprecedented demand, 

severe droughts in major semiconductor 

manufacturing areas are threatening the 

operational continuity and expansion plans of 

brand owners and foundries. 

In water recycling applications, the 

wastewater that would have been 

otherwise discharged is reduced in 

volume and recycled to the beginning 

of the semiconductor manufacturing 

process – facilities can achieve 

overall recoveries of up to 98% 

using the latest membrane 

desalination technologies. 

Prakash Govindan 

COO at Gradiant 

Eleven of the top 14 semiconductor 

manufacturing plants in the world are in 

Asia-Pacific, accounting for more than 75% 

of globally industry sales. Semiconductors 

are now considered a strategic asset in 

global trade policy and self-sufficiency. In 

2015, China published its “Made in China 

Plan”, which established goals of 70% 

self-sufficiency in semiconductors by 2025. 

Countries with access to sufficient supplies 

of semiconductors will be able to meet 

the massive amounts of processing power 

required to advance their artificial intelligence 

(AI) and machine learning innovation – those 

without, will not. 

Water is fundamental to the manufacture 

of semiconductors. The semiconductors 

sector is one of the largest water-consuming 

industrial users in Singapore – requiring 

about 11% of Singapore’s total non-domestic 

water demand. Much of this water is ultrapure 

water that is thousands of times purer than 

drinking water – so clean, that it’s regarded 

as an industrial solvent. Figure 2 shows a 

typical ultrapure water system process used 

in semiconductor manufacturing. 

Semiconductor manufacturers are continuously 

seeking opportunities to minimise water 

footprint and treat-down wastewater through 

sustainable water management practices, 

such as water reuse, ZLD, targeted treatment, 

and resource recovery. These manufacturers 

adopt sustainable operations by minimising 

the amount of freshwater consumed in the 

production process, reducing the volume 

of wastewater discharge or disposed to the 

environment, and even segregating effluent 

streams for optimised treatment and reuse. 

Figure 3 shows the water recycling potential 

in a wafer fabrication and semiconductor 

plant as separated by waste streams. 

In water recycling applications, the 

wastewater that would have been 

otherwise discharged is reduced in volume 

and recycled to the beginning of the 

semiconductor manufacturing process 

– facilities can achieve overall recoveries 

of up to 98% using the latest membrane 

desalination technologies. Furthermore, 

wastewater streams in the manufacturing 

process are being strategically separated and 

treated (see Fig. 4) to only the required levels 

and not beyond, and beneficially reused 

in the upstream manufacturing processes, 

resulting in an overall net positive reduction in 

the facility’s freshwater withdrawals. 

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 

Asia-Pacific has realised significant growth 

in environmental, social, and governance 

(ESG) investments, with the pandemic having 

highlighted how catastrophic events such 

as climate change could impact investment 

returns. According to MSCI, around 79% 

of investors in Asia-Pacific increased ESG 

investment in response to COVID-19, while 

57% of the region’s investors expect to have 

incorporated ESG issues into their investment 

analysis and decision-making processes by 

the end of 2021. 

Governments around the world have set 

ambitious goals and outlined steps to 

achieve a zero-waste, sustainable future. The 

regulatory environment around wastewater 

management has also evolved in major 

Asian markets to keep pace with changing 

public sentiments, evidenced by Singapore’s 

Green Plan 2030. Moving ahead, more 

can still be done to raise awareness on 

the untapped potential of wastewater as a 

resource stream, and on the capabilities of 

advanced treatment technologies to minimise 

environmental impact and deliver economic 

and social value. 

An effective approach to accelerate 

this change is stronger public-private 

collaborations to enable governments to 

leverage expertise from the private sector 

and help guide the development of industry 

regulations for sustainable growth. On the 

technology front, government recognition and 

support will also help to access and leverage 

the entrepreneurial innovation potential of the 

private sector. 

ABOUT GRADIANT 

Gradiant is a global solutions provider and 

developer of cleantech water projects for 

advanced water and wastewater treatment, 

with focus on water reuse, industrial 

wastewater, resource recovery, and zero 

liquid discharge. Gradiant’s end-toend 

solutions and technology expertise 

enable sustainable and cost-effective 

treatment of the world’s most important 

water challenges. With a full-suite of 

robust technologies, powered by the top 

minds in water, Gradiant serves its clients’ 

mission-critical operations in the world’s 

essential industries. Today, with more than 

400 employees, Gradiant serves its clients 

around the world from its headquarters 

in Boston and Singapore, and offices 

across 10 countries. Gradiant creates new 

possibilities for water. 


FOCUS 

HOW F&B MANUFACTURERS 

can benefit from going modular 

There is no doubt that water and wastewater management is a critical part of the 

food and beverage manufacturing process. Moreover, they also need to consider 

issues like compliance with effluent discharge regulations and limited avaiability of 

space. Remi Thelisson, head of department – modular offer, Asia-Pacific, 

Veolia Water Technologies, elaborates more. 

Food manufacturing facilities typically 

consume high volumes of water and generate 

wastewater with high organic concentration. 

Furthermore, wastewater treatment at food 

and beverage manufacturing facilities can 

also be difficult to manage due to changes 

to the influent – often caused by factors like 

fluctuations in production volume or changes 

in manufacturing operations. 

Technologies can help overcome wastewater 

management challenges that already exist. 

One approach that simplifies the search is to 

look at pre-engineered modular solutions that 

feature packaged technologies – pre-selected 

to address various needs. 

Here are some ways that modular solutions 

can address the challenges that food and 

beverage manufacturers face: 

• Compact technologies 

Physical limitations make it challenging for 

businesses to acquire suitable wastewater 

treatment systems that meet the required 

output. As for manufacturers looking 

to integrate new solutions to existing 

set-ups, space can also be an issue as the 

original facility designs would not have 

accounted for these additional systems. 

For these reasons, compact solutions with 

small footprint can enable manufacturers 

to better optimise processes and find a 

balance between space and efficiency. 

• Shorter project execution time 

With either ready-to-install modules or 

ready-to-build solutions that feature preengineered 

solutions and pre-selected 

equipment, manufacturers looking to build 

a new plant or update an existing plant 

can expect a much shorter runway from 

planning to delivery. 

• Flexibility 

In some cases, wastewater treatment plant 

may reach their capacity limit and become 

overloaded, resulting in non-compliance 

to effluent discharge targets. One way 

to get around such uncertainties is to 

acquire module wastewater treatment 

systems, which allows manufacturers to 

adapt existing plant designs to address 

both current and forecasted needs, 

and to efficiently manage subsequent 

peaks in load or concentration. Modular 

technologies also offer the advantage of 

being easily replicated, which can facilitate 

any expansion plans such as future 

production line or new plant in another 

site. 

• Solutions with process assurance 

Veolia offers technologies that help 

manufacturers find a balance between 

upfront investments and long-term 

operation costs. These solutions has 

the ability to support manufacturers in 

overcoming challenges posed by variations 

in influent conditions while meeting 

regulatory requirement for effluent 

discharge. 

Veolia has expertise in water and wastewater 

treatment as well as a comprehensive range 

of modular technologies that can address 

water and wastewater treatment need. 

Depending on the type of wastewater effluent, 

we can offer an effective aerobic modular 

wastewater treatment solution, or even a 

combination of both, to help manufacturers 

overcome their wastewater treatment 

challenges. 


FOCUS 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

DRIVES NEW FOCUS 

on hygienic tank protection 

Protection of process solutions and particularly water storage is more important 

than ever, through increasing wet and dry cycles. In Australia, this summer is 

forecast to produce more rain in many areas. 

water wastage and product purity, but also 

they are expected to do it for longer and 

in more challenging and generally warmer 

environments. Steel, concrete and fiberglass 

tanks need secure roofs that can withstand 

expansion and contraction caused by 

factors such as increasing climatic and load 

variations,” said Green, whose subsidiary 

company, complements Cut To Size’s 

tank construction with sliding roof bearing 

to account for thermal expansion and 

contraction and structural load variations. 

As Australia looks forward to the prospect of 

a wetter-than-usual summer in many parts of 

the country, many public utilities and private 

industries have been preparing to harvest and 

safeguard water to safeguard against drier 

times in the future. 

Laurie Green, managing director of Cut To 

Size Plastics, said: “Open storage tanks 

are obviously one area of concern, inviting 

evaporation and airborne pollution of both a 

chemical nature and from flourishing birdlife. 

With climate change, water is becoming too 

valuable to waste.” 

Green, who has seen tank design evolved 

over decades as a leader in tough engineered 

non-polluting and also food grade plastics, 

both manufactures long-life tanks and, 

through his subsidiary Hercules Engineering, 

helps develop tank top bearings to help 

protect their contents. 

He highlighted that storage tanks today can 

hold upwards of 10, 20 or even 30,000 tons 

of liquid that must be protected from the 

elements and from pollution to safeguard 

it for use in water, wastewater, emergency 

fire protection and high purity industrial 

processing applications. 

“Not only are tanks being built to hold their 

contents more safely and securely than 

ever before, as awareness rises about 

Cut To Size manufacturers light and strong 

long-life high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 

tanks, available in capacities of more than 

25,000 litres for potable water and a wide 

variety of chemical solutions used in food, 

beverage and industrial process applications. 

HDPE plastic is one of the most 

environmentally stable plastic, Cut To Size 

claimed, giving off no harmful fumes into the 

environment, nor will it absorb disease, odour 

or moisture. The tough, lightweight product 

is easy to transport and position, swift 

and safe to erect, and has good lifespans, 

being identical in formulation to PE100 

piping material that has proven its durability 

over many decades in inside, outside and 

underground uses. 

Green continued: “Over the years, many 

larger chemical process tanks have been 

constructed from fiberglass supported by 

steel frames. PE100 tanks don’t require 


FOCUS 

roofs. These low-friction easy-slip 

stainless steel studs flash welded to 

bearings are particularly useful where 

the upper face. The lower face is highly 

loads are relatively small but both 

polished, and the plate is provided with 

lateral and uplift forces need to be 

two slotted holes for uplift through- 

accommodated, said David Booty, 

bolts. This plate slides against a 

manager of Hercules Engineering. 

PTFE-coated Hercupad, which has two 

clearance holes drilled into it. 

“Light but strong and flexible tank tops 

are now widely employed to protect 

Some features include: 

tanks and their contents from external 

• Five stock sizes in working loads 

pollution ranging from flora, fauna, 

from 50-70kN. Larger capacities 

dust and droppings and waterborne 

and different dimensions can be 

HDPE tanks from 

Cut To Size are 

manufactured 

from the most 

environmentally 

stable of all 

engineering plastics 

framework of any kind, and need 

liners only for the most aggressive 

chemicals, such as sodium 

hypochlorite.” 

HERCULES SLIDING BEARINGS 

FOR TANKS 

impurity. The bearings used under 

these tops must not only support the 

structure, but also prevent it from 

cracking and breaking, and becoming 

part of the pollution problem.” 

HLD/TT bearings are part of a range 

of Hercules composite slip joints and 

custom engineered. 

• Co-efficient of friction 0.05-0.08, 

depending on stress. 

• Expansion capacity up to ±20mm, 

and can be custom designed for 

larger movements. 

• Maximum rotation up to 0.01 

radians. 

Hercules Engineering, meanwhile, 

structural bearings for a wide variety of 

• Maximum temperature of 80ᵒC. 

produces sliding bearings that 

structures and weights incorporating 

address challenges facing developers 

engineered high-performance 

Green added his company’s move 

and operators of buildings and 

combinations of engineered composite 

into water storage and protection 

processing plants for industrial and 

polymer materials and metal facing 

has been promoted by expanding 

municipal uses. These purpose- 

surfaces. Complementary Type 

long-term demand about ways to most 

designed tank bearings ensure their 

D Herculon Bearings HLD/SG are 

efficiently conserve water and liquids. 

top structures can flexibly cope with 

designed to accept a lateral load of 

“Australasia is still relatively early in its 

internal movement from climatically 

30% of the vertical rated load, which 

water conservation journey, but this 

induced expansion, contraction and 

can be up to 600kN per bearing in 

will be an issue of rising importance 

wind and rain forces, while also coping 

stock sizes, with higher capacity 

over the years ahead. Water harvest 

with production stresses caused by 

available custom-engineered for 

and water conservation will quickly 

heavy and changing loads, vibration 

particular applications. 

become not only a national priority, 

and other factors encountered within 

but also a big issue for individual, 

diverse industries. Relevant industries 

HLD/TT bearings consist of a thin 

private and public entities,” he 

can include mining and energy, oil and 

stainless-steel slide plate with two 

concluded. 

gas, ports and infrastructure, food 

and beverage, primary processing, 

manufacturing, materials handling, 

water and wastewater utility, and 

emergency services. 

The solution to many such issues 

offered by Hercules Engineering 

through its range of Herculon Type 

D Tank Top Bearings (HLD/TT) 

Bearings, which are engineered 

for easy installation under roof 

beams of tank tops and other lighter 

structures including some building 

Construction and performance characteristics 


FOCUS 

Ten years ago, there were dozens of 

companies around the world that offered 

portable packaged water treatment and 

wastewater treatment plants. These were 

and are being used in remote oil and forestry 

camps, dam building sites, mining sites, large 

chemical sites and camp sites for highway 

building crews too far away to use regular city 

hotel lodging. 

TECHNOLOGY IN 

packaged water and 

wastewater treatment plants 

By Orest Protch and Larissa Hogg 

Many of these companies may have had 

patents for equipment that they development 

in-house for their proprietary systems. 

But over the last several years, many have 

been bought out by larger multinational 

corporations. Although the smaller companies 

may retain their original names under the 

larger corporate umbrellas, the benefit 

to customers is that a larger selection of 

treatment equipment can be offered to a 

wider variety of customers in one custommade 

package. 

No longer are the packaged plants strictly 

used in industrial settings. They can now 

be found servicing the needs of smaller 

communities that are unable to afford the 

water and wastewater facilities that large 

towns and cities can have with a larger 

taxation base to pay for it. 

Table 1 lists some of the options available with 

packaged water treatment and wastewater 

Packaged water treatment plants being lifted 

off a transport truck at a remote oil camp 

treatment plants. The benefits and options 

are many, as packages system providers 

can meet any challenge and manage any 

circumstance. 

Environmental and health laws are changing 

everywhere. It is no longer acceptable to 

dump untreated human generated wastewater 

Water Treatment Chemicals Potable Water Treatment Wastewater Treatment Benefits of Packaged Systems 

Aluminium sulphate Chemical dosing systems Clarification Brackish water systems 

Chlorine granules Electrodedionization systems Denitrification Cartidge filters 

Citric acid Glass bead filtration Dissolved ait flotation Durable 

Hydrochloric acid Ion exchange Grease separation Electrodedionization systems 

Organic diphosphonic acid Membrane bioreactor system Mechanical pretreatment Flexible design 

Polyaluminum chloride Multimedia filtration Ozonation Options of multiseason use 

Potassium permanganate Nanofiltration Phosphorous reduction Seawater reverse osmosis systems 

Sodium hypochlorite Reverse osmosis Rotary screen Solar powered options 

Sodium metabisulfite Ultrafiltration Sand removal Treat water from any source 

Sulfamic acid Ultraviolet sterilizers Sequencing batch reactors Water deionization systems 

Phosphoric acid granules Skimmer clarifiers Water softerners systems 

Table 1: Packaged water systems can be used anywhere, modified for any 

treatment needs and delivered right to the sites that need them 

Sludge treatment 


FOCUS 

into the environment. Likewise, 

more stringent requirements are 

being placed on potable waters 

used by communities of all sizes 

to ensure safe, healthy and good 

tasting water. 

I have worked as a water and 

wastewater treatment plant 

operator in various cities and 

industries, and as a contractor 

operator and supervisor of 

package treatment plants at 

a variety of different remote 

oil camps. At these camps, 

the sites ranged in size from 

a few hundred workers to 

10,000. Their needs can all be 

considered to be identical to 

those required by villages and 

towns with similar sizes. When 

water taps are turned on, fresh, 

clean and healthy potable 

water is expected. Likewise, 

when toilets are flushed, the 

wastewater is expected to be 

treated to government regulated 

environmental specifications 

before being discharged onto the 

land or into waterways. 

Packaged water treatment plants 

Packaged plants can be moved into any location using a variety of ways 

are assembled inside controlled dragged into place by bulldozers 

environment buildings. For the or other available equipment. 

most part they can be considered 

cookie-cutter assemblies. Potable water treatment plants 

What this means is that just like may fit on one or more skids, 

with automobiles coming off depending on the population that 

an assembly line, these plants needs servicing, and wastewater 

reduce costs by basically being treatment plants may fit on as 

made the same in fairly large little as one skid to service 100 

numbers. The main frames, people or on 4-6 skids to meet 

electrical components and valve the requirements of 10,000 

systems are the same although 

some of the actual treatment 

equipment may vary according to 

the customer’s needs. 

Once assembled, they can be 

sent around the world by ship 

or transport plane and once 

delivered to the host country, 

they can reach their final 

destination by flat-bed truck, by 

train cars, air-lifted by helicopter 

and dropped into position, or 

people. Both plants can come 

inside seacans as well. 

All quality potable water treatment 

plants will come with systems 

to backwash filters, acid wash 

filters such as reverse osmosis 

(RO) filters or regenerate filters 

such as greensand media. For 

instance, an acid wash system 

uses granular citric acid that is 

Packaged water treatment equipment may vary depending on the source water. 

They can be designed for well water, stream and river water and for lake water. Each 

will have its own filtering and chemical treatment needs 


FOCUS 

Most quality 

wastewater 

treatment 

packaged plants 

are made from 

stainless-steel 

components 

then dissolved in water and pumped 

through RO filters. Granular sulfamic 

acid is also a popular acid. 

To ensure packaged water treatment 

plants run as designed, they need 

some safeguards put into place. 

Those being fed water from rivers and 

lakes will need to have pre-filtering 

equipment to remove debris, algae 

and other suspended particles. 

This is also true if seasonal weather 

changes cause mud sediment to 

enter the water systems. These 

pre-filtering systems will need to be 

closely monitored for clogging and 

differential pressure changes. Another 

risk to be avoided is to run filters 

beyond their recommended run times 

before backwashing or acid washing. 

Operators and supervisors may 

always want to get those extra litres of 

potable water out but this can lead to 

costly filter repairs or replacements. 

Packaged wastewater treatment 

plants have one major issue that must 

be avoided if at all possible. These 

systems do not like oil and grease 

entering with the normal wastewater. 

This oil and grease can come from 

kitchens and vehicle garages using 

water drains to dispose of these 

contaminants. Another chemical to 

be avoided is pesticides – packaged 

wastewater plants need living bacteria 

to breakdown the wastewater, the 

same as regular municipal plants. 

Another issue that packaged water 

treatment plants face is an irregular 

feed rate. 

During the day or late at night when 

people are at work, or sleeping the 

amounts of wastewater entering the 

plant may be less than in the evenings 

when people are home. I have 

successfully used ordinary fertiliser, 

without added pesticides, to feed the 

bacteria when the incoming flow is low 

in human waste. As shown in Figure 

2, operators will soon learn that the 

main clarifiers have a certain colour 

and odour when the bacteria is healthy 

and a simple TSS settling test using 

an ordinary graduated cylinder will 

show when the bacteria numbers are 

too low for efficient digestion. This is 

when the return activated sludge (RAS) 

rate needs to be increased to maintain 

sufficient bacteria numbers in the 

aeration tanks. 

To try and maintain a constant flow 

to the system, a holding tank can be 

used before the wastewater enters 

Citric acid is a 

popular chemical to 

use for backwashing 

and regenerating 

various water 

purification systems 


FOCUS 

Percent (%) 

(from bag 

label) 

mg/L or ppm 

Aeration 

Tank 

Volume 

(cubes) 

EQ Tank 

Liquid 

Volume 

(cubes) 

Nutrient 

Concentration 

mg/L 

Desired 

Concentration 

mg/L 

Cups to 

Add (1 cup 

= 200mls) 3 

times a day 

Nitrogen 20 200,000 100 0.23 0.23 0.30 1.3 

Phosphorous 27 270,000 0.31 0.31 

Potassium 6 60,000 0.07 

Aeration tank is where highcapacity 

aeration occurs to give 

the beneficial bacteria the needed 

oxygen for their metabolism. If the 

bacteria foam it is sickly greyish, it 

is probably dead or dying. Add more 

add and increase the RAS. The 

clarifier is where solids and liquid 

separation occurs. Some bacteria 

amounts are always recirculated 

to the EQ tank to ensure that their 

populations are healthy. 

Figure 2: Protch used ordinary bags of 

fertiliser, those with no pesticides added, to 

feed the wastewater bacteria during times of 

low nutrient loading 

Below from left: 

Pumper trucks can 

be used to constantly 

collect wastewater 

from a variety of 

sources and pump 

the wastewater into 

holding tanks at the 

frontend of packaged 

plants. This ensures 

a constant feed into 

the plant 

Discharge from 

packaged wastewater 

plants can go into 

above ground 

leachate fields, septic 

fields or be pumped 

to tanker trucks to be 

discharged elsewhere 

such as treatment 

lagoons 

the plant. This can be fed by pumper 

trucks collecting wastewater from 

various areas or by direct feed from the 

collection system. The tank contents 

are then pumped into the plant at an 

even flow throughout the day and night. 

It is critical to maintain even a reduced 

flow through the plants. The discharge 

from packaged wastewater plants can 

go directly into fields or to a holding 

tank that is pumped out into tanker 

trucks to dispose of elsewhere. 

EQ tank 

volume (%) 

EQ feed 

M3/day 

RAS M3/ 

day 

Aeration 

tank volume 

The retention time and volumes 

of individual tanks of a packaged 

wastewater plant is important 

to know to be able to run it 

efficiently. Figure 3 is an example 

that could be instantly modified 

for any of the different packaged 

plants that I operated. The 

equalisation (EQ) tank is where 

the wastewater first enters to 

ensure good mixing before it goes 

to the next stage. 

Clarifier volume 

(cubes) 

Total 

M3/day 

Total 

L/min 

Retention time 

in EQ tank hours 

SUMMARY 

Packaged plants can be used 

anywhere and anytime in any 

circumstance to provide safe and 

healthy potable water to any sized 

community, and also to safely treat 

and dispose human wastes of the 

same community. 

There are dozens of companies to 

Retention time in 

aeration tank hours 

Retention time in 

clarifier hours 

34 140 150 130 27 290 201 13.1 10.8 2.2 

Table 3: A spreadsheet by Protch that could be modified for any packaged wastewater plant to ensure efficient treatments 

choose from and many of these are 

under the umbrella of multinationals. 

This empowers plant operators 

to have access to high-quality 

packaged water and wastewater 

treatment plants. 

Orest Protch is a retiree and is now a freelance writer. 

Larissa Hogg is daughter of Protch who is also a 

freelance writer and currently works as a purchasing 

agent in the agricultural field. 


HOTSEAT 

SEKO, A PARTNER FOR 

dosing and control systems 

within the South East Asian market and in 

1999 arrived in the region. With more than 

20 years of experience operating in the 

area has allowed SEKO to grow with the 

market, understand the cultural and market 

differences, and adapt its solutions to meet 

local requirements. 

SEKO headquarters in Rieti, Italy 

Established in 1976, SEKO designs, 

manufactures and supplies chemical dosing 

pumps, dispensing systems and control 

units for the cleaning and hygiene, water 

treatment and industrial processes markets. 

The company is headquartered in Rieti, Italy 

– known as the navel of Italy due to its central 

position. 

In 2003, SEKO China opened near Beijing, 

investing in a 7,000sqm plant and R&D 

labs that work alongside the headquarter 

operations. Its Asian presence was 

strengthened further with the opening of 

offices in Hong Kong and Japan in 2015 and 

2016 respectively, with a focus on cleaning 

and hygiene systems such as coin-operated 

laundry solutions. 

For many years, SEKO has operated in 

accordance with the Kaizen principle of 

continuous improvement, which sees the 

company refine its systems by integrating 

cutting-edge technology to adapt to the latest 

market needs. 

SEKO’s Elektra digital controller uses 

the latest IoT technology to connect 

operators to their dosing pumps 24/7 

from any location via smartphone 

Conveniently situated less than 80km northeast 

of Rome in an area of manufacturing 

known as “Pump Valley”, SEKO’s main office 

is a vibrant hub of design, manufacturing and 

administration. This site is supported by 23 

fully-owned subsidiaries worldwide, ensuring 

customers in any location can have access to 

SEKO products. 

Meanwhile, the presence of these 

national offices enables SEKO to 

supply region-specific solutions to help 

operators meet legislation such as local 

water-quality regulations. 

Upon being taken over in the mid-1990s, 

SEKO recognised the demand for effective 

and reliable water treatment solutions 

As well as enhancing product quality, the 

Kaizen approach enables SEKO to minimise 

waste and streamline production and pass on 

the resulting savings to customers, who enjoy 

high-quality cost-effective solutions to their 

requirements. 

SEKO products are at the heart of the business 

and are known for their reliability, dosing 

precision and ease of use, while the company 

is also becoming increasingly known for its 

integration of remote connectivity technology 

as the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more 

prevalent in water treatment applications. 

These include SekoWeb and SekoLink 

dedicated apps for swimming pool technicians 

and users respectively that enable 24/7 access 

to equipment from any location. 


HOTSEAT 

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, SEKO is an active participant in global trade events and will continue doing so as these events resume in the post-COVID era 

SekoWeb is also compatible with SEKO’s 

Wash Series laundry dosing systems and 

the Elektra pump controller, which allows 

programmes to be monitored and managed 

from any location via smartphone and 

maintenance to be properly planned for 

reduced downtime during operational hours. 

SEKO’s products have a vast range of 

application users, from food production 

to car wash, transport hubs, factories, 

water treatment plants, power generation, 

swimming pools and many more. Providing 

such a broad array of applications, 

SEKO maintains an equally vast client 

base consisting of building and facilities 

managers, maintenance personnel and 

chemical companies, from whom their 

clients often purchase chemicals and dosing 

equipment as a package. 

One of SEKO’s projects has been the 

rebranding of its industrial processes 

division as Exakta, which was accompanied 

by a new website launch. This is in line with 

SEKO’s constant evolution, progressing 

each year through product innovation, 

strategic acquisitions and the opening 

of new branches around the world. This 

rebranding will help align the Exakta 

business with the changing demands of the 

market going forward. 

Based in Milan, Italy, Exakta is a provider of 

process and metering pumps solutions for 

the industrial processes markets. Since its 

inception in 1963, Exakta has designed and 

developed API 674 process pumps and API 

675 metering pumps for chemical metering 

and water treatment processes in the oil, 

gas and heavy industrial sectors. Exakta has 

accumulated experience of almost 60 years, 

which has established the company as a 

partner of major players, with a reputation of 

delivering high-quality solutions across the 

globe. 

Providing the highest standard of customer 

service, Exakta’s team works with each 

of its customers to deliver a bespoke 

advisory service at every stage. By offering 

a comprehensive service, from early project 

development to on-site installation, Exakta 

can assist its customers in selecting the most 

suitable accessories, drafting ad-hoc reports, 

providing technical analysis and issuing 

predictive maintenance guidance as part of a 

turnkey service. 

Exakta customers are assured that no matter 

their requirements, they will receive a full 

committed service and with its growing global 

presence. Exakta is well equipped to assist 

its clients wherever they are located. 

As with so many organisations worldwide, in 

the early part of 2020 SEKO began facing the 

significant challenges posed by the outbreak 

of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a global 

business, this challenge was complicated by 

the pandemic restrictions of each country 

and the need to ensure compliance in every 

territory. 

However, the business has been able 

to maintain its operations despite these 

difficult economic and logistical conditions, 

with many staff working from home and 

manufacturing continuing with appropriate 

COVID-safe procedures in place. 

Recognising the global surge in demand for 

hand hygiene systems during this time, SEKO 

developed DispenserONE, a sanitiser system 

that utilises motor-powered dosing, high 

capacity and remote connectivity to enable 

operators of every building type to upgrade 

from light-duty units to a reliable solution. 

With restrictions now eased in many areas, 

SEKO has used the legacy of COVID-19 in a 

positive way, as enhanced hand hygiene and 

surface cleaning equipment introduced during 

the pandemic remains in place to ensure 

staff and visitors are protected and can feel 

comfortable and safe on SEKO sites. 

Last year also marked the opening of 

SEKO’s latest global subsidiary in Colombia, 

complementing the company’s broad 

and ever-expanding presence across six 

continents. 

A regular fixture at prominent water industry 

trade events worldwide, SEKO has been 

looking forward to resuming appearances 

at exhibitions post-COVID, with last year’s 

Aquatech conference a big date in the diary 

for the company to showcase its latest 

developments in water treatment technology. 

SEKO believes in fostering and maintaining 

strong customer relationships, with a regular 

presence at conferences being a key part of 

this. Therefore, with most events cancelled 

last year, SEKO is delighted to return to 

exhibitions in 2021 and beyond. 


HOTSEAT 

WHY PERISTALTIC PUMPS 

excel in wastewater handling? 

For more than two decades, peristaltic hose pump technology has offered 

the performance and reliability that can make it an ideal pumping option for 

wastewater treaters who crave highly reliable, environmentally friendly, lowmaintenance 

pump operation. 

By Sebastien Brosse 

A municipal water 

treatment facility 

No life form, whether it be human, 

animal or plant, can survive without 

water. That makes the reliable supply 

of clean water to homes, businesses, 

hospitals and industrial-manufacturing 

facilities, among many others, of 

paramount importance. It also 

elevates the importance of a properly 

functioning municipal water treatment 

facility. 

These facilities have a twofold purpose 

– provide clean water to the masses, 

and treat the fouled wastewater 

that they receive in return. Pumps 

play a significant role in wastewater 

treatment operations, and over the 

years, many different styles and types 

have been used to handle impure, 

particulate-laden water, along with the 

various abrasive, corrosive and toxic 

chemicals that are used to clean it. 

There is one type of pump technology 

– the peristaltic hose pump – that 

often outshines the others, especially 

when addressing the plant operator’s 

concerns regarding whether or not the 

pump is robust enough to handle the 

demands of a wastewater treatment 

operation. 

For more than 20 years, peristaltic hose 

pumps from Abaque, a product brand 

of PSG, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, the 

US, a Dover company, have set the 

standard in transferring difficult-tohandle 

chemicals and fluids. 

The key to the success of the Abaque 

pumps in handling these diverse 

fluid characteristics and operating 

conditions is the peristaltic pumping 

principle: 

• High performance: The pump’s 

seal-less design eliminates leaks 

and the possibility of product 

contamination, while providing 

the ability for continuous dryrun 

operation without adversely 

affecting the pump’s performance, 

pressure and dosing accuracy. 

• Reliability: Peristaltic hose pump 

design requires none of the seats, 

valves and mechanical seals that 

can fail on other pump styles; the 

pump hose is its only replacement 

part. 

• Versatility: The peristaltic pump 

can successfully manage extremely 

abrasive and aggressive fluids, 


HOTSEAT 

if needed. To successfully manage the 

The reinforced construction of the 

challenges of wastewater treatment, 

peristaltic hose and its use of rubber 

the pump’s hose and inserts need 

compositions – such as natural rubber, 

to offer the highest level of material 

ethylene propylene diene monomer 

compatibility, while also being able to 

(EPDM), Buna-N, and more – that 

reliably deliver the millions of pumping 

have been specially designed for the 

cycles that are required during their 

stresses within the peristaltic hose 

lifetimes. 

allow for the optimum lifecycle and 

performance. 

A critical consideration when 

selecting the hose material 

For more than two decades, 

is its “fatigue resistance”. 

peristaltic hose pump technology 

This trait defines how resistant to 

– as epitomised by the standard- 

failure the hose material is as it runs 

setting operation of the Abaque 

through its millions of pumping cycles. 

Peristaltic Hose Pump family – has 

solid-laden slurries, and waterthin, 

shear-sensitive and viscous 

Above: HD65 

peristaltic hose 

pump from Abaque 

A hose material that is susceptible 

to developing cracks and holes 

early in its operational life is not as 

offered the performance and reliability 

that can make it an ideal pumping 

option for wastewater treaters who 

materials. 

desirable as a material that can reliably 

crave highly reliable, environmentally 

MAKING THE CASE 

Peristaltic hose pumps stand out 

because their operation is based 

on the alternating contraction and 

Below: Construction 

of a peristaltic hose 

pump 

handle the demands of the repeated 

contraction and relaxation of the 

hose, especially when particulateladen 

liquids are being pumped. 

friendly, low-maintenance pump 

operation. 

Sebastien Brosse is team leader at Abaque. 

relaxation of the hose, which forces 

the contents to move through 

the pump and into the discharge 

piping. The smooth-wall, flexible 

hose is squeezed between shoes 

on the rotor and the inside of the 

pump casing. This rotation moves 

the product through the hose at a 

constant displacement rate. The hose 

restitution after the squeeze produces 

an almost full vacuum that draws 

more product into the hose from the 

intake piping. The pumped product 

only contacts the hose and inserts, 

making this pumping technology 

suitable for abrasive and corrosive 

applications. 

Peristaltic hose pumps also maintain 

volumetric consistency, making them 

ideal for the strict dosing and 24/7 

operating cycles that can be required 

in wastewater treatment applications. 

They are also easy to operate and 

maintain, and their reversible operation 

allows for pumping in both directions, 


SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: Air 

Selangor Story – The New Radical 

26 Oct 2021, Exclusive for SWA and SgWX tenants only, Webex 

NEWSLETTER 

OF THE 

SINGAPORE 

WATER 

ASSOCIATION 

BRINGING 

A NEW VIBRANCY 

TO SINGAPORE’S 

GROWING 

WATER INDUSTRY 

Air Selangor is one of the largest water operators and more progressive 

water utilities in Malaysia, distributing clean and safe treated water to 

8.4 million consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. 

Speaking at this session was Ir. Abas Abdullah, director and head of 

operations at Air Selangor, who gave an overview on Air Selangor, 

challenges and opportunities, and upcoming mega projects and ongoing 

projects. He also presented their challenges and demonstrated how they 

worked with its stakeholders in managing water supply system in the 

state of Selangor. 

This webinar was attended by more than 100 participants. 

SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: Cape 

Town – Surviving a one in 590-year drought 

9 Nov 2021, Complimentary, Webex 

Guest speaker, Michael John Webster, executive director of Water 

and Wastewater, Cape Town City, South Africa, shared on Cape Town’s 

experience of a one in 590-year drought in 2014-2018 that nearly 

resulted in Day Zero, an inability for the municipality to provide water to 

its 4 million people. 

The municipality avoided this crisis through unprecedented demand 

management measures and has used this crisis to create resilience to 

future droughts. He also shared more on ongoing projects, opportunities 

and future plans in this webinar. There was a Q&A session after the 

presentation, and more than 100 participants joined in this webinar.

SWA/SgWX Water Utility Series: Watercare New Zealand 

– Emerging challenges and their gifts of opportunity 


Guest speaker Dr Apra Boyle-Gotla, 

head of innovation for Watercare, New 

Zealand, presented the challenges faced by 

Watercare, the water utility of Auckland, 

in the face of multifaceted drivers such as 

climate change, growth and development, 

policy reforms, and the diverse needs of 

their customers. 

She also shared some of its recent 

achievements and highlighted the myriad 

of future opportunities presented by 

these emergent challenges. Almost 80 

participants joined this webinar which 

followed by a Q&A session. 

Technical Visit: Sembcorp Tengeh Floating Solar Farm 

22, 29 Oct & 26 Nov 2021, Exclusive for SWA members only 

A total of 21 participants toured the site 

for a half-day visit, which included a boat 

ride to view the solar panels, followed by 

a briefing and understanding session in 

the control room on the operations. The 

floating solar farm was officially opened 

on 14 Jul 2021. With 122,000 solar panels 

spanning across 45 hectares, the 60MWp 

solar photovoltaic (PV) farm is one of the 

world’s largest inland floating solar PV 

systems. 

A total of 21 participants visited the site 

for a half day which included a boat ride to 

view the solar panels, followed by a briefing 

and understanding in the control room on 

the operations. Officially opened on 14 Jul 

2021, this 60MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) 

farm houses 122,000 solar panels that 

spans across 45 hectares and is one of 

the world’s largest inland floating solar PV 

systems. 

This floating solar farm was officially 

opened on 14 Jul 2021 with 122,000 solar 

panels spanning across 45 hectares the 

60MWp solar photovoltaic (PV) farm.

[e-Roadshow] World Water-Tech 

Innovation Summit (WWTIS) 2022 


With the support of the British Water and ReThink Events, 

SWA and British High Commission Singapore co-organised the 

e-Roadshow on World Water-Tech Innovation Summit 2022. 

HE Kara Owen delivered the welcome speech while Mike Collin 

moderated an insight sharing session together with Eddie 

Malone, Charles Shacinda, and Jennie Moss. They gave an 

overview on the UK water sector and on WWTIS’ conference 

which is UK’s flagship water forum for international stakeholders 

focused on advancing the commercialisation of advanced water 

and wastewater solutions. 

In conjunction with WWTIS, SWA is organising a Technology 

Mission from 21-25 Feb 2022 at a subsidised rate. Please 

download the registration form at the SWA website, or contact 

kenny@swa.org.sg for more details. 

[Hybrid] Singapore Water Industry Nite (Special Edition) 

– MoU Signing with NTUC 

Jointly organised with ProMinent Fluid Controls (F.E.) Pte Ltd 

2 Dec 2021, Complimentary, Hybrid format @ NTUC Centre 

It was an eventful evening where 95 attendees – both onsite and 

online – joined in the inaugural special edition of virtual Singapore 

Water Industry Nite (SWIN) with Ng Chee Meng, secretary-general of 

NTUC, as guest-of-honour and sponsored by ProMinent Singapore. 

The event started with the welcome speech by SWA president and 

the announcement of the launch of the SWA Digi Expo for the trade 

professionals to explore the world of water 24/7, all year round. 

Speaking to SWA and its members, Ng, who witnessed the MoU 

signing, said he hoped that with it, NTUC could work with SWA to 

identify operational areas that SWA’s businesses could benefit from. 

Other key representatives are Gilbert Tan from NTUC, Allen Mak 

from ProMinent, Ryan Yuan from SIWW, and Fabia Lim from PUB’s 

catchment and waterways department.

UPCOMING SWA 

ACTIVITIES 

SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: 

Funding and Project Opportunities by 

Asian Development Bank (ADB) 

13 Jan 2022 (tentative) 

[Roadshow] Sharing session with 

Singaporean-German Trade Chamber 

and MMI Asia on IFAT 2022 Technology 

Mission (30 May-3 Jun 2022) 


SWA Water Utilities Series Webinar 

with Maynilad Water Services, Inc. 


Training Course: Fundamentals 

and Recent Trends in Membrane 

Technology for Water and Wastewater 

Treatment 

17-19 Feb 2022 (tentative) 

SWA/SgWX Water Utilities Series: 

Investment and Project Opportunities 

by Sami Saad Group 

24 Feb 2022 (tentative) 

World Water-Tech Innovation Summit 2022 Technology Mission 

21-25 Feb 2022 

In conjunction with World Water-Tech Innovation Summit 

(WWTIS) 2022, SWA is organising a five-day mission to London 

from 21-25 Feb 2022 as part of our continuous effort to enhance 

its members’ competitiveness through exploring new markets and 

technology adoption. 

WWTIS is UK’s flagship water forum for international 

stakeholders focused on advancing the commercialisation of 

advanced water and wastewater solutions. Utilities, regulators, 

engineering firms, technology giants, start-ups, and investors 

come together to exchange insights, be inspired, and identify 

future partners. It is one of the largest gatherings of water 

industry professionals – an opportunity to meet and share 

2022 EVENTS CALENDAR 

Last year was certainly not the best as SWA and its members miss 

the essence of group missions and activities. 

This year will be bustling with water shows, technology and 

business missions, networking events and webinars. SWA 

has an exciting line-up of water series with PUB, Singapore’s 

national water agency. Download from https://www.swa.org. 

sg/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Events-Calendar-2022.V2.pdf. 

Looking forward to meet again, join us in the upcoming events 

for 2022! 

To stay connected on the latest updates on SWA, visit 

https://www.swa.org.sg, follow us on LinkedIn or Telegram. 

ideas with professionals from all over the world. Last year, the 

event saw participation from delegates from 46 countries. Visit 

https://worldwatertechinnovation.com/ for more details. 

Thematic Knowledge Exchanges: 

Net Zero Strategy | Sustainability-linked Business Transformation | 

Digital Transformation | Resource Recovery (Energy and Nutrients) 

| Smart Sewers and Robotics | Forecasting | Desalination | Waste 

Recovery | Tunnel Monitoring 

Download the registration form at the SWA website, or contact 

kenny@swa.org.sg for more details. 

SWA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS 

(joined from Oct-Nov 2021) 

ASSOCIATE 

1. Ashcroft Instruments Singapore Pte Ltd 

ORDINARY 

1. Sysmex Asia Pacific Pte Ltd 

2. Tracwater Pty Ltd 

INTERESTED TO JOIN SWA? 

We welcome all organisations who are actively involved 

and interested in the water and wastewater industry to join 

Singapore Water Association as either Ordinary, Associate or 

Institutional member. 

Sign up at https://www.swa.org.sg/membership/sign-up-online.

ON OUR RADAR 

GRUNDFOS BRINGS 

EFFICIENT PUMPING 

SOLUTIONS 

to Nereda wastewater 

customers 

completed or being delivered across 

the world, Nereda is an established 

technology for both municipal 

and industrial use. Through this 

partnership, Grundfos and Royal 

HaskoningDHV will be working closely 

together in bringing the highest quality 

and the newest innovation to the 

wastewater industry. 

Commenting on this strategic alliance, 

Henrik Sonesson, global key account 

director – water utility, Grundfos, said: 

“Reliability is key when it comes to 

collecting, transporting and treating 

wastewater. Our products and 

solutions for wastewater transport 

and the wastewater treatment plant 

build on reliability, modularity and 

energy-efficiency from optimised 

pump systems and fully integrated 

solutions. Based on the successful 

implementation of Grundfos’ solutions 

across various Nereda Wastewater 

Technology plants across South Africa, 

the UK and the Netherlands, we are 

happy to be selected as their Preferred 

Supplier for their projects globally.” 

Nereda plant in 

Dodewaard, the 

Netherlands with 

Grundfos solutions 

Formal signing 

with Royal 

HaskoningDHV 

and Grundfos 

Grundfos has been selected by Royal 

HaskoningDHV as “Preferred Supplier” 

to its Nereda wastewater treatment 

technology. This agreement will allow 

the former to be listed as the Preferred 

Supplier of pumping solutions for 

Royal HaskoningDHV’s Nereda 

Wastewater Technology offerings. 

Nereda is the sustainable and 

cost-effective wastewater treatment 

technology that purifies water using 

the features of aerobic granular 

biomass. With over 90 projects 

Adding to this, René Noppeney, 

global director of water technology 

projects at Royal HaskoningDHV, 

said: “Our goal is to continually 

improve the technology and services 

that Nereda Wastewater Technology 

provides to our customers. This is 

made possible through our Preferred 

Supplier programme that establishes 

collaborations with industry leaders, 

such as Grundfos. 

“By adding Grundfos to our Preferred 

Supplier programme, we are not only 

providing our customers with the 

option of reliable and efficient pumping 

solutions, but aim to promote intertechnology 

research and development, 

to enhance our joint offerings on 

Nereda projects.” 


ON OUR RADAR 

AQUAPORIN WINS A PILOT FOR 

an energy efficiency solution 

to China’s leachate overflow 

Aquaporin’s containerised system 

uses FO to further reduce the leachate 

volume as compared to what is 

possible with current technologies 

and methods. With lower volumes, 

smaller evaporators are required, 

meaning landfills will use less energy 

to eliminate the leachate. In parallel, 

clean water will be generated for 

discharge or reuse, contributing to a 

more sustainable future in wastewater 

treatment and lower carbon footprint. 

Jason Yu, managing director of 

Gradiant China, added: “The demand 

for leachate minimization or zero liquid 

discharge (ZLD) is a very big market in 

China. With the system developed by 

Aquaporin and Gradiant, the leachate 

industry has an innovative solution to 

meet local regulations. We believe this 

solution will help our customers treat 

leachate with lower costs and stable 

operation.” 

Aquaporin will 

provide an advanced 

containerised pilot 

system to treat 

leachate in a landfill 

in China 

The Danish water company 

Aquaporin has won an order in China 

to help a landfill meet the country’s 

strict discharge limits by treating 

leachate more efficiently. 

In H1 2022, the landfill will receive 

an advanced containerised pilot 

system developed by Aquaporin 

in collaboration with Gradiant 

Environmental Technology to provide 

a sustainable and economical 

solution or treating landfill leachate. 

Aquaporin is currently involved in 

similar pilot projects in Southern 

China and Europe with the purpose 

of testing the technology to gain 

insights that will enable developing 

a final solution for the global 

leachate treatment market. 

Suggesting that this could be a 

technology breakthrough that 

has the potential to provide new 

economic solution for leachate 

treatment, Matt Boczkowski, CCO 

and deputy CEO of Aquaporin, 

explained that the company will 

have a key reference showcasing 

its forward osmosis (FO)-based 

leachate treatment solution not only 

to the Chinese market, but globally, 

when the pilot project is completed 

this summer. 

Leachate management is a global 

challenge as it is one of the most 

complex and difficult wastewaters to 

treat. The subject is getting increased 

attention, not only in China, but on 

a global scale, where landfills are 

witnessing growing regulations for 

discharge limits for water pollutants 

that were previously discharged to 

water bodies untreated. This traction 

has given Aquaporin the opportunity 

to demonstrate how its innovative FO 

technology can help landfills live up 

to national policies on environmental 

protection by meeting water 

discharge regulations in leachate 

applications. 


SHOW REVIEW 

DE NORA TETRA 

FILTRATION – 

Don’t Underestimate 

the Underdrain 

solids. Moreover, drinking water 

regulations are now more stringent, 

driving municipalities to install reliable 

filtration that is high-performing, low 

maintenance, while lasting a long time. 

As such, De Nora Water Technologies 

developed the De Nora TETRA LP 

Block dual parallel lateral underdrain, 

which provides an improved 

distribution of backwash water to the 

filter media through the use of dual 

compensating laterals. The De Nora 

TETRA Filtration system comprises six 

main components – clean effluent and 

backwash inlet; air header; De Nora 

Underdrain Blocks; De Nora TETRA 

media retention plates; filtration media 

such as sand and anthracite; and 

water troughs. 

At the core of the LP Block is the 

dual laterals – the primary lateral is 

designed with one row of orifices for 

water and three rows of orifices for air; 

and the secondary lateral for recessed 

distribution orifices on the top of the 

underdrain. 

De Nora Water 

Technologies, in 

collaboration with 

Water & Wastewater 

Asia, hosted the 

De Nora TETRA 

Filtration – Don’t 

Underestimate the 

Underdrain webinar 

last December 

In an attempt to share its expertise 

in water filtration, De Nora Water 

Technologies, in collaboration with 

Water & Wastewater Asia, hosted 

a webinar entitled De Nora TETRA 

Filtration – Don’t Underestimate the 

Underdrain last December. 

Speaking at the webinar was Stanley 

Shmia, global product manager 

for De Nora Water Technologies, 

who shared with attendees on the 

different underdrain options, and 

explained how choosing the right 

filter underdrain solution and improve 

efficiency and bring peace of mind for 

water treatment facilities. In municipal 

drinking water application or pretreatment 

for desalination plants using 

gravity filters, the filter underdrain is 

one of the most important components 

contributing to overall system 

performance and operation – whether 

a new filter design or retrofitting an 

existing filter. 

Also a member of the Water 

Environment Federation himself, 

Shmia explained that filtration is the 

process to remove total suspend 

solids (TSS) from both water and 

wastewater treatment plants. It can 

be used in any facility, whether is a 

water or wastewater plant, to remove 

Stanley Shmia, global product manager for 

De Nora Water Technologies and a member of 

the Water Environment Federation, shared with 

webinar attendees different underdrain options 


SHOW REVIEW 

De Nora Water 

Technologies, in 

collaboration with 

Water & Wastewater 

Asia, hosted the 

De Nora TETRA 

Filtration – Don’t 

Underestimate the 

Underdrain webinar 

last December 

Explaining the uniform backwash flow 

from the top of block, Shmia said: 

“Unbalanced flow in the primary lateral 

creates an opposing flow that form 

a compensating velocity pressure 

gradient, which puts the secondary 

lateral into a uniform hydraulic pressure 

condition.” Hence, the dual parallel 

design ensures “even air and water 

distribution, efficient bed cleaning, and 

no dead zones is left out”. 

When in operation, the backwash 

water enters the primary laterals 

and then passes through the control 

orifices into the secondary laterals. 

Backwash air is then distributed 

by the design of the upper control 

orifices between the primary and 

secondary laterals, providing even air 

distribution. Constructed of HDPE, 

the LP Block is also equipped with 

media retention plates to maximise 

the available filter tank depth. Careful 

quality control and testing during 

the plate manufacturing process 

is used to ensure that the media 

retention plates prohibit media pass 

through, and provide proper flow 

characteristics. 

The De Nora TETRA LP Block also 

features two optional designs – 

GroutGrip and Anchor-Rite. The 

former, which Shmia described 

“integral to the block”, increases 

resistance to uplift from the filter floor. 

Besides offering increased adhesion to 

filter floor, The LP Block with GroutGrip 

includes six rows of integrally moulded 

dovetail wedges that become 

embedded to the floor grout, offering 

1.75 times the pull-out strength of a 

conventional underdrain block, De 

Designed to retrofit any air and water backwash scheme, the De Nora TETRA features 

improved distribution of backwash air and water while providing better filter performance 

and longer filter runs 

Nora claimed. As for Anchor-Rite, it 

fastens the block to the filter floor to 

prevent buoyancy. 

“Overall, the LP Block is a lower 

profile design as it requires fewer 

parts and less grout, meaning it’s 

easier to install, less concrete, and 

lower costs. Low profile reduces the 

filter box depth for added savings on 

new construction,” he said. 

SUCCESSFUL STORIES 

Besides the highlight of the De 

Nora TETRA LP Block, Shmia also 

shared some successful installations 

of the solution around the region. 

In the Middle East, Toshiba Water 

Solutions Sohar Industrial Port 

located in Oman was faced with 

the issue where existing seawater 

reverse osmosis experienced high 

silt density index (SDI), turbidity, 

and fouling from seasonal harmful 

algae blooms (HAB). To resolve this 

problem, a rapid gravity filtration 

system using six dual-filter De Nora 

TETRA LP Block underdrains was 

installed between fine screens and 

ultrafiltration steps. 

Closer to South East Asia, De 

Nora worked with the Manila Water 

Company (MWC) in the Philippines 

to meet the needs of the region’s 

population growth and increasing 

water quality regulations. To 

accommodate operation at higher 

flow rates, the company supplied 

19 TETRA LP Block with GroutGrip 

to MWC’s Balara 1 Plant and Balara 

2 Plant to provide a more effective 

backwash and allow for more efficient 

use of the available filter depth. 

And over at a drinking water plant in 

South Vietnam, De Nora TETRA LP 

underdrain was deployed to treat 

the water plant with the capacity of 

100,000m 3 /day. Besides meeting 

the local discharge regulatory 

compliance, this also marks one 

of the largest De Nora TETRA 

installation in the country. 


SNEAK PEEK 

MEET IMAGINE H2O ASIA’S 

third cohort of water tech start-ups 

A total of 12 innovators from six countries will partner with the Singapore-based 

accelerator programme to address South and South East Asia’s water and 

wastewater crisis. 

Asia is one of the world’s most 

water-stressed continents. While 

home to more than half of the world’s 

inhabitants, Asia has less freshwater 

available per capita than anywhere 

else. Population growth, particularly 

in low-lying coastal cities, threatens 

already vulnerable supplies. At the 

same time, too much water poses 

new risks. Since 2000, flood-related 

disasters have more than doubled 

globally with over 80% of people 

affected living in Asia, Imagine H2O 

Asia revealed. 

Following the COP26 global climate 

summit, the region’s decision makers 

have acknowledged that its water 

resource challenges are inextricably 

linked to climate disruption. 

Solutions are not only needed to help 

mitigate today’s water-related climate 

impacts. They are also required to 

position the water and wastewater 

solutions of tomorrow on a new 

path towards decarbonisation and 

resource recovery. Selected from a 

field of over 100 applicants from 23 

countries, the 12 water tech startups 

in Imagine H2O Asia Cohort 

3 demonstrate the possibilities by 

challenging the water management 

status quo. 

The 12 companies are namely 

WI.Plat, WEGoT Utility Solutions, 

Typhon Treatment Systems, 

TracWater, PureActive Water, Indra, 

Hydroquo+, Hydroleap, Evove, 

EF Polymer, DigitalPaani, and 

Cleanedge Water. 

From environmentally-friendly 

drinking water disinfection to 

energy-efficient wastewater 

treatment and reuse to 

biodegradable polymers for watersaving 

irrigation, each company 

represents an innovative and 

sustainable approach to reusing 

and recycling more, wasting less, 

mitigating pollution, and improving 

access and equity. As a bridge 

for global solutions to the region, 

Imagine H2O Asia’s mission aims 

to also foster entrepreneurship 

locally across South and South 

East Asia. Cohort 3 is Imagine H2O 

Asia’s most geographically diverse 

cohort yet, with 10 out of 12 

companies based in five countries 

in the Asia-Pacific. 

By partnering with Imagine 

H2O Asia and key supporters 

Enterprise Singapore, SUEZ, 

Kurita, Xylem, and PUB, 

Singapore’s national water agency, 

Cohort 3 companies will receive 

support to pilot and deploy these 

solutions across the Asia-Pacific 

region. This includes an expanded 

programme with new utility and 

industrial partners, additional 

pilot funding and wider regional 

connectivity including Demo Day 

at Singapore International Water 

Week 2022. 

WI.Plat, Evove and Indra are among three of the 12 companies 

participating in Imagine H2O Asia’s Cohort 3 


WHAT’S NEXT 

EVENT CALENDAR 2022 

JANUARY 

17 – 19 Jan 

Water Future Energy Summit (WFES) 

Water 2022 

Abu Dhabi, UAE 

26 – 28 Jan 

InterAqua 2022 

Tokyo, Japan 

FEBRUARY 

22 – 23 Feb 

World Water – 

Tech Innovation Summit 2022 

London, UK 

APRIL 

17 – 21 Apr 

Singapore International Water Week 2022 

Singapore 

20 – 22 Apr 

IE expo China 

Shanghai, China 

JUNE 

8 – 10 Jun 

Aquatech China 

Shanghai, China 

AUGUST 

4 – 6 Aug 

LankaWater 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

SEPTEMBER 

6 – 8 Sep 

CamWater 2022 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia 

8 – 10 Sep 

DanangWater 

Da Nang, Vietnam 

14 – 16 Sep 

ThaiWater 

Bangkok, Thailand 

14 – 16 Sep 

Pumps & Valves Asia 

Bangkok, Thailand 

14 - 17 Sep 

Water Indonesia 

Jakarta, Indonesia 

OCTOBER 

20 – 22 Oct 

LaoWater 

Vientiane, Laos 

NOVEMBER 

3 – 5 Nov 

MyanWater 2022 

Yangon, Myanmar 

3 – 5 Nov 

Pump+Valve Myanmar 

Yangon, Myanmar 

DECEMBER 

7 – 9 Dec 

Asia Water 2022 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

*Due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has resulted in closed 

borders and travel restrictions, please check the events’ 

websites for the latest updates and changes. 


ADVERTISERS’ INDEX 

INDEX OF 

ADVERTISERS 

ADVERTISER 

PAGE 

CLA-VAL 9 

ENERGY RECOVERY 31 

GUANGDONG LIANSU TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD 

HARBIN FIRSTLINE ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD 33 

IE EXPO 47 

SEKO UK LTD 1 

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL WATER WEEK 23 

VAUGHAN CO., INC. 

WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA IFC, 5, 64 

IBC 

OBC 

FOLLOW US 

@waterwastewaterasia 


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Water & Wastewater Asia January/February 2022

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