Here are the headlines relative to municipal wastewater activity world wide. The complete documents are provided in the Mcilvaine market water related market reports              

·        South Sudan:  New Nation Provides Opportunity for Wastewater Infrastructure Development

·        Tanzania:  EU and Germany Funding WWTP in Mwanza to Clean up Lake Victoria

·        Australia:  CST Wastewater Solutions Introduces Packaged Headworks System

·        India:  New Effort to Clean Yamuna River in Delhi and Haryana

·        India:  Aquatech Awarded Wastewater Recycle Project at Mumbai Airport

·        Japan:  WWTPs Damaged by Tsunami Discharging Partially Treated Wastewater

·        Philippines:  Pöyry Awarded €1.2 Million Contract for Two Feasibility Studies

·        Singapore:  Black & Veatch Selected for Changi Water Reclamation Plant Expansion

·        Taiwan:  Wastewater Recycling Plant Opens in Kaohsiung City

·        Belgium:  European Commission Orders Small Towns to Comply with EU Wastewater Law

·        Ireland:  Plans for WWTP in Dublin Reinstated After Failed Water Quality Tests

·        Italy:  Abruzzo Region Urged to Comply with EU Wastewater Law

·        Romania:  Abengoa Wins €20 Million Contract to Upgrade Two WWTPs

·        Romania:  EBRD Approves €22 Million Loan for Wastewater System Improvements in Iasi

·        Serbia:  Leskovac to Build €23 Million WWTP with EU and Dutch Funding

·        UK:  Scottish Water Announces £11 Million River Tweed Project

·        UK:  Wessex Water Begins £26 Million Project to Improve Coastal Water Quality

·        UK:  Human Waste Powers New CHP Boiler at Lancaster

·        Infrastructure Standards for "Heat-Sand-Dust" Being Promoted

·        UAE:  Dubai and Hitachi Explore Use of Treated WW to Replenish Aquifer

·        Brazil:  Cesan to Invest $173 Million to Increase Wastewater Coverage in Vitória

·        Peru:  Sedapar Relaunches Tender for La Escalerilla WWTP

·        Peru:  Israeli Company to Pilot Biological Treatment Process at Lima WWTP

The Municipality of Dubai has entered into a joint venture with Hitachi Plant Technologies (HPT) to explore the use of treated wastewater to replenish underground aquifers.  Diminishing natural groundwater is a serious threat to water security in the UAE where desalination plants are the primary source of drinking water.  Environmental experts highlight the need for an underground water reservoir as a backup water supply in the event desalination plants are damaged for any reason.

If the pilot project is successful, the 182 million m³/year of wastewater generated in Dubai could potentially be used to replenishing groundwater.  Mohammed Abukaff, an environmental expert with the Municipality of Dubai, said that about 70 percent of wastewater is already being reused after treatment.  The remaining 30 percent is discharged into the sea after purification.  "Our goal is to make 100 percent use of the wastewater," he added.  The pilot project will use a membrane bioreactor technology developed by HPT to biologically remove the nutrients in the wastewater and make treated sewage safe for industrial use.  Phase Two of the project will investigate the possibility of using the treated water for aquifer recharge.

PUB, the national water agency of Singapore, has selected Black & Veatch to provide consultancy services for the expansion of the Changi Water Reclamation Plant.  Black & Veatch will provide engineering design, procurement and construction management (EPC) services for the addition of a membrane filtration treatment process.  The addition will expand the current 800,000 m³/day (211 MGD) capacity of the plant by up to 60,000 m³/day (16 MGD) of reclaimed water.

Pentair (Norit) X-Flow has been selected to supply XIGA membranes to treat wastewater for re-use to the Al Wathba Enhanced Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) Treatment Project in Abu Dhabi to Boustead Salcon Water Solutions for the Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC). The new wastewater recycling plant project, which is the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will have a capacity of approximately 27,712 cubic metres (6 million gallons) per day.

The UAE is dependent on desalination as its main source of water supply. By focusing on wastewater re-use, the UAE is responding to the need to ensure security for its long-term water supply. In 2010, Abu Dhabi introduced new wastewater regulations, by which the Emirate established itself as the regional leader in the water re-use sector.

Singapore-based Boustead Salcon Water Solutions, a specialist in water and wastewater engineering, is responsible for the design, engineering, and construction of the water recycling plant for the enhanced treatment of TSE.

Norit X-Flow will participate in this sustainable water initiative of the UAE by supplying XIGA membranes to the Al Wathba TSE polishing plant, expected to start up in the beginning of 2011.  In addition to the ultrafiltration (UF) polishing of the TSE, the plant will include strainer and ultra-violet protection processes. An estimated 95% of the TSE supplied to the plant will be recycled and recovered. The water produced will be used for agricultural irrigation and horizontal landscaping.

The Al Wathba TSE polishing plant is important in terms of setting the trend for wastewater re-use in the UAE where UF membranes are employed for tertiary filtration of the treated sewage. It provides a credible and proven alternative to the desalination of seawater for non-potable applications.

The RAEBL municipal wastewater treatment plant in Montreal has an average daily flow of 17 MGD, producing about 100 wet tons of residual sludge per day, 5 days a week. Three (3) Belt filter presses dewater the waste-activated sludge to 14.5%TS.  The level of pathogens contained in the residuals rule out land application or soil remediation, and the high water content disqualified sound energy scenarios.  Consequently, the sludge is hauled to a landfill and beneficial re-use is not possible.  With stringent state regulations, disposal costs were expected to increase by 14 percent to over $84(CAD) per wet ton, starting October 1st, 2010. The plant’s management team sought long term solutions to overcome this financial burden while investigating alternatives for beneficial re-use of their cake.  Obtaining P-1 product classification (similar to Class A grade in the US) offers attractive options for land application or soil amendment. Weight reduction also evidently revealed economy potential for the plant’s overall disposal cost.  After reviewing commercially available solutions, Ovivo’s CINETIK® advanced dewatering technology (Linear Electro-Dewatering) was selected.

Linear Electro-Dewatering provides improved solid/liquid phase separation over mechanical technologies.  Ovivo’s CINETIK® equipment uses electro-osmosis to allow mechanically dewatered cake to reach high dryness levels by applying a continuous current to electrodes sandwiching the porous media. Current causes the transfer of cations from the positive (anode)

to the negative (cathode) pole. The cations drive the bulk water molecules towards the cathode, where water is drained out. By changing the operating parameters, a final dryness of 30-50 percent can be achieved, and weight is usually reduced by more than 50 percent.

China’s strategy for controlling water pollution focused first on reducing the discharge of oxygen-demanding substances. The 11th Five Year Plan (FYP), adopted in 2006 contained binding targets for reducing these discharges. A water quality parameter known as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) that measures the oxygen demand of the organic matter present in a water sample is used to quantify these discharges and the 11th FYP targets are expressed in terms of reducing COD discharges to receiving waters. Reducing the discharge of untreated municipal and industrial wastewater is the best way to reduce COD levels and China has made great progress in collecting and treating municipal wastewater over the past decades.⁴ To achieve the mandatory COD reduction targets, both Central and local governments have adopted a variety of measures, including closing heavily polluting companies, accelerating the construction of new wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and upgrading existing WWTP to meet stricter effluent standards (Class I-A).⁵ These actions also served to greatly reduce the discharge of pathogens to surface waters.

In order to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of various nutrient pollutant reduction opportunities, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is working with Tsinghua University, supported by ADM Capital Foundation, and other partners to carry out a specific project in municipalities within the Tai Lake basin. The goals are to develop an analytical approach and decision-support tool to help Chinese decision-makers select the cost-effective options to reduce ammonia, nitrogen and nutrient discharges into the water environment, thus helping to improve the water quality of lakes and rivers in China at lower cost and more effectively.

This year purchases of liquid flow control and treatment equipment and chemicals will exceed $150 billion.  Sales will continue to grow at more than 5 percent annually over the next five years. Two segments which will expand the most are cooling water and sewage treatment. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company as a result of its latest forecasts in a group of water related market reports.

The world power industry uses more than one trillion gallons of water per day (1 million MGD) far outstripping other industries. The amount of crude oil extracted around the world each day is only 3,500 MGD. Granted that the cost per gallon treated is far higher for extraction and refining of oil than for power plant cooling water, nevertheless, the disparity in flow rates is more than the disparity in unit treatment costs.  It is, therefore, highly valuable to compare flow rates.

Ancillary exploration involves both oil and gas and the various fluids which are used and recycled in the oil and gas extraction process.  Because of the many steps in the refining process, the flow rate is 40,000 MGD. Various chemical processes involve flow of liquid raw product and separation of solids from liquids or liquids from liquids.

Water is used in many ways besides human consumption. For every gallon of crude oil, eight gallons of water are extracted along with it. The treatment and use of this water rather than disposal in deep wells makes this a growth sector.  However, despite the 8 percent growth rate, the quantity is only 28,000 MGD.

Municipal drinking water is the second largest use category.  Chemical costs per gallon are substantial, but the flow and physical treatment costs are relatively low.

Most of the world’s residences are not connected to sewers.  261,000 MGD of sewage is transported today, but 85,000 MGD is pumped into the sea or other waterways directly.  Only 145,000 MGD receives secondary treatment.  Only 31,000 MGD receives primary treatment.

Aquaculture is one of the more promising areas based on its size and growth rate.  Most fish and seafood is now supplied by farming.  Further, there is the trend toward tank farming and more investment in flow and treatment.

The $150 billion market as segmented in McIlvaine reports reveals that pumps and valves comprise more than half the total

For each of these segments the U.S. proposed rules on power plant discharges represent the biggest near-term opportunity.  Three hundred and forty three fossil plants representing 231,942 MW and 42 nuclear plants representing 60,582 MW combine for a total of 385 plants with 292,524 MW of capacity which could have to install cooling towers and recirculate 150,000 MGD after the final rules are issued next year.

The magnitude of this number can be compared to hot market – produced water. Even if new equipment were purchased to treat 10 percent of the world’s produced water, the total would be only 2800 MGD. Aquaculture is another hot market, but even with an investment to treat 10 percent of this flow, the total would only be 9000 MGD.

The longer-term potential for sewage treatment is shown by the disparity between drinking water treatment of 650,000 MGD and secondary treatment of 145,000 MGD.  This means that there is a potential for 505,000 MGD of secondary treatment just to serve the population which now has drinking water.  This does not include the large numbers of people who do not even have access to municipal drinking water.

The sewage treatment potential is bigger by far than that for cooling water, but this market will be slower to develop.  In addition to a sudden increase in cooling water of 150,000 MGD in the U.S., there is an additional large market for cooling water treatment for all the new coal-fired power plants being built in Asia. Many along the coasts will use once-through water. Some of the inland plants in arid areas will use dry cooling but many will install wet cooling towers and will need all the treatment products and consumables.

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