wave n°1

WATER TECHNOLOGIES

waveInsights from Veolia Water Technologies

CREATING VALUE FOR INDUSTRY

Not just milk-and-water

Growing greenerFighting resource scarcity, one battle at a time

RESOURCING THE WORLD

Reclaiming waters to revive city life

Billund BioRefinery

#1

Innovative Water Solutions

Through its innovative solutions, Veolia Water Technologies enables industry, local authorities and citizens to optimize their use of resources for more efficient, environmentally-friendly and socially responsible outcomes.

We understand the importance of increasing the value of water and we do so by supplying high quality water, treating and reusing wastewater, producing and/or recovering energy, extracting raw materials and capitalizing on valuable byproducts. www.veoliawatertechnologies.com

WATER TECHNOLOGIES

3

Today, natural resources are becoming increasingly scarce while our needs are growing in an ever more densely populated and urbanized world facing climate change issues.

The world has to rethink its relationship with resources and come up with new social and economic growth models that are more efficient, better balanced and more sustainable. With 160 years of expertise in the environmental industry, Veolia applies its capacity for innovation to pursuing human progress and wellbeing, and improving the performance of businesses and regions.

To make the switch from a resource consumption rationale to a use-and-recover approach in today’s circular economy, Veolia designs and implements solutions aimed at improving access to resources while at the same time protecting and renewing those same resources.

RESOURCING THE WORLD

Over the coming decades, projected population and economic growth levels will, locally, push the stress on water resources to the limit. Freshwater availability could become the main growth limitation factor for industries. Pressure on resources is forcing a paradigm shift. As a partner in industrial companies’ growth, Veolia transforms this challenge into an opportunity through its innovative solutions.

Veolia relies on the most water-related technologies available anywhere, backed by the knowledge of how to combine them to create tailor-made solutions helping industries manage, optimize and recycle water.

By optimizing processes and monitoring, Veolia helps industry reduce their water footprint while generating considerable savings in energy and chemical consumption. Its innovative wastewater and sludge treatment technologies maximize energy production and product recovery, allowing industry to extract raw materials and capitalize on valuable by-products.

CREATING VALUE FOR INDUSTRY

There are already more than seven billion people on the planet. In the near future, there will be nine billion. The world is growing; it needs new resources. Industrial companies are seeking sustainable solutions to ensure the long-term survival of their businesses, maintain growth and win the support of communities.

This means we need to be more inventive, more responsible and more efficient. Resourcing the world and creating value for industry is our goal. Discover with us how Veolia Water Technologies is helping to achieve this goal.

waveInsights from Veolia Water Technologies

4 WAVE #01

CONTENTS

06

07

22Fighting resource scarcity, one battle at a time

18Bacteria: hungry little gluttons

17Reclaiming waters to revive city life

10Zeroing in on water stewardship

06Sulfate slasher

07Not just milk-and-water

17

16

29

CONTENTS 5

28Generating green energy in Warsaw

29Reducing environmental impact

25Billund BioRefinery

11Growing greener

16Monetizing blue risks

14Resourcing the world

1110

25

22

18Wastewater treatment plant

6 WAVE #01

A new technology solution to the challenge of removing sulfate from mine effluent by combining chemical precipitation and nanofiltration is drawing attention on four continents. Recently completed pilot projects in North and South America have generated interest from mining companies in search of cost-effective breakthroughs. In Europe, nanofiltration at iron mines delivered cost, performance and maintenance benefits that outperformed the original design. In Africa, the technology’s water recovery capability has created a stir in drought-stricken countries. The proprietary process, developed by Veolia Water Technologies, responds to increasingly stringent regulations limiting sulfates in surface water discharges as well as increased mining industry interest in the reuse of mine water for beneficial purposes. The improved method lowers sulfate levels in mine water effluent below 100 mg/l, generating a clean water effluent for reuse or discharge.

Recovery: affordability key The first step in the process uses Veolia’s Multiflo™ system equipped with its Turbomix™ reactor to reduce sulfate to less than 1,800 mg/l. The first-stage effluent is then treated with calcium and an aluminum-based salt in a second system. This second-

stage process precipitates sulfate as a highly insoluble calcium sulfoaluminate mineral known as Ettringite. This step reduces the dissolved sulfate in the effluent to less than 100 mg/l. The excess sludge from the system is pumped to a third smaller system, which serves as a chemical regeneration tank. This step recovers more than 95% of the aluminum-based salt from the precipitated sludge for reuse in the treatment process. This is key to cost-effectiveness. Reusing the recovered aluminum in the treatment process instead of fresh aluminum avoids a six-fold increase in chemical costs.

Fast results The technology’s performance is turning heads, both for its efficiency and its speed. At a major copper mine in South America, water from a mine tailings pond with average sulfate concentrations up to 2,900 mg/l were reduced to less than 50 - 60 mg/l, after blending the treated membrane reject with the permeate. In North America, water from a coal mine with levels as high as 1,800 mg/l were reduced below 100 mg/l within 25 minutes. The recent developments have been built on experience with nanofiltration at subsurface iron mines in eastern France where high-quality drinking water was produced from treating high sulfate concentrations formed in groundwater following the mines’ closure.

In Africa, particular interest has been expressed in the technology’s ability to increase water recovery from 60% to as high as 98%, depending on the original water quality. In addition to the positive response at the North and South American pilot sites, other companies have expressed strong interest in testing the technology in coming months.

Sulfate slasher

Lowers sulfate levels in mine water effluent below

100 mg/l

CREATING VALUE FOR INDUSTRY 7

Not just milk-and-waterNew technologies create a stir in dairies

In dairy plants, water usage is one of the major costs in the processing of the milk that is both a direct product and a primary raw material used to manufacture numerous products for consumption. On the ingredient side, water is used in applications close to the final product, as wash water for Cleaning in Place (CIP) to sanitize processing equipment, for heating milk and milk products and as cooling water. On average, production of 1 kg of dairy product requires 2-4 liters of water.

Even greater volumes of wastewater -- up to 14 liters per kg of dairy product -- are produced from processing steps, cooling towers, boiler purges and cleaning operations, which are often loaded with organics, fats, oil, grease and suspended solids.

Growing demand, but price pressure remainsDairy producers are intensifying their focus on improving production and energy efficiencies even while there is strong growth in global markets. Annual growth of 1 to 3% in the

mature markets of North America and Europe is being driven largely by demand for value added products from health conscious consumers.

Growth rates are even higher in emerging market countries where increasing numbers of people are consuming ever-greater quantities of milk, cheese and yogurt. Demand is rising for greenfield projects to provide local dairy production in these regions, with 60% of the world’s new capacity development occurring in Asia alone between 2005 and 2011.

At the same time, price volatility, higher production costs, competitive pressures and environmental concerns are causing producers to seek further cost and efficiency savings, while ensuring that quality and hygiene standards are maintained.

Water saving technologiesOf the forces shaping the modernization of the dairy industry, water usage, energy costs and recovery of lost products are the key

As global demand for milk, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products continues to grow, cost and energy management concerns are driving the introduction of new technologies in dairies to optimize and control costs of water usage.

8 WAVE #01

drivers of change. Less prominent but still important are the need for standardization, operational and service improvement and sustainability commitments.

In seeking improvements across all of these areas, producers are increasingly turning to experts in optimization of water use and wastewater treatment like Veolia Water Technologies.

To help plants meet their water requirements, Veolia ensures continuous water supply that complies with state-of-the-art hygienic standards and regulatory requirements for wastewater treatment. Applications of water saving technologies that optimize usage and treat water at the source through refreshment of internal process water -- and recovery of valuable products -- are enabling producers to significantly reduce their external water consumption needs.

Keeping the “Cow Water”Recovery of condensate from evaporation of dairy products, or “Cow Water,” for reuse is a growing market with the potential for rapid return on investment. The benefits of condensate recovery, using hygienic RO systems, can be two-fold with savings in water consumption as well as in the recovery

of heat energy. Vapor condensate can be used in numerous areas of the plant including boiler and cooling tower feed water, CIP water, reconstitution of powdered products and cheese curd wash water.

Condensate is a good source of heat energy, offering significant savings in heating costs by recovering the energy for purposes such as pre-heating product or boiler feed water. In recovering the steam condensate for boilers and steam distribution systems, operating costs, chemical use and boiler makeup water requirements can be significantly reduced. A condensate return system also reduces energy costs as the already hot condensate requires less energy to reheat.

Producers seeking to upgrade secondary effluent for reuse as utility water for cooling or boilers, as well as CIP water, soil and vehicle cleaning, toilet flushing and irrigation are turning to Veolia for turnkey or standardized solutions, depending on the complexity of the reuse scheme.

Technology arrayFor wastewater, Veolia offers a wide array of technologies to treat wastewater aerobically (such as MBBR, MBR, SBR or more conventional activated sludge), as well as to produce energy and biogas out of

Cow water reuse offers potential for

rapid ROI


anaerobic treatment of high organic load effluent. Conventional and advanced granular technologies such as Veolia’s Biobed® Advanced reactor can be integrated on-site. Other standardized technologies, such as Biobed® Modular Plants, MBBR and Biosep™ MBR, can be quickly deployed on site with a minimal footprint.

For example, to treat the high strength effluents generated by cheese and whey production, Veolia’s innovative Memthane® Anaerobic MBR is a perfect fit, using cross-flow ultrafiltration membranes to achieve high COD/SS/FOG removal efficiencies for treatment of streams.

Inside jobAs the player offering the largest amount of differentiating technologies, Veolia plays a leading role in emerging markets where its innovative technologies, proven through years of operating experience around the world, provide a ready response to greenfield project needs.

However, it is in mature markets that the company’s offer is evolving most rapidly. The successful results achieved through technologies like Memthane® are opening new opportunities to go deeper inside customers’ upstream production processes.

Another example is yogurt production. Use of membrane technologies has been shown to enable recovery of 1-2% of the production lost when rinse milk was flushed to wastewater during batch process production. In helping customers extract this additional value, Veolia is contributing to the dairy’s improved production process efficiency -- and increased profitability.

With its full scope of in-house capabilities and its locally-deployed teams throughout

Dairy recycling 50% of its wastewaterVeolia clients include global industry leaders like Nestle, Danone, Friesland Campina, Arla Foods, Lactalis, Unilever and many other regional or local players around the globe.

In the UK, Veolia is helping Robert Wiseman Dairies, which supplies 30% of the UK’s milk, advance toward its goal of reducing water usage by 25% across its network of dairies by the end of 2015. At its Bridgwater dairy, a reverse osmosis system is enabling half of the 400m3/day of process wastewater produced daily to be recovered and recycled for use in the dairy. Veolia’s reverse osmosis technology uses a membrane to remove 99% of residual COD and dissolve salts and bacteria from the treated wastewater to produce water of quality at least equal to the mains supply. The energy efficient system’s low pressure membranes and high efficiency pumps not only reduce carbon emissions but also operating costs.

1 kg of dairy product

Requires 2.0 to 4.0

liters of water for production

Generates 0.5 to 20.5

liters of

the world, Veolia is well-placed to help its dairy customers respond to rising global demand with products that are healthy, plentiful… and more profitable.

NESTLÉ IS NOMINATED FOR THE CORPORATE WATER STEWARDSHIP AWARD AT THE 2015 GLOBAL WATER SUMMIT

10 WAVE #01

The decision by Nestlé to transform its dairy factory in Jalisco, Mexico, into the company’s first “zero water” manufacturing site in the world is hardly surprising.

The Jalisco “Cero Agua” project is one of more than 376 initiatives Nestlé is undertaking in its factories around the world that are helping conserve water. Even as production has increased over the past 10 years, the company has reduced water withdrawals per ton of product by over one-third.

Located in the city of Lagos de Moreno in the water-stressed state of Jalisco, the dairy facility includes three adjacent plants, which produce ice cream, powder milk and cereals and share utilities, including water.

In 2013, Nestlé awarded a contract to Veolia Water Technologies to treat the wastewater plant’s effluent for reuse. The polishing system installed by Veolia features its Aquantis membrane bioreactor which produces a filtrate virtually free from solids. A further reverse osmosis treatment step retains dissolved solids and salts.

Inaugurated in late 2014, the new unit enables Nestlé to reuse the treated water for cooling, cleaning, and industrial uses, contributing to savings of 1.6 million liters of groundwater per day, equivalent to the average daily consumption of 6,400 people in Mexico.

Nestlé plans to replicate this approach at other factories as it continues its drive to improve environmental performance.

Just what you might expect from a leader. �

ZEROING IN ON WATER

STEWARDSHIP


As it laid plans to build the largest of its 43 factories worldwide in Indonesia’s Jababeka industrial park, L’Oréal knew that it needed to prepare for the future. One of the world’s leading beauty care products companies, L’Oréal is also the fastest growing company in Indonesia’s cosmetics industry, with 30% annual growth over the past four years. In addition, as part of its “Sharing Beauty with All” sustainability roadmap, the company has committed to achieving a 60% reduction in its water footprint by 2020.

Growing greenerWhen L’Oréal made plans to construct its new manufacturing plant in Indonesia, it partnered with Veolia to design a wastewater treatment facility that not only met current environmental standards, but would also accommodate continued sustainable growth.

Located 60 kilometers east of Jakarta in west Java, the 66,000-m2 Jababeka plant produces 200 million units of hair and skin care products annually for the company’s L’Oréal Paris and Garnier brands. L’Oréal turned to Veolia to help plan, design and build a state-of-the-art sustainable wastewater treatment plant on the site. The objective: ensure that L’Oréal could meet not only its wastewater discharge goals, but also enable the factory to reduce carbon emissions and waste generation.

12 WAVE #01

Multi-faceted solutionIn addition to L’Oréal’s long-term focus on sustainability, particularly on energy and water-efficient solutions, the design needed to accommodate production growth in coming years that could reach as high as 500 million units annually said Veolia process engineer Fenian Feng. “From the design phase, the focus was on controlling the construction budget as well as operations and maintenance costs while ensuring flexibility for future expansion,” explained Fenian. “Our technological solution also needed to lower chemical and energy consumption, thus lowering the carbon footprint.”

Veolia proposed a solution based on a compact design to minimize land use and construction, that would be easy to operate and maintain and that emphasized energy and water efficiency. Each of the plant’s technology solutions was designed to use less energy, thereby lowering the carbon footprint. The innovative wastewater technologies minimize chemical use, ensuring zero chemical waste discharge into waterways and landfills while reducing production of sludge and, thus, solid waste.

Smaller, lower, cleanerTo treat the 300 cubic meters of wastewater generated daily by the factory, mainly from cleaning and washing of production equipment, the system relies on automatic processing tanks and a bio-reactor to dissolve chemical pollutants and increase process water efficiency by avoiding clogging, back washing and recirculation of sludge. The treated water is discharged through a pipeline to the Jababeka industrial park’s wastewater treatment plant, which monitors and controls the inflow to ensure compliance with the zone’s environmental standards and government regulations.

Veolia’s combined chemical and organic treatment technology has cut chemical use

L’Oréal’s factory in Jababeka, Indonesia.


by half and production of sludge to just 20% of the volume of the previous system. As part of L’Oréal’s zero waste to landfill commitment, the sludge that is produced is used by certified third party companies as an alternative material in cement production.

Veolia also worked with L’Oréal on the plant’s design to ensure that it fulfilled the requirements of the United States Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) ratings system. Features such as a lighting system activated by movement detection, water efficient landscaping and measures to reduce water use helped earn the plant a score of 10 out of 10 on the LEED water efficiency scorecard. In 2012, Jababeka became the first green building factory in Indonesia to be awarded Silver LEED certification.

But wait, there’s lessMeasured on a unit basis, the plant had already reduced waste and water consumption by 52% in 2012 and carbon emissions by 38%. With €100 million invested at Jababeka, however, L’Oréal has shown it is not done yet in improving its environmental performance through sustainable innovation. The plant, which uses only Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified cartons, is exploring ways to further reduce emissions and transportation costs by drying sludge on site in natural sunlight. L’Oréal also is looking into the possibility of generating energy from its waste products and reusing its wastewater for cleaning and cooling certain operations.

Meanwhile, Veolia continues to team up with L’Oréal at other plants in Asia, including in Suzhou, China, where a customized system was installed to meet the local factory’s

specific operating conditions and needs. In addition to reducing energy use and minimizing waste, the Suzhou plant was able to reduce carbon emissions by 82%.

For L’Oréal’s neighbors, host communities and the environment, it’s clearly, a winning combination.

14 WAVE #01

Veolia, helping to resource the world

There are already more than seven billion people on the planet. In the near future, there will be nine billion. The world is growing; it needs new resources. This means we need to be more inventive, more responsible and more efficient. Today, we recover water, waste and energy. What is discarded by some becomes a resource for others.

Being attentive and more respectful of our planet and its people is how Veolia views its business, footprint and contribution. Creating new businesses, and a new economic and social dynamic, Veolia is contributing to the world movement and people’s lives.

Develop access to resources, preserve resources, replenish resources: RESOURCING THE WORLD IS OUR GOAL.

4.5million collective

housing units managed

86million MWh

produced

Energy

94million people

supplied with water

62million people

connected towastewater systems

Water

WasteCollected for over 51 million

people on behalf of municipalites

RESOURCING THE WORLD 15

SEAWATER DESALINATIONSeawater desalination provides a precious alternative resource. The world leader for desalination, we have extensive expertise in the very latest filtration technology and are working actively on limiting its ecological footprint, in particular through the use of renewable energy. In Jubail (Saudi Arabia), we have built and manage the country’s largest ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis desalination plant that supplies the Sadara petrochemicals complex.

GIVE WATER SEVERAL LIVESReintroducing wastewater into agricultural and industrial production cycles, and even domestic consumption, is one solution for overcoming water shortages and the growing cost of treatment. Worldwide, Veolia provides tailored solutions for each need and each resource typology. In Qatar and Canada, we have installed closed loops for oil group Shell enabling almost 100% of the wastewater produced to be reused.

72%of the Earth’s surface is covered with water

97%of this water is salty

GENERATE AWARENESS OF SCARCITYWater is a precious commodity. Saving it, conserving it, multiplying its uses and sharing it better are becoming crucial. However, no sustainable and rational action is possible without solid knowledge of the state of the resource. For this reason, Veolia has developed three tools to help states, cities and industry measure resources and help with their decision-making: Growing Blue Tool, Water Impact Index and True Cost of Water are designed to improve the assessment of footprints and help take more appropriate action (www.growingblue.com).

MULTIPLE USES FOR WASTEWATER SLUDGEFor Veolia, wastewater sludge is no longer a waste product; it can be used in a real circular economy. In Denmark, the wastewater treatment plant of the future, the Billund BioRefinery, will convert wastewater sludge and organic waste into biogas for local consumption, organic soil improvers for agriculture, and bioplastics.

6,800 MWh of electricity generated each year at the plant

40%of the world’s population lives in regions suffering water stress

38 million metric tons of waste recovered as energy

100%of wastewater is reused

16 WAVE #01

Monetizing blue risksBy 2050, it is predicted that 70% of the world’s GDP will be produced in water-scarce regions while an increasing number of cities and industries will be facing economic challenges due to severe water events such as flooding. These and other risks related to water are a critical consideration for today’s decision-makers. Existing water footprint indicators give us insight into the vulnerability and resilience of a specific activity to water challenges. Now, decision-makers are looking at an even more pragmatic and straightforward metric: dollars. Veolia has developed an approach called The True Cost of Water that combines traditional CAPEX and OPEX calculations with analysis of water risks and their financial implications.

The True Cost of Water takes into account:> Direct water costs: capital & operational

expenditures for water infrastructure> Indirect water costs: existing costs that

are usually not attributed to water, such as water-related legal costs

> Financial implications of water risks: unanticipated costs arising during the lifetime of a plant.

These elements are organized into four categories: operational, such as water shortages; financial, such as an increase in the cost of capital; regulatory, such as an obligation to meet environmental standards; and reputational, such as temporary loss of license to operate as a result of local pressure.Veolia’s True Cost of Water approach is able to focus on the financial implications of water-related risks. It helps the user anticipate, prioritize, and more effectively mitigate water-related risks that can negatively affect the bottom line by creating a risk-reward tradeoff analysis. By including this approach into business decisions, decision-makers can better understand the importance of investing in sustainable practices such as water reuse and wastewater resource recovery. Return on investment is no longer simply based on current costs but is instead corrected to the risk-based costs.

This approach provides companies with vital information to assist in the selection of appropriate water strategies to diminish their overall water risk.

If correctly valued, water will be better

managed


A mermaid’s tale

Perched on a rock on the edge of Copenhagen’s harbor, the Little Mermaid has gazed toward shore for over 100 years, in search of her prince. According to the fairy tale on which one of the world’s most famous sculptures is based, it is the hope of seeing her true love once more that draws her each day from the sea. Until recently, another motivation might have been escaping from the filthy depths.

For many years, the harbor, contaminated with sewage and industrial wastewater discharges, had been considered a public health hazard and been closed to swimming.

Today, following a major modernization of the city’s sewer system and installation of state-of-the-art control systems, Copenhagen’s waters are safe for humans and mermaids

alike. The harbor has become a tourism and recreation hub and its revitalized waterfront neighborhoods are vibrant and trendy.

Copenhagen is just one of an increasing number of examples of the technology and infrastructure investments being made by cities as they confront the increasing pressure being placed on water resources by skyrocketing urbanization.

Booming cities, water worriesUrban populations worldwide are growing at a rate of two people per second. Within two decades, nearly 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. In the developing world, urban areas gain an average of five million residents every month. Exploding population growth – in cities and generally -- is placing unprecedented strain on resources. Among the most critical: ensuring adequate water and sanitation.

Reclaiming waters to revive city life

Within two decades, nearly 60%

of the world’s population will

live in cities

18 WAVE #01

While urbanization brings opportunities to improve water resource management and increased access to drinking water and sanitation, population growth is outpacing our ability to devise solutions, according to the UN. In the past decade, the number of urban dwellers who lack access to a water tap in their home or immediate vicinity has risen by an estimated 114 million and the number of those who lack access to the most basic sanitation facilities by 134 million. The resulting impacts can be measured in both human and economic terms, through increased disease and lost productivity of people too sick to work.

Cities in developing countries, while not faced with the same lack of basic human infrastructure nonetheless face pressures to optimize their water resources. Strained public finances, water shortages and wasted economic opportunity are all driving implementation of more sustainable practices -- whether recycling and reusing water, finding solutions to prevent storm water contamination or maintaining public bathing and lake resources vital to quality of life and local economies.

Keeping swimming safe Around the world, cities are looking to new technological solutions to improve water resource management.

Copenhagen’s success in making its harbor fit again for public swimming was made possible through a multi-year investment in modernizing its sewage system and the installation of large storage tanks.

Wastewater treatment plants are now equipped with STAR® Control systems from Krüger, a Veolia Water Technologies subsidiary. This real-time control system minimizes sewer overflow by controlling pumps and gates within the sewer system to reduce potential environmental impacts from combined sewage overflow. Consumption of energy and chemicals is minimized while the quality of the outlet is maintained or even increased. In addition to improving health conditions and quality of life for Copenhagen’s citizens, the investments are paying off economically as well, increasing harbor area property prices and spurring the openings of new shops and restaurants.

In the French Mediterranean city of Antibes, bathing water quality is assured through a biological wastewater treatment and clarification system managed for the municipality b y Veolia. In addition, meteorological monitoring provides real-time warning of potential storm water overflows, allowing local authorities to control access to the community’s beaches prior to any possible pollution events. The system is thus essential to protecting public safety and avoiding harm to the area’s critical tourism industry.

Protecting against storm water overflow Veolia’s storm water solutions are helping other cities manage sanitary sewer overflow treatment requirements prior to discharge. The BioACTIFLO® process combines biological treatment with the ACTIFLO® microsand ballasted high-rate clarification system, providing highly effective removal of suspended solids and biological oxygen demand (BOD).

In the northern French city of Lille, a new city-center wastewater treatment plant is meeting the growing needs of the population and contributing to sustainability. In addition to wastewater, the plant treats storm water using the ACTIFLO® process. The Veolia-built plant also generates a low carbon footprint and produces biogas from sludge.

Back in Denmark, in Copenhagen’s new eco-district of Ørestad, the ACTIFLO®

Statue of the little mermaid in

Copenhagen, Denmark


process is used to treat surface water from a pumping canal in the community’s “open water system” of lakes, canals and water basins. In just minutes, the ACTIFLO® plant reduces suspended solids and phosphorus by up to 95% and greater to produce high environmental quality water. The plant’s flexibility means it can be started and stopped automatically several times a day or for long periods. Its fully automatic operation typically requires the presence of personnel only a few hours a week.

In the Alcântara district of eastern Lisbon, Portugal’s newest and most modern wastewater treatment plant manages discharges from Lisbon as well as the neighboring municipalities of Amadora and Oeiras. Two ACTIFLO® clarification units provide storm water treatment while other sections of the low carbon footprint, sustainable-design unit provide primary treatment, biological treatment and sludge thickening.

Reusing a precious resourceIn the city of El Prat de Llobregat near Barcelona, Veolia technology is helping the community make optimized use of scarce water resources. The El Prat Water Reclamation Plant treats the secondary effluents from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona wastewater treatment plant, meeting Spanish chemical and biological quality standards for urban, agricultural, industrial, recreation and environmental uses. The plant’s processes include ACTIFLO® tertiary clarification, followed by Hydrotech™ microscreen Discfilters, UV disinfection and chemical disinfection. Then, one part of the treated water is processed by an ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis unit, so that it can be re-injected into the aquifer and act as a barrier against saline intrusion.

Seventy miles down the Mediterranean coast, Veolia’s Camp de Tarragona Water Reclamation Project (pictured below) is also helping to relieve water scarcity. By efficiently

Water is too valuable

to be used only once

20 WAVE #01

treating municipal secondary effluent to meet local industry’s process water needs, freshwater can be used for municipal drinking water supplies to meet the region’s ever-growing water demands. The plant reclaims water from treatment plants serving the Tarragona and Vila-Seca i Salou communities, applying tertiary treatment through reverse osmosis as its main process. The reclaimed water is primarily used in cooling towers by companies operating in Tarragona’s Petrochemical Complex industrial zone. To meet the high water quality criteria required by the industrial end users, municipal wastewater is treated with an ACTIFLO® system, followed by Veolia’s Hydrotech™ Discfilter microscreen filtration technology and then two-stage sand filtration. The pre-treatment solution offers efficiency in removing high concentrations of total suspended solids and organic compounds from secondary effluent, thus preventing organic fouling and bio-fouling in the reverse osmosis stage. Such processes are making possible continued industrial growth in water scarce regions through improved industry sustainability. In Sydney, Australia, a forward-looking sustainable design strategy has made the Darling Quarter office and leisure development a model for new inner city development projects. In addition to

designing, building, operating and maintaining the buildings’ recycled water plant, Veolia implemented a total water cycle management plan to achieve a range of social, economic and environmental benefits. Actions included installing high efficiency fixtures and fittings and treating sewage to

produce high quality recycled water used for cooling towers, garden irrigation and toilet flushing. In addition, rainwater collected from the building roofs is filtered, UV treated and distributed to the public domain for landscape irrigation and to meet other water

resource needs of the local community. Among the achievements: a 92% reduction in potable water consumption, saving the equivalent of 86 million bottles of water per year, and a 2,500-ton CO2 reduction in the buildings’ carbon footprint.

In Shenzhen, China, the Xili wastewater treatment was the rapidly growing city’s first wastewater reuse plant. The plant receives domestic wastewater and produces treated effluent that meets national discharge standards, supplementing water supplies drawn from the Shahe River. Equipped with Veolia’s Multiflo™ settler, Biostyr® biological filter and ACTIFLO® ultimate settler technologies, the plant has a daily water recycling capacity of 50,000m3.

Pristine lakesIn Dubai, Veolia is keeping the water pure in the artificial lake bordering the world’s tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa Tower, part of an enormous residential, commercial, leisure and entertainment complex. The company built the water treatment installation and manages plant operations for the 300,000 cubic meter lake, one of the development’s most spectacular elements. The lake is fed with previously treated storm water and topped up with freshwater to offset evaporation. The 62,400 cubic meters/day treatment plant includes the storm water treatment facility and recycling equipment. Installed Veolia technologies include four ACTIFLO® modules, four Hydrotech™ Discfilters, an ACTIDYN® sludge treatment module as well as two belt filter presses for sludge dewatering.

A final example is found again in Denmark where a major priority is protecting the aquatic environment of the Inner Lakes, one of Copenhagen’s most popular recreational areas. Among the needs is ensuring the lakes are supplied with sufficient amounts of fresh water and maintaining the correct nutrient balance to reduce algae growth, improving water clarity and oxygen conditions, thus preserving flora and fauna. An ACTIFLO® plant at Lake Emdrup plays an important role in maintaining the improved quality of the water that flows to the Inner Lakes, removing phosphorus and reducing COD and suspended solids.

Wastewater treatment plant

Such processes are

making possible continued industrial

growth in water scarce regions


Bacteria: hungry little gluttonsHow do bacteria produce biopolymers?The idea is revolutionary. Starting with the conventional biological process for treating wastewater, bacteria are used to consume the “pollution” thanks to the natural ability of certain bacteria to absorb a number of fatty acids produced during the fermentation of sludge. They are provided with ample quantities of suitable food, which they happily digest. Their metabolism then produces polymers, including PHA (polyhydroxylalkanoate), a sort of bacterial “fat”. The process has several major advantages. It reduces oxygen consumption and sludge volume while providing the basic elements for the production of biodegradable

plastic. This state-of-the-art technology, which has been trademarked Cella™, is the result of years of research. Since 2002, AnoxKaldnes, a Veolia Water Technologies company, has oriented its R&D in two directions: perfecting the technology that produces PHA as part of wastewater treatment and evaluating the product’s characteristics for potential commercial use. With a bioplastics market that is growing by more than 30% a year, the materials produced from wastewater and sludge now represent a viable alternative and are quickly broadening the range of resources available to the plastics engineering sector.

Wastewater treatment plant

SPOTLIGHT

22 WAVE #01

Big problems call for big ambitions. With the planet confronted by global warming, world hunger, exploding urbanization and resource scarcity, Veolia’s newly adopted mission description, “Resourcing the World,” seems appropriately scaled.

The global tagline reflects the company’s determination to help break society’s resource consumption dependency and switch to a sustainable use-and-recover approach. The performance-improving solutions Veolia delivers to its customers provide access to needed resources while at the same time preserving and replenishing them.

Not that the company plans to respond to all of the planet’s challenges all at once. “Rethinking our relationship with resources and creating new, more efficient, better balanced and more sustainable growth models

is an ongoing commitment,” says Veolia Water Technologies Senior Executive Vice President, Klaus Andersen. “It’s a campaign we fight one battle at a time, project by project, delivering solutions that can then be leveraged throughout the world.”

On the front lines: water scarcityThe combination of resource stewardship with performance improvement is visible in Veolia’s ability to help fulfill the needs of industrial customers for one of the earth’s vital but increasingly stressed resources: water.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that 1.5 billion people today live in areas seriously affected by water scarcity with that number projected to increase to almost 4 billion by 2050, absent adoption of more sustainable practices.

Fighting resource scarcity, one battle at a time


As water is increasingly a global environmental and humanitarian challenge, access and use of the resource is becoming a major issue for many industrial customers. Veolia’s ability to deliver sustainable solutions that protect water resources is a real competitiveness driver.

This is a priority particularly evident in the dynamic energy area, as illustrated through some recently completed projects.

Enabling sustainable oilfield expansionIn the San Ardo Field in Monterey County, California, Chevron needed a solution for its water needs to enable increased oil production. The 2,500-acre field is the 13th largest oil field in the state, with an estimated ultimate oil recovery of 530 million barrels.

Chevron’s oil production had been declining in recent years, due to limited capacity for disposing of the produced water that comes to the surface as part of the oil and gas extraction process. The challenge for producing the remaining heavy oil was to remove the excess water from the reservoir, which can range from 10 to 20 times the oil production rate.

Working with Chevron, Veolia designed and built a new membrane-based water desalination facility to allow a portion of the produced water to be treated and discharged to a shallow fresh water aquifer (pictured left). The project, commissioned in October 2007, was the first produced water desalination facility in the world to use Veolia’s OPUS® technology, which has proven to be a reliable and robust process for successfully treating produced water for surface discharge. OPUS® combines high-rate chemical softening, with filtration, ion exchange and reverse osmosis.

The plant is designed to process 66,700 barrels per day of produced water with a recovery factor of 75%, translating into an effluent treated water rate of 50,000 barrels per day. The multiple-treatment process

is effective in removing contaminants to meet the requirements for beneficial reuse discharge to aquifer recharge basins via post-treatment constructed wetlands.

The implementation of the OPUS® water reclamation technology / desalination allowed Chevron to meet its water needs with recycled water and expand its current area

Fighting resource scarcity, one battle at a time

Chevron’s facility in the San Ardo oil field in California.

The plant is designed to process

66,700 barrels per day of produced

water

24 WAVE #01

of steam-enhanced production into idled, previously developed portions of the field.

In more recent development for oil and gas application, OPUS® II streamlines pretreatment through the use of CeraMem® ceramic membranes to improve oil removal.

Helping to ensure clean oil sands developmentIn Alberta’s Athabasca region, Veolia is helping independent oil and gas exploration production company Devon Energy Corporation conserve water resources and reduce the footprint of producing oil from oil sands. Veolia’s Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) is enabling Devon to produce up to 35,000 barrels per day of

bitumen at its Jackfish 2 Project, where total recoverable reserves are estimated at over 300 million barrels.

Devon needed a solution that is robust, compact, easy to install and simple to maintain to separate oil and gas from water and other waste. Veolia’s response included the design, engineering, fabrication and supply of a full size AUTOFLOT® Model AHP280 Induced Gas Flotation (ISF) unit. The unit separates oil from produced water or other oily water streams. Hydrophobic particles attaches to the small gas bubbles added into a mixture of oil, fine solids and water. These particles float to the surface as a froth and are skimmed into a launder. The introduction of gas is performed by an eductor, which uses effluent as its motive fluid, provided by one of the two recirculation pumps located on a companion skid package. With the use of Veolia’s proprietary filtering and separating technology, it is helping improve access to resources by Devon in recycling and reusing the water required in the SAGD process. Based upon the successful integration of the ISF on Jackfish 2, Devon asked also asked Veolia to provide a second ISF unit for its Jackfish 3 project.

Long-running commitmentWhile projects such as these underline how technology solutions can help drive new behaviors, it’s not a new role for Veolia. For over 160 years, Veolia has been helping cities and industries worldwide manage, optimize and make the most of their water resources. ‘Resourcing the World’ simply captures this commitment and better communicates the company’s determination to be part of the solution to the natural resource challenges it faces.

A mission the company is obviously tackling with passion and enthusiasm…one battle at a time.

OPUS® II streamlines

pretreatment through the use of CeraMem® ceramic membranes

to improve oil removal.


Denmark’s Billund BioRefinery is known as many things for the country: energy producer, jobs creator, technology showcase, export generator, resource conserver, sustainability promoter. Even in today’s over-marketed world, it’s an impressive string of superlatives for any company. But, in the case of the Billund BioRefinery currently being constructed in Denmark — also known as the Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Future — the rave reviews are coming not from its builder, Veolia Water Technologies subsidiary Krüger A/S, but rather through a string of international awards and statements by local and national government officials.

“Billund BioRefinery is an example of people continuously striving to do better, develop new products and come up with solutions that improve the environment in Denmark and the rest of the world,” said the Denmark’s Environment Minister Kirsten Brosbøl, speaking at a recent awards ceremony.

In 2014, Billund BioRefinery was awarded a distinction in the Global Water Awards for Water Reuse Project of the Year, a European Business Award for the Environment, and Denmark’s Svend Auken Award for dedicated efforts in the environmental arena, joining a distinguished list of former recipients that includes the World Wildlife Fund.

Billund BioRefinery Advancing to a circular economy

Wastewater plant of

the future

26 WAVE #01

Innovation showcaseA joint project between Krüger, the municipality of Billund, and its utility company Billund Vand A/S, the pilot plant is designed to be a model for complementary wastewater and biomass treatment technologies that can work in synergy. It will also serve as a showcase for international marketing of Danish environmental innovation, demonstrating the results achievable in collecting the most efficient and advanced wastewater solutions in one facility. The facility’s parallel wastewater and biomass synergistic treatment lines link industrial and municipal waste treatment — effectively closing the local resource circle. The dual-feed plant will treat both organic waste and wastewater, with a total capacity of 70,000 population equivalent and 4,200 tons of waste per year from both households and industries in the Billund area.

In addition to optimizing water quality, the green technologies transform the wastewater treatment plant into a modern biorefinery that converts wastewater and waste into clean water and energy. The wastewater treatment process produces biomass, which is then treated to generate biogas for energy production that reduces the plant’s power requirements and creates additional income through the sale of surplus energy to the local grid.

The plant’s environmental technologies enable the efficient combination of wastewater treatment and bio gasification of organic waste to produce three times as much energy as required to operate the treatment plant. Other plant byproducts will include efficient, odor-free organic fertilizer, and eventually, phosphorus and biodegradable bioplastics.


“The big difference with the Billund BioRefinery project is that we’re thinking more broadly than looking simply at wastewater treatment,” says Mette Dam Jensen, a process engineer at Krüger and member of the project management team. “We’re taking a strategic perspective on resource recovery and considering the relationship with farming, industry, and the community. We’re demonstrating that it’s possible to close these local loops and move toward a circular economy — and that projects like this can be achieved on an even higher level of efficiency and an even larger scale.”

Technology arrayThe biorefinery performance is dependent on an array of both new and established Veolia treatment technologies that are being progressively brought on line, including:

> Exelys™: Billund BioRefinery is Denmark’s first full-scale demonstration of the state-of-the art continuous thermal hydrolysis technology. Compact and robust, it reduces sludge cake through improved digestion and dewatering, while boosting gas production by 20 to 40 percent.

> STAR Utility Solutions®: An advanced online system that measures processes online, ensuring optimal cleaning while minimizing energy and chemicals use. In the event of heavy precipitation events, part of the plant’s treatment capacity can be switched over to treat storm water — optimizing pollution control and reducing the risk of overflow. By integrating multifunctional use of the mechanical filter in the plant’s management strategy and combining an online warning system, Billund is taking a first step toward coordination of the municipality’s treatment plants and drainage systems. Other controls include monitoring and optimization of the biomass feed in order to maximize biogas production and prevent overloading of the digesters.

> ANITA™Mox: An efficient moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treatment technology, which increases the plant’s capacity and energy efficiency by converting ammonia to nitrogen without the use of organic material using annamox bacteria.

> BioPasteur™ technology: This product heats sludge prior to digestion to ensure that it is completely hygienic.

> Hydrotech™ Discfilter: Mechanical and self-cleaning, the filter is implemented in wastewater facilities throughout the world. At Billund, the Hydrotech filters can be dosed with precipitation chemicals for precise control of nutrients and suspended materials, significantly improving effluent quality.

Overall the new plant configuration will improve water quality to such a degree that only 25 percent of the discharge limit for nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended materials will be used. This reduces the amount of nutrients released into the environment and will help to maintain the unique biodiversity in the surrounding mudflats of the adjacent river outlet.

On the jobAlready attracting interest worldwide, the Billund BioRefinery is also a modern-day example of how a municipality is able to support its government’s desire toward reducing waste through resource recovery. With a total budget of nearly US$12 million, Billund BioRefinery is being constructed with financial support from the Ministry of the Environment and the Foundation for Development of Technology in the Danish Water Sector. The municipality of Billund has a record of successful environmental efforts that has attracted international attention, including sorting-at-the-source, bio gasification of household food waste, and the turning of wastewater sludge into an end product as highly-efficient and odorless organic fertilizer.

Exelys™ reduces sludge

through improved digestion and

dewatering while boosting gas production

28 WAVE #01

For Brosbøl, who dug the first mini-loader shovelful at the plant’s groundbreaking ceremony in August, Billund BioRefinery will serve as a “lighthouse project that will resonate internationally, benefiting the environment and export business and creating Danish jobs in the future.” Denmark’s green solutions already amounts to 10 percent of its exports, or $13.70 billion annually. In addition to construction jobs, the project has led to additional hiring at Billund Vand, with the potential for additional employment fueled by exports.

Resource recovery, future focus In combining the strongest environmental technologies for water treatment and

biogas in a single full-scale demonstration project, the Billund BioRefinery exemplifies a philosophy that waste and wastewater are not problems but rather resources that offer immense potential for the environment. In improving wastewater treatment, utilization of the energy and nutrients in wastewater and organic waste, and generating biogas and usable by-products, the facility is an example of a more sustainable cycle of resource use.

“The Wastewater Treatment Plant of the Future is also a model example of what we can achieve through public-private cooperation,” Brosbøl said. “It is examples like this that we need for the future in Denmark – and all over the world, for that matter.”

Generating green energy in WarsawCulminating a four-year effort, the city of Warsaw inaugurated its new wastewater treatment plant, bringing the city in line with European standards. With capacity for a population equivalent of 2.1 million, the new plant is one of the largest in Eastern Europe. It treats 435,000 cubic meters per day (m3/d) of wastewater, and can handle up to 515,000 m3/d at peak flow rate — well in excess of the old plant’s capacity of around 200,000 m3/d.

Completed by Veolia, the enormous project included installation of 30 kilometers of wastewater collection systems and construction of a tunnel and siphon under Warsaw’s Vistula River to transport left bank effluent, as well as

rebuilding, modernizing, and extending the existing treatment plant and building a sludge incineration plant.

The plant’s treatment system is based on activated sludge technology, selected for its reliable treatment and service. The wastewater is settled and treated biologically to remove the carbon, phosphate, and nitrogen. Biological treatment is managed using advanced controls — enabling high-level treatment performance, while saving energy and chemical consumption. Once the wastewater has been treated the sludge is incinerated in a furnace at 850 degrees Celsius using Veolia’s Pyrofluid™ thermal treatment process, which oxidizes the organic matter and produces recoverable ash and energy. The incineration plant also uses the sludge’s inherent heat to generate green energy.

Due to the technical performance of the processes used at this plant, the incineration flue gas released into the atmosphere above the Polish capital falls well within the area’s highly stringent air quality standards -- all part of the green revolution underway in Warsaw.


Reducing environmentalimpactReplacing a decades-old wastewater treatment plant in the center of a densely populated European metropolis is not a task for the faint of heart. But that is exactly what a Veolia-led consortium did in a northern suburb of France with Lille Métropole’s new Ovilléo wastewater treatment plant that was commissioned in 2014.

In 2010, a six-year design-build-operate contract was awarded by the Lille metropolitan authority to replace an old 1960s wastewater treatment plant. Veolia mobilized all the resources at its disposal to deliver a state-of-the-art facility to ensure the city complies with key EU directives for decades to come. Serving a population of approximately 620,000 people, the new Ovilléo wastewater treatment plant is not only the largest of its kind in northern France but also features the world’s largest integrated fixed-film activated sludge plant utilizing Veolia’s Hybas™ technology.

The plant, treating both municipal wastewater and stormwater, features a wide range of Veolia’s most advanced treatment technologies.

While stormwater will pass through a patented Actiflo® ballasted flocculation system, the wastewater train involves the removal of suspended solids using Multiflo™ lamella settlers, followed by Hybas™ (a combination of activated sludge and AnoxKaldnes’ MBBR technology), before the effluent is polished using proprietary Hydrotech™ Discfilters. The sludge treatment process features Veolia’s continuous thermal hydrolysis technology Exelys™, enabling a significant reduction in the volume of sludge produced, while increasing biogas production. The sludge is then reused by local industry after being dried in a BioCon™ dryer.

The plant’s low carbon footprint and high degree of energy self-sufficiency have significantly reduced the impact on the surrounding environment. Its proximity to residential buildings required particular emphasis to be placed on keeping noise and odors to a minimum, and its compact architectural design freed up land to accommodate a 7-hectare educational garden. �

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NOMINATED FOR THE WASTEWATER

PROJECT OF THE YEAR AT THE 2015

GLOBAL WATER SUMMIT

The world’s desalination leaderOur modern world needs a desalination expert with unique, comprehensive knowledge of water treatment technologies. With more than 100 years of experience in desalination and numerous references worldwide, Veolia is the world leader in implementing desalination strategies. Every day, Veolia’s state-of-the-art technologies produce more than 12.7 million cubic meters of desalinated water from a variety of raw water sources. With projects ranging in size and complexity, from large-scale design-build execution to engineering and equipment supply, Veolia is able to successfully meet each client’s needs. www.veoliawatertechnologies.com

WATER TECHNOLOGIES

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Publication Director: Axel Ensinger Chief editor: Clément Leveaux

Coordination: Jill BrowningContributors to this issue: Jill Browning, Chloé Dupont, William Mengebier.

Design: Veolia Water Technologies Graphic Design TeamPhoto credits: Veolia photo library / Christophe Majani d’Inguimbert /

Stéphane Lavoué / Jean-Francois Pellegry / Francis Bocquet, iStock, Matton Images / Milena Boniek.

Cover: Photothèque Veolia / Christophe Majani d’Inguimbert.Printing: Imprimerie Ferréol

Printed on paper from sustainably managed forests with vegetable inks by a printer labeled Imprim’vert.

04/2015 (150130)

@VeoliaWaterTech • Veolia Water Technologieswww.veoliawatertechnologies.com

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