Electric Utility Orders New FGD Treatment System
The Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) and Owner’s Engineers, Sargent & Lundy, have selected Suez Environnement affiliate Infilco Degremont Inc. (IDI) and its sister company Anderson Water Power & Technologies to design and supply a retrofit wastewater treatment system for the chloride purge stream from the wet Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) at the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station Units 14 & 15 in Wheatfield, IN.
The new wastewater treatment system will completely transform the existing 30-year-old plant treatment system into one capable of handling the scrubber chloride purge stream. The retrofit approach is far more cost-effective than building a new separate system and will provide for the removal of up to 2 percent suspended solids and other contaminants indigenous to the purge stream and make the plant fully compliant with stringent permit effluent limits.
An added challenge of this design integration is the need to meet an additional effluent requirement for mercury reduction to a level of 35 ppt. This will be accomplished using state-of-the-art and patent-pending technologies developed by IDI for FGD wastewater applications. The IX™ ion exchange process for mercury removal was developed in collaboration with Dow Chemical and has been extensively piloted at multiple generating stations in the U.S.
NIPSCO awarded the contract to IDI based on its track record with complex, performance-based FGD wastewater treatment systems and its flexible design and cost-effectiveness.
The new constructed wastewater treatment system will consist of two 100 percent trains that are capable of functioning either in series or in parallel while allowing each major piece of equipment to be interchanged between the two trains. The R.M. Schahfer Station Retrofit Project is expected to go online in early 2014.
Companies Sign Contract Extension
Subsidiaries of Ecosphere Technologies and Newfield Exploration Mid-Continent have signed a two-year contract extension to continue providing recycling services in the Woodford Shale region. Ecosphere and Newfield’s original contract in Oklahoma was signed in November 2008.
The project uses Ecosphere’s patented Ozonix technology. The system has successfully treated flowback and produced water for bacteria and biofilms control, scale and corrosion inhibition, oil and grease removal, iron precipitation, and total suspended solids removal. It allows Newfield to recycle flowback and produced waters for reuse on new fracs.
Wastewater Pretreatment Facility Wins Design-Build Award
MWH Constructors won the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Rocky Mountain Region’s 2011 Design-Build Award for its work on the wastewater pretreatment facility for the Dannon Co. in West Jordan, Utah. MWH Constructors was honored in the Industrial/Process/Research Facilities category.
Substantial completion was achieved in March 2011 after just 110 days of work. The multi-million dollar wastewater pretreatment facility allows for an increase in yogurt production at Dannon’s West Jordan manufacturing plant, provides for odor control and meets environmental discharge requirements. A progressive design-build approach was used to maximize collaboration between MWH Constructors and Dannon and resulted in delivery of the project on time and with no interruptions to the existing facility’s operations.
“The success of this project stemmed from our dedicated project team that worked in collaboration with The Dannon Company,” said Blair M. Lavoie, PE, President of MWH Constructors.
MWH Constructors was presented with the award during the 2011 DBIA Rocky Mountain Awards Lunch and Annual Members meeting held in December in Denver, Colorado.
Adsorbents Remove Radiation from Water at Japan Power Plant
UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has announced that its adsorbent ion exchange products are being used by Toshiba Corp. and Shaw Global Services for the cleanup of radiation-contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
The Simplified Active Water Retrieve and Recovery System (SARRY) is using UOP IONSIV™ Ion Exchangers to remove and reduce radioactive materials in the contaminated wastewater. The wastewater at Fukushima Daiichi was contaminated after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year.
“Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by this disaster. Honeywell’s UOP is proud that our advanced ion exchange products are successfully supporting the efforts to treat the contaminated water and helping to prevent further damage at the Fukushima plant and surrounding areas,” said Mike Millard, vice president and general manager of Catalysts, Adsorbents and Specialties for Honeywell’s UOP.
The SARRY system, developed by Toshiba, Shaw and AVANTech, has been in operation for over three months and continues to reduce radioactive cesium to non-detectable levels.
UOP IONSIV Ion Exchanger adsorbents are crystalline materials that have the ability to selectivity remove radioactive ions from liquids. These materials have been used commercially for more than 30 years to remove radioactive ions from liquids such as radioactive waste streams in commercial nuclear power plants, alkaline tank waste and spent fuel storage pool water.
Honeywell’s UOP pioneered the adsorbents industry more than 60 years ago with the invention of the first synthetic zeolites for use as molecular sieve adsorbents. Today, in addition to a wide range of molecular sieve and activated alumina products, it offers a broad portfolio of adsorbents for the removal of contaminants such as mercury and sulfur compounds.
For more information, go to www.uop.com.
Company Hit with Clean Water Act Fine
Lafarge North America, one of the largest suppliers of construction materials in the United States and Canada, and four of its U.S. subsidiaries will pay a fine and implement environmental projects to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations. The violations include unpermitted discharges of stormwater at 21 stone, gravel, sand, asphalt and ready-mix concrete facilities in Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and New York.
Stormwater flowing over concrete manufacturing facilities can carry debris, sediment and pollutants, including pesticides, petroleum products, chemicals and solvents, which can have a significant impact on water quality.
“Owners and operators of industrial facilities must take the necessary measures to comply with stormwater regulations under the Clean Water Act, which protects America’s rivers, lakes, and sources of drinking water from harmful contamination,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The system-wide management controls and training that this settlement requires from Lafarge and its subsidiaries will result in better management practices and a robust compliance program at hundreds of facilities throughout the nation that will prevent harmful stormwater runoff.”
Lafarge will implement a nationwide evaluation and compliance program at 189 of its similar facilities in the United States to ensure they meet Clean Water Act requirements. Lafarge will also pay a penalty of $740,000 and implement two supplemental environmental projects, in which the company will complete conservation easements to protect approximately 166 acres in Maryland and Colorado. The value of the land has been appraised at approximately $2.95 million. Lafarge will also implement one state environmentally beneficial project valued at $10,000 to support environmental training for state inspectors.
The comprehensive evaluation will include a compliance review of each facility’s permit, an inventory of all discharges to U.S. waters, and identification of all best management practices in place. In addition, Lafarge must identify an environmental vice president, responsible for coordinating oversight of compliance with stormwater requirements, at least two environmental directors, to oversee stormwater compliance at each operation, and an onsite operations manager at each facility. The U.S. estimates that Lafarge will spend approximately $8 million over five years to develop and maintain this compliance program.
The company will also develop and implement an extensive management, training, inspections, and reporting system to increase oversight of its operations and compliance with stormwater requirements at all facilities that it owns or operates.
The complaint, filed in federal court with the settlement, alleges a pattern of violations since 2006 that were discovered after several federal inspections at the company’s facilities. The alleged violations included unpermitted discharges, violations of effluent limitations, inadequate management practices, inadequate or missing records and practices regarding stormwater compliance and monitoring, inadequate discharge monitoring and reporting, inadequate stormwater pollution prevention plans, and inadequate stormwater training.
The Clean Water Act requires that industrial facilities, such as ready-mix concrete plants, sand and gravel facilities and asphalt batching plants, have controls in place to prevent pollution from being discharged with stormwater into nearby waterways. Each site must have a stormwater pollution prevention plan that sets guidelines and best management practices that the company will follow to prevent runoff from being contaminated by pollutants.
Since being notified of the violations by EPA, the company has made significant improvements to its stormwater management systems.
The settlement is the latest in a series of federal enforcement actions to address stormwater violations from industrial facilities and construction sites around the country. The states of Maryland and Colorado are co-plaintiffs and have joined the proposed settlement.
Construction Begins on Phosphorus Removal/Recovery System
Envirotect LLC has chosen Procorp Enterprises’ Crystalactor Phosphorus Recovery and polishing system to meet a discharge limit of less than 1 ppm phosphorus at a Guggisberg Cheese facility.
Evaluation and comparison with conventional technology showed the Crystalactor to be both more cost effective and efficient. Specifically, it has lower operating and maintenance costs and produces a pellet that can be sold as fertilizer.
Currently, Guggisberg treats its wastewater with an aerobic MBR system that was installed by Envirotect almost seven years ago. The effluent from this system will be treated by the Crystalactor units to reduce the phosphorus concentrations from 100 to <0.5 ppm. Envirotect was scheduled to complete the design build project in December 2011, allowing Guggisberg to achieve regulatory compliance by year end.
