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On the African savannah, a white egret rides a buffalo, pecking insects off its back. Kemira has a similar symbiotic relationship with several industrial facilities, processing their wastewater to recover valuable raw materials. The latest example is the Sapa aluminum extrusion plant in the Netherlands.
“Sapa completely outsourced their wastewater management to us as far as chemicals. It’s a self-supporting factory within their plant,” explains Paul Leen, Sales Manager, Industrial and Environmental Solutions, Kemira Water, describing the pilot facility launched in the fall of 2007.
“We designed the effluent treatment plant to produce aluminum hydrate. Normally it’s 100 percent waste, but we turned 90 percent into a valuable secondary raw material, which we use as a coagulant for water treatment and/or as a pH adjuster. There’s an ecological benefit, as we have reduced the waste to the landfill by 85-90 percent,” adds Leen.
Per Lyngaa, Sapa’s Director of Business Improvement, Business Area North, is pleased with the project, calling it a win-win situation for both companies. “Kemira ends up with a product that they can re-use, that has a value to them. This offsets the cost of operating the plant for them, and makes it cheaper for us. More importantly, it’s out of our hands. This is much simpler for us compared to the usual kind of contract where they just hand you the keys and say ‘good luck!’”
Article by Wif Stenger