Chemical Processing-August 2008

TODAY INDUSTRY and the public mostly moan about oil supplies and prices but concerns about water availability continue to bubble up. Chemical plants are taking new steps to conserve water, and prospects are buoyant for technologies that provide usable supplies from seawater and other non-traditional sources. Dow’s integrated production site at Terneuzen, the Netherlands, underscores how plants may rethink their water use. e facility is current holder of the European Responsible Care Award from the European Chemical Industry Council (Ceﬁc), Brussels, Belgium, for its innovative re-use of municipal wastewater. e local water company, Evides, uses water puriﬁed in a nearby biological wastewater treatment plant to produce demineralized water that’s then delivered to Dow Benelux for steam generation. Dow uses 60,000 m3 of water per day at Terneuzen, half of which comes from recycled process water and rain water — now around 7,500 m3 comes from the nearby community. “Primarily we are looking at the water envelope and asking where we have the opportunity to minimize water consumption at all our sites while maximizing its recycle and reuse,” notes Gená Leathers, global technology leader — water, wastewater, landﬁll, at Dow’s Environmental Technology Center in Edina, Minn. “ is project is an excellent example of us partnering with the local community to overcome the diminishing availability of water. We are currently working on a similar project with the community and other local industries near a site in Canada,” she adds. e point here is that Dow now is considering water use right at the start of the design phase of a project, so it can engineer in the most appropriate treatment strategies right from the outset. Twenty years ago such a strategy would have been unheard of but Leathers is conﬁdent about the way ahead. “ ere’s no doubt that this requires a mind shift, a cultural change. And we are learning all the time. Also, we are ﬁnding that the folks in engineering and design are very receptive to these ideas and keep them very much in mind while doing the evaluations,” she concludes. is move ties in with a broader commitment the company has made to set the standard for sustainable water use and management through the application of innovative chemistry, technologies and business models. 27 CHEMICALPROCESSING.COM AUGUST 2008 http://CHEMICALPROCESSING.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Chemical Processing-August 2008

Chemical Processing- August 2008 Contents From the Editor ChemicalProcessing.com Field Notes In Process Energy Saver Compliance Advisor Protect your Plant What’s on Tap for Water? Keep Operations Safe Polystyrene Plant Gains Extra Output and More Process Puzzler Plant InSites Equipment & Services Adlits Product Spotlight/Classifieds Ad Index End Point

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