In 2010, Evides has been able to further strengthen its position of partner for the industry in customised water services. Evides Industriewater delivers more and more complete customised plants on the basis of DBFO contracts (Design, Build, Finance & Operate). This underlines the knowledge of Evides Industriewater to convert complex market issues into physical solutions.
As such, the focus increasingly shifts to recycling wastewater.
Since 1 January, a large number of refineries and chemical companies in the Botlek-Europoort area use ultra pure demineralised water from the new Botlek Demineralised Water Plant (DWP). This means that the supply of demineralised water to the port of Rotterdam for the next few years has been secured. The design of the plant is such that water from the Brielse Meer can serve as a sustainable main source. To that end, construction of the pre-purification plant started in the summer of 2010. The combination of high quality, a reliable supply, competitive price and the convenience of a commodity from the mains has contributed to a lot of interest in the production capacity of the DWP. The high levels of reliability of this facility led E.ON to outsource the production of demineralised water for two power plants to Evides in the summer of 2010. Evides will also take over operational management of the existing demineralisation plants.
In 2010, Evides Industriewater also operated across the border. Construction of various water plants at BASF in Antwerp was in full swing. The supply of sustainable, high-quality process and demineralised water to the entire BASF site in Antwerp started early 2011. Evides has been operating in Germany too for a number of years now: Dow Chemical in Stade (near Hamburg) is supplied with process and demineralised water from a plant that uses water from the nearby Elbe river as source. Using our solid contacts in the chemical industry enables us to steadily increase our public profile in Germany. In 2010, we secured constructive contacts with the chemical industry at a variety of seminars. We also regularly published in German trade journals. We expect to be able to secure several DBFO projects in the strong German chemical sector in the next few years.
Recycling water will play an increasingly bigger role in solving the future fresh water shortage. The industry is looking for opportunities to recycle water, while Evides Industriewater sees opportunities to act as partner in that process. In 2010 for instance, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was taken into use at the site of the Terneuzen sewage treatment plant De Drie Ambachten. The Scheldestromen water board has been supplying the treated wastewater from the municipality of Terneuzen (effluent) to Evides Industriewater since 2007, who turn it into demineralised water for Dow Benelux. Since the MBR was taken into operation, the quality of the effluent was further raised, making it more suitable for recycling (lower operational costs, higher efficiency). Closing the water chain like this also leads to important benefits for the environment, such as the sustainable recycling of 450 m3 of wastewater per hour, a considerable reduction of energy consumption and a reduction of discharging into the surface water.
Solvic of Antwerp, a joint venture of Solvay and BASF started a pilot plant in 2010 for the treatment of pre-treated industrial wastewater into demineralised water. This project will generate design and operational data for the construction of a large-scale plant which, in time, will have to reduce Solvic's consumption of drinking water by 70%.
At the start of 2010, Evides Industriewater and a number of Neth Water partners constructed a demo plant in China for the processing of wastewater into high-quality industrial process water. Recycling in the dry north of China is a must due to the limited availability of fresh water. The experiences gained in the Netherlands with designing, constructing and managing such a customised plant enabled us to realise such a project for the first time in China too. The demo plant in China has turned out to be a highly effective tool in the acquisition of a full-scale project in China in the near future.
In the same year, Evides Industriewater took part in a study at the Harnaschpolder waste-water purification plant (near Delft) into the possibilities of the sustainable production of clean water for the area (surface water) and the greenhouse farming industry (irrigation water). This study is conducted by Delft Blue Water, a joint venture of the Delfland high water board, Delfluent Services B.V., Evides Industriewater, Rossmark Waterbehandeling and Veolis Water Nederland.