On May 31, 2011 and on the verge of the start of leading Aquatech water trade fair in Shanghai, the finals of the Holland Water Challenge have taken place in Shanghai (China). The HWC is a competition in which Phd’s and Master students at selected, top-notch universities in China are challenged to develop technological and technical concepts for solutions to specific water related topics in the China market place. The HWC is organised by Dutch company ForeignTalent and supported by companies Evides Industriewater, Norit, DHV and the Province of South-Holland.
Following the successful launch of the 1ste HWC during the Holland Water Week in June 2010 (during the Shanghai World Expo), this year has seen a slightly altered format. Eight universities (a.o. HIT, Tongji, Tsinghua, Tianjin, Shanghai Jiao Tong) have been selected to invite students to compete on four different topics. These are:
- Zero liquid discharge solutions for complex wastewaters from the coal to chemical industry (CtC),
- Improvement of state of the art waste water treatment technologies based on membrane technology,
- Selection of feasible tertiary waste water treatment solutions and
- Groundwater monitoring in Hebei province.
The four entrants to the finals of the HWC presented their solutions to an audience comprising of Chinese university staff, members of leading Dutch water technology companies and invitees. Having reached this HWC final after passing several selections, the four entrants had to endure questions from the audience in defence of their views and findings. The water consul of the embassy of the Netherlands, Mr Albert de Haas, offered a study-trip to the winner of the HWC 2011, Ms Qian Zhao (PhD student at Harbin Institute of Technology). She managed to eloquently and elegantly present an integral solution to the treatment of complex waste waters from the Coal to Chemical industry. The concept is innovative, presents a challenging source of further research and has great potential in achieving Zero Liquid Discharge for landlocked chemical operations. Ms Qian Zhao’s topic was sponsored by Evides Industriewater, since Evides’ focus is acquiring BOT projects in the CtC market in northern China. Water reuse and ZLD are of imminent importance in these arid areas.
