Portable MBR overcomes oil and grease wastewater challenges in Middle East
ACWA Emirates has reported results from a portable membrane bioreactor (MBR) sewage treatment plant that is purifying wastewater for a $9 billion gas megaproject at Habshan, near Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The plant was installed on behalf of CCC Contractors at the Habshan 5 gas complex, and has been undertaking operations and maintenance since start-up.
Habshan 5 is a gas processing and sulphur production facility, around 150km south west of Abu Dhabi, which will process 1000 million cubic feet per day of gas from the offshore Umm Shaif facility and a further equivalent amount of onshore gas.
The portable MBR plant supplied to the Abu Dhabi Gas Industries (GASCO) consists of two containerised Memtreat® units, which treat roughly half of the flow each (with an average flow of 501 m3 through MBR1 and 480 m3 through MBR 2. On some days the treatment plant has capably surpassed its 1000 m3 design flow, according to the supplier.
Final effluent from the membranes is said to be suitable for direct discharge without further treatment, or for reuse in irrigation, cooling, or industrial processes. The portable format was selected for Habshan 5 as a permanent facility was not possible but non-mains wastewater treatment was required.
The firm reported challenging issues on the Habshan 5 site such as low wastewater flows, and oil, grease and chemicals entering the system from the kitchen, shower and toilet facilities. Implemented solutions as part of the installation included oil and grease traps in the kitchens and ensuring plant operators checked the surface of the balance tanks for oil and grease buildups. To date, the plant has treated over 585,000 m3 of wastewater, at an average of 685 m3/day.
Effluent from the portable MBR is stored in a holding tank and transferred by tanker for use in toilet flushing, dust dampening, concrete batches and trench backfilling. Around 10,000 gallons of sludge are removed every three days to maintain a healthy level of Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS).
ACWA Emirates said cost savings achieved using the portable MBR solution are estimated at AED 10 million ($2.7 million, £1.7 million).
Wastewater network and treatment plant contracts to be awarded in Oman, early 2013
A four-year USD$75.1 million contract has been awarded for the modernization of Oman's wastewater network in the Amerat Western Area, part of a series of contracts being awarded in the country. Haya Water awarded the first construction contract in the Al Amerat Water Reuse Project - Contract A2 - for installation of sewer and treated effluent pipelines to a joint venture comprised of The Arab Contractors and National United Engineering & Contracting. The contract is expected to deliver 23 km of sewers, 140 km of laterals and riders, 7 km of treated effluent line installation and 43 km of House Connections encapsulating 2,900 properties. This project will be handed over to Haya Water in August 2016. The Muscat Water Reuse Project Master Plan has divided the Muscat Governorate into five sewerage catchments for project implementation: Al Amerat, Muttrah, Bausher, As Seeb and Quriyat.
The Al Amerat Waste Water Project, undertaken by Haya is a component of this Master Plan. This project provides sewerage and Water Reuse treatment infrastructure for Al Amerat and Al Hajir areas (the Project Area), both of which are located in Wilayat Al Amerat.
The Al Amerat Water Reuse Project will be implemented in stages, as demand for sewerage services increases with population growth and development. The initial (Phase 1) implementation will include gravity sewer networks, sewage pumping stations and sewage rising mains, a water reuse treatment plant and treated effluent distribution networks, which will be provided through multiple contracts and intended to be completed by 2016. Future implementation (after Phase 1) will include extensions to the sewer and treated effluent networks, additional pumping stations and rising mains, and expansion of pumping station and treatment plant capacities.
Haya Water CEO, Eng. Hussain Hassan Ali Abdul Hussain said that Contract A2 is the biggest of the three network construction contracts identified in the Project, and when completed, will cater to nearly 2,900 properties in the western area of Wilayat Al Amerat.
He said: "The wastewater network aims at gradually reducing, and finally eliminating, the current complex system of transporting waste water from a property's septic tanks via tankers, thereby benefiting the population, and simplifying the collection of revenues from the various properties."
Haya Water plans to award three more contracts - two for networks and one for the Sewage Treatment Plant - early this year.
News Briefs
Desalination contract awarded for Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia
South Korean equipment supplier Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has signed a $1.2 billion dollar contract with Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corp. to build a desalination facility in the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The desalination plant is expected to have a capacity of 550,000 m3/day and will be completed as an EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract, including equipment design and manufacturing, as well as installation and testing. March 2016 is the expected completion deadline.
The build will be part of a larger construction contract awarded to Samsung Engineering to build the 3,100MW Yanbu 3 power plant. Partners for the $3 billion power plant include China's Shanghai Electric and local firm Al-Toukhi.
Petrochemical wastewater reuse project in Kuwait scoops award
Aquatech picked up the H2O Water Award for the Best Waste Water Project for its work with EQUATE Petrochemical Company in Kuwait where it piloted a full-scale wastewater recycle project.
For this project, Aquatech designed a scheme to achieve maximum recovery of high quality water from the plant's process wastewater stream. This recycle system combined membrane-based technologies to remove suspended, biological and inorganic impurities from the treated wastewater to make it fit for use in the process. It was designed to accommodate a wide range of operating parameters such as flow, TDS and temperature without affecting the final treated water quality.
