POWAY, Calif., April 2, 2002 - When the citizens of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, began complaining of odors emanating from the Mafraq Water Treatment Works (WTW), officials were badly in need of a solution to the malodor.
The facility's two wastewater treatment plants, which currently treat an average of 210,000 m3/day of wastewater from municipal and industrial sources, needed to be upgraded and the facility expanded to accommodate the region's growing population and increase in industries.
To eliminate the offensive odors and modify the WTW's infrastructure, USFilter will install eight LO/PRO® odor control scrubber systems and 10 chemical storage tanks. In addition, USFilter's parent company, Vivendi Water, will provide the facility with several water softeners to prevent scaling and further wear and tear on existing equipment. The installation, valued at $2.7 million, is expected to be complete by early next year.
According to Sahban Ali, technical marketing manager of Concorde Trading Company and USFilter's local sales representative, Abu Dhabi Municipality purchased USFilter's LO/PRO systems for two main reasons: USFilter's equipment offers the lowest chemical usage and has the highest performance guarantee.
The LO/PRO system is a "once-through," three-stage absorption system consisting of a gas conditioning/pre-treatment removal stage followed by two vertical counter-current gas absorption sections. The systems remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) from the H2S-producing plant process areas and exhaust the deodorized air into the atmosphere, using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). This multi-stage, high-efficiency scrubbing guarantees a minimum overall removal efficiency of over 99.9 percent, also minimizing chemical discharge to the environment.
The scrubber recirculation sumps and packed bed absorption stages are all housed in a single fiberglass reinforced plastic structure with access ports for easy and quick entry to any section of the system. Unitary construction of the packaged system requires minimum effort for installation and offers a smaller footprint and lower profile.
"The Mafraq WTW is such an essential part of our economy and environmental well-being and, as a result, we're fortunate that USFilter and Vivendi Water could offer such an easy, yet sophisticated solution to help improve and maintain the facility," says Ali. "Water produced by the facility benefits the region in so many ways, saving declining fresh water reserves and enhancing the environment."
USFilter recently received another order for odor control equipment to be installed at Abu Dhabi's Main Pumping Station, MPS 5. Abu Dhabi is one of the world's biggest users of treated wastewater, employing water treated at the Mafraq WTW to irrigate everything from the fodder fields of Al Wathba to Abu Dhabi Town.
USFilter has provided LO/PRO odor control scrubber systems for two other sewerage projects in Abu Dhabi Municipality. In addition, a one-ton emergency chlorine scrubber system is currently operating in the Sultanate of Oman at the Salalah wastewater treatment plant.
USFilter's RJ Environmental Products has two major product lines - emergency vapor scrubber systems and odor control systems, including its flagship LO/PRO multi-stage, packaged scrubber. USFilter's RJ Environmental Products specializes in developing, manufacturing and supplying unique and cost-effective solutions to municipal and industrial air pollution problems.
United States Filter Corporation, a Vivendi Environnement company, is North America's largest water company providing comprehensive water and wastewater systems and services to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers. Vivendi Environnement (Paris Bourse: VIE and NYSE:VE), comprised of Vivendi Water (worldwide water products and services), Onyx (solid waste and industrial services), Dalkia (energy management), Connex (transportation and logistics) and FCC (Spanish company engaged in environmental and construction related industries), is the largest environmental services company in the world with more than 295,000 employees, including FCC, in about 100 countries and annual revenues of more than $25.6 billion. Visit the company's web sites at www.usfilter.com or www.vivendienvironnement-finance.com.
