Aquatech Awarded Zero Liquid Discharge Project for Coal-to-liquids Plant in China

GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 20, 2015 - Aquatech, a global leader in water purification technology for industrial and infrastructure markets, has been awarded a contract to provide a water treatment facility that includes a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) plant for a coal to liquid fuels conversion project being developed by Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Co. Ltd., a division of Shenhua Group, China's biggest coal producer.

The ZLD plant will recycle over 55 million liters per day (2300 cubic meters per hour) of wastewater generated by the 4 million tons per year CTL plant and eliminate all wastewater discharge. The recycled water will treated to a high purity level and reused in the process facility. Shenhua selected Aquatech to design, engineer, and supply the integrated water facility, and to supervise installation and commissioning.

Aquatech will supply a fully integrated and automated system that it has developed for the CTX market. This system utilizes state-of-the-art AquaEZ™ technology consisting of conventional UFRO, HERO™ (High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis), Unseeded Falling Film evaporators, followed by crystallizers at the back end to achieve compete zero liquid discharge. Aquatech will also supply the post-treatment of the recycled water with an ion exchange
process to give high purity water to be used back in the process.

The project will ensure that Shenhua Ningxia complies with statutory regulations and minimizes its overall water footprint, an important consideration since coal conversion requires substantial amounts of water – as much as 10 tons of fresh water for 1 ton of coal-derived fuel according to some estimates. The project is located in northwest China, a dry, water-stressed region.

"As an industry leader in Zero Liquid Discharge, Aquatech was awarded this project based on our extensive experience in achieving consistently higher recoveries from difficult wastewater cost effectively as well as reliably. We have previous experience and strong operating installations in projects under similar conditions in China. This project strengthens our position as a leader in ZLD, especially in this part of the world," said Tom Tseng, General Manager, Aquatech China.