Displaying items by tag: waste water

Italy: Scientists Gregory Chass and Kun Tian have developed a sustainable concrete from wet waste materials through their company Mesoscale Engineering Halcyon. This 'green concrete' concept was conceived in Garbatella and will first be tested on the district's pavements. The concrete, made by combining and recycling industrial CO₂ emissions with brine from saltworks, is part of the Clean Energy Transition Partnership. It is also central to the BUCK$$$ project, led by Kun, focusing on carbon capture and utilisation. This project, with €2.54m in funding, involves 13 partners from seven countries.

This innovative concrete arises from 'mineralised CO₂', which is similar to mollusc shells made of calcium carbonate, as well as materials derived from saltwork brine, desalination, and industrial wastewater. Both currently underused products are expected to become crucial in the cement and concrete industries, particularly in Italy.

Canada: A study led by Douglas Geoffrey in Calgary, Alberta, has patented a method of producing cement from calcium carbonate precipitated in the carbonation of brine. The method mixes the mineral with magnesium oxide and cures it to form cement.

Geoffrey noted that the brine may derive from multiple industrial processes, including fossil fuel and potash production, geothermal power generation and desalination.

Philippines: Cemex Philippines has secured a contract with Manila Water Company for the supply of biosolids from sewage processing for use as alternative fuel (AF). Cemex Philippines has already taken receipt of 10t of biosolids at its Antipolo cement plant in Luzon's Calabarzon Region.

Cemex Philippines’ sustainability and public affairs director Christer Gaudiano said “As pioneers of the use of biosolids as AF in the country, we have just signed what will now create the series of significant steps towards making circular economy a reality."

Sustainability initiatives form one arm of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum's Golden Arrow award for good management, which Cemex Philippines won for the second time on 9 February 2023.

Canada: The Lafarge cement plant near Brookfield, Nova Scotia has been deemed a 'viable disposal solution' for getting rid of treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater being held in storage ponds at Atlantic Industrial Services (AIS) in Debert, Nova Scotia.

The pilot project, which was approved in April 2013 by the Nova Scotia Department of Environment, permitted the transport of 2ML of treated wastewater from the AIS holding ponds for use as a coolant in the kiln at the Lafarge plant, where it was evaporated at 700°C.

"When I met with the community last April, I said that we would update people on the results of the pilot and making the results available online is a good way to keep everyone informed," said the Environment Minister Randy Delorey. "I'm pleased with the findings from the pilot. The results confirm that evaporation provides Nova Scotians with a viable disposal solution."
Before being evaporated in the kiln, the wastewater had been treated for naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS) and put through reverse osmosis. The water was analysed and it meets the Canadian Council of Environment Ministers and Health Canada guidelines for release into a freshwater source. As part of the project, Lafarge did water testing before, during and after evaporation. The tests showed comparable results for cooling water normally used by the plant from the nearby Shortts Lake.

AIS is now requesting approval to remove and treat another five million litres of the waste water at the Lafarge plant. A decision is expected from the department in the near future and, if approved, any terms and conditions would be the same as the pilot project, requiring dual treatment of the wastewater before evaporation.

Approximately 10ML of wastewater remains in two ponds at the AIS site. Triangle Petroleum also has 20ML of wastewater in two holdings ponds in Kennetcook, Nova Scotia. The wastewater at both areas is from high-pressure hydraulic fracturing that took place in 2007 and 2008.

Canada: Lafarge Canada wants to use fracking waste water from two Hants County holding ponds in its Brookfield cement plant, Colchester County.

The Brookfield plant currently uses 35ML/yr of fresh water from Shortts Lake to control the exhaust temperatures of its rotary cement kiln. The fracking waste water would be injected into the kiln in place of some of the water drawn from Shortts Lake, and would be evaporated and emitted out the stack.

"We're looking to do a trial. We want to do a test to see if this water will work with our manufacturing process," said Lafarge spokesman Regan Watts.

However, the proposal has some Colchester County residents on edge. "I think people are a bit concerned," said Bob Taylor, mayor of the Municipality of the County of Colchester. "They are worried about possible harmful effects from it so they want to know it's safe before it goes ahead."

Environment Minister Randy Delorey said that the waste water is being treated a second time by Atlantic Industrial Services using reverse osmosis prior to any use in the plant. He said that the province will consider different options for the waste water once it receives the final test results, expected in early 2014. "It's safe enough to drink," Watts said. "The contaminants have been removed and the recycled waste water exceeds government guidelines to be released in the environment."