In chemical manufacturing, profitability is closely tied to the efficiency of operations – and environmental sustainability is a priority for leading global companies. When one of our chemical manufacturing customers in northern Europe was looking for new ways to optimise water usage and minimise wastewater emissions, they turned to us for help.

As part of its commitment to sustainability, the company had set a goal to reduce fresh water consumption in one of its plants by 27 percent. As the cooling systems on site where large-scale users of water, they asked us to evaluate opportunities to reduce the water consumption of the cooling towers. We audited the cooling system operations, and partnered with the customer to investigate the feasibility of recycling wastewater that was being collected and discharged from the site.

Our team identified the steps needed to improve the water quality so it could be used as make-up to the cooling system. We put a plan in place, including using our 3D TRASAR™ cooling water management programme to provide control and optimization of the cooling water chemistry and microbiology to protect the system from corrosion, scale formation and microbial contamination. By implementing our solution, the plant has been able to recycle the wastewater to replace 65 percent of the potable water demand – and dramatically reduce its total cost of operation.