Canadian Site Wins 2017 Industrial Water Project of the Year Award
The annual Global Water Awards honored companies and projects from around the world, including in Kuwait, Spain, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Antarctica, Kenya, Fiji, Australia, Oman, and the United States. The Water Deal of the Year Award went to Vista Ridge Pipeline Financing for a pipeline project serving San Antonio, Texas.
A Canadian site, Federated Co-Operatives Limited's Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina, Saskatchewan, received 2017 Industrial Water Project of the Year honors on April 24 at the annual Global Water Awards during the presentation ceremony in Madrid, Spain. The award recognizes the project commissioned in 2016 that is judged to be the most impressive technical or environmental achievement in the field of industrial water.
The awards honored companies and projects from around the world, including in Kuwait, Spain, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Antarctica, Kenya, Fiji, Australia, Oman, and the United States. The Water Deal of the Year Award went to Vista Ridge Pipeline Financing for a pipeline project serving San Antonio, Texas. The water supply project is being carried out by the Vista Ridge consortium, which is led by Garney Construction, with $853 million in debt funding provided by nine international banks led by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
The gala event saw Water Company of the Year, Desalination Company of the Year, Smart Water Company of the Year, Breakthrough Water Technology Company of the Year, Water/Wastewater Project of the Year, Industrial Water Project of the Year, Municipal Desalination Plant of the Year, Industrial Desalination Plant of the Year, Water Deal of the Year, and Water Leaders Award winners and projects of distinction recognized.
Winning Water Company of the Year honors, for the water company that made the most significant contribution to the development of the international water sector in 2016, was ACCIONA Agua, the water services arm of Spanish construction company Acciona, which commissioned desalination plants in the Middle East, secured finance in the Canadian drinking water sector, boosted its presence in Latin America, and also was active in North Africa and Europe.
The 2017 Desalination Company of the Year, for the desalination company that made the greatest overall contribution to the desalination industry in 2016, is the Korean contractor Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction.
The Smart Water Company of the Year, for the company making the most significant contribution to the field of water technology in 2016, is SUEZ, described by the awards' organizers as "blazing the trail in bringing the digital water revolution to utilities across the world. Nowhere was this more prevalent in 2016 than in North America, where by the end of the year it had installed over 100,000 smart water meters, leak detectors and turbidity sensors as part of its mission to build the largest smart water network in the United States." The company honored with distinction in this category is Xylem, a water equipment and analytics company, for being involved in "one of the most exciting deals of 2016 in the water sector, when it acquired smart utility infrastructure specialist Sensus for $1.7 billion. The follow-up purchase of water analytics start-up Visenti helped propel Xylem to the forefront of the smart water space," according to the awards' website.
Named the 2017 Industrial Water Project of the Year, for the most impressive technical or environmental achievement in the field of industrial water, is the Co-op Refinery Complex, a 2MGD wastewater reuse plant run by Federated Co-operatives Limited. It involves low- and high-pressure membranes from GE to recycle wastewater for steam production, and GE also supplies the site with specialty chemicals and monitoring solutions. The complex became the first refinery in North America to treat 100 percent of its wastewater on site and then recycle the treated effluent for steam production, according to GE.
"We are honored that our Co-op Refinery Complex was named Industrial Water Project of the Year. Water is a precious resource, and our wastewater improvement project allows us to be efficient and sustainable by recovering every drop of water—2 million gallons of wastewater daily. With GE's technology, we now recycle all of our wastewater in a socially responsible and environmentally sound way to conserve water for Regina and the entire province of Saskatchewan," said Gil Le Dressay, vice president, refinery operations for Federated Co-Operatives Limited.
Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO of GE Water & Process Technologies, accepted the award in Madrid during Global Water Intelligence's Global Water Summit 2017. "We are very proud that this project, which uses our advanced wastewater treatment technologies, has won this prestigious award," said Markhoff. "Federated Co-Operatives Limited’s outstanding commitment to environmental sustainability should be an enduring example for the entire oil refining industry."
According to GE, the refinery expanded its operations several years ago to produce 30,000 more barrels of oil per day, taking it from 100,000 BPD to a 130,000-BPD facility, which increased its water usage. The refinery's current water source is a blend of well water and city water, and restrictions on water use required that the complex find a new source of water. Water & Process Technologies' solution combined ZeeWeed membrane bioreactor technology and a high-efficiency reverse osmosis system to recycle and reuse 2 million gallons of wastewater per day.