Aquatech implementing ZLD for Chinese fertilizer plant

A concentrated brine treatment plant for a Chinese fertilizer is to be provided by Aquatech in the city of Ordos in the Inner Mongolia region.

Water scarcity is critical in the locality, and the area is under the threat of desertification. Hence, the pollution control norms are very strict, and a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facility in local projects is a mandatory requirement.

The engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project, East China Engineering Science & Technology (ECEC), selected Aquatech to implement a wastewater recycle and ZLD system at the site.

Chinacoal Tuke fertilizer project (Phase I) is an investment by Chinacoal Ordos Energy Chemicals Ltd Co. Phase I will manufacture 1 million t/year of synthetic ammonia and 1.75 million t/y of urea.

When the whole project is completed, it will produce 2 million t/y of synthetic ammonia and 3.5 million t/y of urea. This project uses the rich resources in the Ordos coal mines to realize local resource transformation with mature, advanced and reliable technology.

Aquatech is supplying two units – a high efficiency reverse-osmosis HERO TM unit and a ZLD unit. The reject water from the effluent treatment plant is fed to the HERO plant, which consists of a clarifier, followed by a dual media filter, a weak acid cation unit and then an RO unit.

The reject from the RO is sent to a brine concentrator and then to an evaporation pond. The RO permeate and the distillate from the brine concentrator is collected in the RO permeate tank.

The reuse water plant is for treating discharge from the waste water treatment plant, reject/waste from the demineralization plant, and blow down from the circulating water station.

“With this order intake, Aquatech is now well-equipped to offer optimized wastewater recycle and ZLD solutions not only to the emerging coal chemical market segment but also to other complex wastewater recycle and ZLD requirements in other industries in the Chinese market,” said Tom Tseng, general manager, Aquatech (Guangzhou) Water Treatment Co Ltd.