Australia’s Osmoflo has won a tender to design, build, operate and maintain a Aus$ 5 million (US$ 5.3 million) water-recycling plant and reticulation system at the Nyrstar Port Pirie smelter north of Adelaide in South Australia.
Funded through Nyrstar – a global multi-metals company based in Zurich – the Port Pirie Regional Council and the Australian government’s Water for the Future initiative, the reverse-osmosis (RO) based plant will reduce Nyrstar’s reliance on the river Murray by 25%, deliver operational efficiencies and provide bonus irrigation supplies for the local Port Pirie Council.
As well as these already identified benefits, the water will also be used for initiatives such as dust suppression, cleaning and revegetation, which are directly linked to the city’s blood-lead reduction program.
Recycling the sites industrial process wastewater will produce up to 1,600 m³/d of high quality water for use by Nyrstar, which currently uses 1.8 million m³ of water each year.
Osmoflo has included energy recovery in the RO treatment process. Concentrate produced by the recycling plant containing the removed salts and other materials will be disposed of via the existing Process Effluent Treatment & Storage system as per EPA licence conditions.
The plant is expected to be commissioned in early January 2012.