DuPont has used GE water treatment technology to reduce cooling water used at its Dordrecht, Netherlands facility by 20 percent.
GE carried out a comprehensive water management assessment at the plant, one of DuPont’s largest in Europe, and found that it could decrease water consumption by improving the efficiency of the site’s cooling tower. Cooling water systems are essential to production in many industrial plants, and they can require a considerable amount of water to run, DuPont says.
GE then implemented a water treatment program, using its GenGard chemical treatments and a dosing system, to reduce chloride concentrations in the intake cooling water. This almost doubled overall system efficiency, allowing the plant to reduce fresh water intake by 91,000 cubic meters a year, DuPont said, and returning $175,000 to its bottom line.
“The project is in line with DuPont’s sustainability efforts that include a commitment to reducing water consumption by at least 30 percent over the next ten years at manufacturing sites where fresh water supply is either scarce or limited,” DuPont site manager Gordon P. Tait said. “In addition to supporting our sustainability goals, this technology will allow us to run a more efficient operation and will help us protect critical assets from corrosion, deposition and biological fouling.”
DuPont said the project also cut CO2 emissions and improved site safety, by reducing acid deliveries by truck from 130 to 15 a year.
The chemical manufacturer is a member of the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), whose Global Water Tool is designed to allow companies to perform comprehensive water risk assessments across their portfolios. GEMI is currently developing the Local Water Tool, to help companies understand site-specific water risks and opportunities.
Last October General Electric took the top spot in Maplecroft’s Climate Innovation Index U.S. 100 for the second year in a row, for its efforts to manage carbon emissions as well as profits on climate opportunities.
Picture credit: Antonio Arena
