JUNE 2010
APPLYING THOUGHT TO WATER IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Safe water Using Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) technology helped Dubai Sports City widen the scope for wastewater re-use within the development ON THE RECORD Ian Lomax, Strategic Marketing Manager, Dow Water & Process Solutions
NEWS DNA detection keeps Legionella at bay Emerson Process launches Abu Dhabi office
INTERVIEW Jose I. de la Fuente, GCC Area Manager -Water Utilities, Telvent
PHOTO-OP Close encounter with an MBR Plant
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Celebrating the outstanding achievements of MENA Water Sector
November 2010 H20 Water Awards will be presented to outstanding nominations in the following categories: • Best Water Project • Best Waste-Water Project • Innovative Use / Application of Technology • Water Efficiency Leader • Build Water
• Best Water Consultancy • Water / Energy Nexus • Best Facility Manager - Water • Water Communications & Marketing
please visit www.h2ome.net/awards for more details For event enquiries, contact: Deep Karani (Events Manager) Tel: +971 4 375 6839 GSM: +971 50 8585 905 E-mail: deep@cpi-industry.com
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CONTENTS
applying thought to water in the middle east JUNE 2010
COVER STORY
Safe water
Using Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) technology helped Dubai Sports City widen the scope for wastewater re-use within the development By Anoop K Menon
28
06 EDITORIAL
Taken for granted
08 Happenings
• Round Up • The Region • At Large
22 ON THE RECORD
12
20
Ian Lomax, Strategic Marketing Manager, Dow Water & Process Solutions
26 MARKET PLACE 32 PHOTO-OP
Close encounter with an MBR Plant
34 INTERVIEW
Jose I. de la Fuente, GCC Area Manager Water Utilities, Telvent
36 TENDERS & CONTRACTS
22
30
34
38 EVENTS WATCH
...WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHY & HOW OF THE MIDDLE EAST POWER INDUSTRY
Tel: +971 4 3756830 • Fax: +971 4 4341906 www.cpi-industry.com
editor’s note Taken for granted F
rom the windows of our 20th floor office, the Arabian Gulf is clearly visible. Its waters are calm, benign, inviting and often colourful; it is also a view that me, you and many others have now taken for granted. But the Arabian Gulf is more than just a great view. It is an inescapable part of our daily life too. It is the main source of water (obtained through desalination) for many countries at its periphery. There is an economic dimension too as the Gulf is a vital oil & gas transport route, accounting for almost one third of the world’s oil exports and approximately 18% of gas shipments. However, all over the world, the mighty oceans and seas are changing, probably for the worse. The following snippets explain why. According to a report by European Science Foundation, a combination of ocean acidification and global warming may be the most critical environmental and economic challenge of the century. For long, oceans have buffered the effects of global warming by absorbing almost a third of the CO2 emitted from fossil fuel use. In fact, the Global Carbon Project notes that the global oceanic CO2 sink removed 26% of all CO2 emissions for the period 2000-2008. Today the oceans are more acidic than they have ever been for at least 20 million years. This chemical change could cause significant consequences to marine ecosystems and the goods and services that they provide. The European report points out that a business-as-usual scenario will result in the ocean becoming 150% more acidic by the end of this century. A study by Livermore National Laboratory noted that the projected increases in CO2 in the atmosphere may drive ocean pH values, the scale for measuring acidity, to change more rapidly than at any time over the last 25 million years. A reduction in the capacity of this carbon sink would result in a larger CO2 mitigation requirement to control climate change. Integrated research on the impacts of ocean acidification is still a very new field – the full implications of these changes are unclear for marine ecosystems and fisheries resources. One area that has received attention is the impact of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms like corals and shell fish. For example, corals extract dissolved calcium carbonate from seawater to make their external skeletons. As water becomes more acidic, the concentration of calcium carbonate falls, and eventually there is so little that skeletons cannot form. Thus ocean acidification can impact the marine food chain. Ocean currents serve as an important mode of heat transfer, helping the earth to balance heat. Scientists feel that this huge conveyor mechanism is now slowing down. Since the heat has to move, they are predicting more frequent storms and cyclones. Half of the increase in sea level – rising at a rate of 3.2-mm per year – is due to the expansion of the ocean which traps the heat and gets warmer. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the rate of rise may approach five to eight millimetres per year by 2100. The latest model for sea level rise incorporates the Earth’s Albedo. As the ice and snow melts in the Arctic and the Antarctic, the Earth’s Albedo is changing from a reflective surface which reflects most of the sun light back up to an absorptive one, because the exposed brown mud and blue oceans absorb the heat. A decrease in Albedo means more energy is absorbed which causes further warming and more melting. A positive feedback loop is formed which then speeds up the change in global temperature. The relationship between the climate and ocean is a dynamic one. Understanding how the carbon cycle works with regard to the ocean is important to predicting future climate change.
Publisher Dominic De Sousa Managing Director & Associate Publisher Frédéric Paillé • fred@cpi-industry.com Editorial Director & Associate Publisher B Surendar • surendar@cpi-industry.com Editor Anoop K Menon • anoop@cpi-industry.com Sales Director Vedran Dedic • vedran@cpi-industry.com Design Rey Delante • rey@cpi-industry.com Ulysses Galgo • uly@cpi-industry.com Webmaster Troy Maagma • troy@cpidubai.com Database/Subscriptions Manager Purwanti Srirejeki | purwanti@cpi-industry.com ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES Frédéric Paillé: +971 50 7147204 fred@cpi-industry.com Vedran Dedic: +971 50 3756834 vedran@cpi-industry.com Euro Zone and UK Joseph Quinn, HORSESHOE MEDIA Tel: +44 (0)20 8687 4139 Fax: +44 (0)20 8687 4130 Marshall House, 124 Middleton Road Morden, Surrey, SM4 6RW, UK North America Rakesh Saxena, CPI INDUSTRY North America Branch Tel: +1 905 890 5031 Fax: +1 905 890 5031 GSM: +1 416 841 5050 rakesh@cpi-industry.com Published by
Anoop K Menon JUNE 2010
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APPLYING THOUGH T TO WATER IN MIDDLE EAST THE
Safe water
Using Membrane Bio-Re actor (MBR) technology helped Dubai the scope for wastew Sports City widen ater re-use within the development
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ON THE RECORD
Ian Lomax, Strategic Marketing Manager, Dow Water & Process Solutions
NEWS DNA detection keeps Legionella at bay Emerson Process launches Abu Dhabi office
INTERVIEW
Jose I. de la Fuente, GCC Area Manager -Water Utilities, Telvent
PHOTO-OP
Close encounter with
an MBR Plan
(Zinio is a digital publishing firm based in the USA.)
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JUNE 2010
Head Office PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 3756830 Fax: +971 4 4341906 Web: www.cpi-industry.com Printed by: Excel Printing Press, Sharjah, UAE © Copyright 2010 CPI. All rights reserved. While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.
Invitation to join 4,500 water people in Montréal The International Water Association (IWA) is extending a warm invitation to water and sanitation practitioners everywhere to attend the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition in Montréal, Canada from 19–24 September. The IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition is the global event where 4,500 water practitioners gather every second year to progress a common goal of sustainable water management. There will be something for everyone in Montréal. The scientific and technical programme is rich and diverse, covering every facet of the water cycle, from traditional treatment to new water. The exhibition will showcase the world’s leading companies and institutions and provide a snapshot of the water industries of 16 different countries. A Development Corner will focus on what works in developing countries and a Young Water Professionals programme will help to nurture the leaders of tomorrow.
IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 19–24 September 2010 Montréal, Canada Registration and accommodation The Ozaccom Group Tel. +61 7 3854 1611 Fax +61 7 3854 1507 Email ozaccom@ozaccom.com.au General enquiries IWA Tel. +31 703 150 785 Fax +31 703 150 799 Email 2010montreal@iwahq.org Principal sponsors
There will be meetings of IWA specialist groups on a range of water-related topics. These groups are always seeking new blood. The event’s sheer scope and variety will take your breath away, as will the entertainment at the gala dinner – a fun-filled evening of food, friends and an amazing circus arts performance. For more information and to register online go to:
www.iwa2010montreal.org
Institutional sponsor
Organisers
Alliance House, 12 Caxton Street, London SWIH 0QS UK Tel. +44 20 7654 5500 Fax +44 20 7654 5555 Company registered in England No. 3597005. Registered Charity (England) No. 1076690
Photo credits: Environment Canada’s Biosphère © Environment Canada’s Biosphère; Street Scene © Région de Québec, Yves Tessier, Tessima; CirqueEloize_f.berrue-EXIAL_2008-0454 © Cirque Eloize.
Happenings > ROUND up DEWA reports higher water and power production
H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer
The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has achieved 4.5% in water production and 8.91% increase in power generation during the first quarter of this year. According to an announcement by the Dubai Government Media Office, during the first quarter, DEWA commissioned a new 234MW power generation unit at station (M), which follows the commissioning of the last station (L) Phase-2 power generation unit of 226MW capacity and water desalination plant in the last quarter of 2009. Apart from this, DEWA has enhanced its
CAMPAIGN Heroes of the UAE targets private sector Under the patronage of H. E. Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment & Water, the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wild Life Fund (EWS-WWF) has launched ‘Heroes of the UAE – Private Sector’ campaign, to educate local companies on the need to adopt sustainable business practices. The campaign has been developed in partnership with the Environment 8
JUNE 2010
existing power generation capacity by 139MW. H.E. Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, DEWA, said, “The generation of electricity during the first quarter of this year amounted to 5,838 Gigawatt hours... compared to 5,360 Gigawatt hours during the same period in 2009. The quantities of water supplied during the first quarter of 2010 reached 2,1773 million gallons compared to 21,773 million gallons for the same period last year. The increase in production of electricity and water comes in response to consumers’ needs and the development projects in various economic and social sectors in Dubai.” The total production capacity for the station (L) phase-2 is 1,393MW and 55 million gallons of water per day, while the production capacity of the station (M) amounts to 2,000MW and 140 million gallons of water per day. In 2009, the installed production capacity of amounted to 6,997MW compared to 6,676MW in 2008. The desalination capacity in 2009 was 330 million gallons per day, compared to 275 million gallons per day in 2008. The total installed power and desalination capacity of DEWA currently stands at 7,596MW and 330 million gallons per day respectively.
Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) and Masdar, with the support of Emirates Foundation and Etisalat. At a press conference held last month to launch the campaign, EWS-WWF presented case studies to demonstrate how corporates can achieve cost-savings and reduce their carbonfootprint through the adoption of energy and water efficiency practices. These studies were conducted at The Kanoo Group headquarters in Dubai and One to One Hotels in Abu Dhabi, and were part of five makeovers that were sponsored by the Emirates Foundation of Philanthropy and Etisalat. In each company, EWS-
(L toR) H.E. Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry; H.E. Dr Rashid Bin Fahad, Minister of Environment & Water; Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, MD, EWS-WWF; Dr. Eduardo Gonçalves, Director, EAD
WWF conducted energy and water audits to calculate a baseline carbon footprint and identify potential savings. One to One Hotel achieved a carbon footprint reduction of up to 17%, translating into total annual savings of approximately Dh72,000 while The Kanoo Group achieved a carbon footprint reduction of up to 25%, which translates to Dh49,000 of savings on the yearly energy bill through energy efficient lighting. H.E. Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad said: “The government has taken several initiatives in order to document and understand the main contributors and to arrive at long term solutions that are capable of both reducing the UAE’s carbon footprint, and creating a sustainable future.” Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director of EWSWWF, said: “As a leading environmental NGO promoting sustainable lifestyles in the UAE, EWS-WWF is committed to assisting the private sector on their journey towards sustainability, and we invite all companies to sign up to the campaign and work with us to create a more sustainable business community.”
PROJECTS SqWEC begins water production The desalination component of Shuqaiq Water and Electricity Company (SqWEC) has commenced commercial operations and is currently producing 212,000m3/day of desalinated water. H.E. Dr Madani A Alagi, Chairman, SqWEC, said: “The quantity of desalinated water produced will have a positive effect
in meeting the high consumption of water during the summer season in the Jazan and Asir areas. In addition, this reconfirms the statement by H.E. Eng. Abdulah Al- Hossein, the Minster of Water & Electricity, that the problems facing the regions’ residents regarding water shortages will be alleviated.” The facility will also generate 850MWh of electricity by the end of the year. Construction of the project commenced on May 31, 2007 with a timeline of 42 months to complete the project. The overall project cost is SR7.2 billion ($1.9 billion) and includes 16 reverse osmosis (RO) units to desalinate water, three 280MW turbine and boiler units with flue gas desulfurisation to generate power and a substation to connect the plant to the Saudi Electric Company (SEC) grid. Mohammed A Abunayyan, the chairman of ACWA Power International, which is the lead
SOLID WASTE Dulsco showcases expertise at MEWS 2010 Moustafa Hassan
production capacity of 17,520,000m3 of safe drinking water annually. Situated in the northwest part of Thi-Qar Governorate, the Nasser treatment plant will supply fresh drinkable water to over 81,000 people residing in Nasser and the communities around it. Ghammas is located 70 kilometres south east of Al Diwaniyah city, and will cater to over 84,000 residents. Both plants will utilise the Al Gharraf and Ghammas rivers passing through the centre of these towns. “The annual volume of treated water produced by existing facilities in both cities is around 3,538,000m3 annually which doesn’t meet the huge demand. Our expertise and work in other war torn countries around the world will heavily contribute to the success of both projects,” said Moustafa Hassan, Metito’s General Manager for Iraq. The plants are expected to be completed and fully operational by summer 2011.
Oman awards mobile desal contract developer of the project, said: “Shuqaiq’s accomplishments in achieving commercial production of the water desalination plant within the contracted time limit is a strong indicator of the success of the government’s partnerships with the private sector under the umbrella of its Water and Power privatisation programme.” Eng. Abdul Aziz Al-Mahdi, the CEO of Shuqaiq Water & Electricity Company, added: “We look forward to the project reaching full commercial production by the end of 2010 thus achieving its objectives of providing power and water to the public.”
Metito bags Iraq deal worth $50 million Metito has been selected by TRC to procure, design, manufacture, and supply process equipment related to the assembly of two water treatment plants, Naser and Ghammas. Both projects are worth $50 million and will have a combined
Oman’s Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW) has awarded a contract to Septech to install a mobile desalination plant outside of Muscat. The plant comprises of 24 mobile desalination containers that will supply 22.7 million litres of water to the residents of Muscat every day. The plant will cater to 10% of Muscat’s daily potable water requirement. The mobile water units will be supplied by GE Water and Process Technologies.
Yemen desal project Hayel Saeed Anam Group (HSA Group) and Saudi companies are jointly investing in a new desalination project in Yemen, said Abdul-Rahman al-Iriyani, Yemen’s Minister of Water and Environment. The implementation of project will start by end-2010 and will supply water to the governorates of Taiz and Ibb. The 150,000m3/day plant will receive Saudi funding to the tune of $200 million.
Dulsco showcased a range of innovative and award-winning waste management products during its participation at the Middle East Waste Summit 2010, including balers from highly reputed manufacturer Bramidan; Euro Bins, which are powder-coated, 1,100-litre coloured bins with flat black coloured plastic lids; Recycling Bins from UK-based manufacturer LINPAC and Ovetto, an innovatively designed recycling bin that has received various design awards in London and is a practical solution where
there is limited space in areas such as airports, atriums at exhibitions, hotels and shopping malls. Prakash Parab, Director of Dulsco Waste Management Services (WMS), said: “The Waste Summit has been an effective marketing and networking platform that allows us to better interact with potential clients and discuss in detail the strategic advantages of Dulsco’s innovative waste management products. Our range of innovative, customised and high-performance waste management solutions caters to the different demands of diverse market segments, including real estate, contractors, hospitality, communities and municipalities.”
joint venture Radius Systems signs JV pact with Senaat Infrastructure plastic pipe systems manufacturer Radius Systems has struck a joint venture agreement with the Abu Dhabi-based Senaat Group. The agreement will bring Radius Systems’ manufacturing expertise to the UAE and JUNE 2010
9
Happenings > ROUND up
(L to R) Radius Systems CEO Stuart Godfrey & Khalifa Al Suwaidi, Partner, Senaat flanked by senior representatives from both organisations
will lead to full-scale manufacturing in Abu Dhabi. It is part of a planned global expansion programme by UK based Radius Systems, which had a management buyout in 2008 from previous parent Uponor of Finland. Initially, Radius Systems will introduce high-performance plastic pipes and fittings systems for potable and nonpotable water, gas and telecommunications to this key growth area. By providing products – and subsequently full production processes – Radius Systems will bring the benefits of world-class products and expertise to companies operating in the Gulf region. Senaat’s investment objective is to develop industrial downstream projects that will contribute significantly to the achievement of the Abu Dhabi government’s Economic Vision 2030.
AWARDS Koch Membrane named ‘Water Technology Company of the Year’ Koch Membrane Systems (KMS), a leading developer and manufacturer of membranes and membrane filtration systems, was honoured as the Water Technology Company of the Year 2010 by the International Desalination Association (IDA). KMS was recognised for its large diameter MegaMagnum Reverse Osmosis (RO) products and PURON ultra-filtration (UF) membranes used for membrane bioreactors (MBR). “We are very pleased to accept this award, which recognises our success and the difficult task of driving technology change in this market,” said David H Koch, president of Koch Membrane Systems. “Our commitment to MegaMagnum elements, pressure vessels, and systems allowed KMS to truly revolutionise 10
JUNE 2010
RO and drive overall installed costs down. We have invested heavily over the last 10 years, developing outstanding technologies, improving our manufacturing capabilities and hiring world-class talent in all areas to create a company of enormous potential.” MegaMagnum RO elements, introduced in 2004, greatly reduce the costs for RO systems by reducing building footprints, and increasing membrane area. KMS’ newly designed pressure vessels (patents pending) help make large diameter elements more economically attractive than the older eight inch elements. To secure supply for the increasing demand in its large diameter RO, KMS invested in a new state-of-the-art, highly automated production line at its Wilmington, Massachusetts headquarters.
Dr Imad Haffar, MD, Palm Water receiving the award
Palm Utilities receives ‘Best Water Project Award’ Palm Utilities, a leading provider of integrated and sustainable utility solutions, received the Best Water Project Award during the Arab Investment Summit 2010 held in Abu Dhabi. Palm Utilities was recognised for its use of the Dual Work Exchanger Energy Recovery (DWEER) system at the Palm Jumeirah seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, resulting in up to 19% power savings and a significant reduction in carbon footprint. The DWEER system has been in operation for the past 18 months and for the period January 2009 to January 2010, the system has helped save over 3.3 million kilowatt-hour in energy consumption through the reuse of reject energy. Yousuf Kazim, CEO of Palm Utilities, said: “Environmental responsibility is a corporate culture that is cherished within the entire organisation. In this regard, Palm Utilities has made significant investments to constantly improve our technology and maintain a highly skilled and experienced team of specialists. The latest distinction we have received at the
Arab Investment Summit validates our sincere desire to contribute positively in the sustainable development of our society. Moreover, the Best Water Project Award reaffirms our strong capability to overcome difficult challenges in our efforts to deliver premium-quality utility solutions.”
PROJECT MANAGEMENT Survey unearths leading causes of project failure A survey conducted by Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS), which provides project portfolio management solutions, has pinpointed key reasons behind project failures in the region. Majority of respondents pointed to improper planning and methodology (78%), lack of communication (75%), and unrealistic target completion dates (67%) as the top three contributing factors to project failure. They also identified inadequate commitment and involvement from senior management (59%), insufficient budgets and resources (56%), too many assumptions and unknowns (51%), project politics and conflicts (38%), lack of set targets or measurable results (45%), and the formation of the wrong project team (27%) as other major causes. The findings highlight
Bassam Samman
an alarming region-wide underinvestment in enhancing project management competencies across various project-based sectors. “The downturn revealed a lot of flaws in the way the region manages its projects. By now, projectbased businesses should have already learned their lessons, and yet our survey results show that many still adhere to poor practices and either delay or avoid key project management investments. We hope these findings serve as a wake-up call to project managers and make them realise that they need to invest more in project management tools and talent if they want to maintain the viability and competitiveness of their respective developments,” said Bassam Samman, CEO and founder, CMCS, which provides project portfolio management solutions.
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Happenings > the region
3
Number of days that Bahrain’s emergency water storage can cater for Source: Gulf Daily News
(L to R): Dr Mohamed Dawoud, Manager of Water Resources Department, EAD; H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General, EAD and Razan Al Mubarak, Managing Director, EWS-WWF
The big saver Environment Agency- Abu Dhabi (EAD) to install water-saving devices in every tap in the Emirate; targets annual savings of 75 billion litres The Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi (EAD) kicked off its Watersavers Campaign last month. Billed as one of the most ambitious water-saving campaigns in the region, Watersavers campaign is targeting to install water saving devices in every tap inside every home, school, mosque, government and commercial building in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. EAD began its individual outreach to 55,000 households in the Tourist Club Area, the most densely-populated area in Abu Dhabi city and hopes to install an average of five to six water-saving devices per household over the next 12 months. Currently, Abu Dhabi accounts for an average domestic consumption rate of 550 litres of water per person per day through daily activities such as showering, bathing, using toilet facilities and household appliances, washing cars and watering gardens. This per capita rate is among 12
JUNE 2010
the highest in the world and is almost three times as high as the United Nations benchmark rate of 180 litres per person per day. EAD hopes to bring down the high per capita water consumption in the Emirate through this innovative campaign. The water-saving devices, comprising of an O-ring and mesh gauze, will be installed by a team of accredited water installers who will visit residential buildings in the TCA over the next 12 months. Dr. Mohamed Dawoud, Manager, Water Resources Department, EAD, said: “Taps account for around 60% of household water consumption. They are one of the easiest starting points where we can reduce domestic water usage. These tiny water-saving devices will be installed easily, cleanly and quickly into taps to reduce water consumption by mixing air with the water, reducing the flow from the tap by up to half.”
68
Number of dams to be built in the UAE in the near future Source: Ministry of Environment & Water
55.5
Billion m3/year. Egypt’s share of Nile river water Source: Al Jazeera.net
6
Billion Saudi Riyals. Required investment to protect Jeddah against future floods Source: The Saudi Gazette
These devices will be provided at no cost to building tenants or owners. EAD will be installing the devices, which cost just under seven dirhams each, free-ofcharge. Tenants will be informed of the campaign via house-to-house marketing and an intensive local advertising drive in the district, directing the public towards a dedicated website at www.watersavers. ae and a call centre, where informed multilingual staff will be able to answer individual questions from callers. The benefits of these water saving devices are two-fold. First, EAD estimates that as much as 550 litres could be saved per day per household, amounting to 75 billion litres per year across the Emirate, or as much as 30,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. Secondly, the tenants will benefit from a positive reduction in their water bills. Dawoud continued, “We have calculated that each household may see its average water bill drop by as much as Dh100 per month. So the Watersavers campaign truly presents a win-win for Abu Dhabi’s residents and the environment.” Following a pilot study, where these water-saving devices were installed in a number of schools, mosques, hotels, labour camps and government buildings in the Emirate, EAD received positive feedback from the Imams, school administrators and tenants. By combining direct action, ambitious targets and building of broad public awareness, the Watersavers Campaign becomes perhaps the first 360 degree water-saving campaign of its kind in the Middle East and of its scale in the world. H.E. Majid Al Mansouri, Secretary General of EAD, added: “Through Watersavers and other initiatives, EAD is delivering positive, practical solutions to the critical challenges faced by Abu Dhabi. EAD’s remit is to help preserve our natural heritage and protect our future but each one of us must take personal responsibility in ‘doing our bit’ to support.” The Watersavers campaign is supported by the Ministry of Environment & Water, the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA), the Abu Dhabi and Al Ain Distribution Companies and the Emirates Wildlife Society-World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF).
DNA detection to keep Legionella at bay Dubai-based Advanced Biotechnology Centre (ABC) is the first private lab in the GCC region to employ DNA technique for Legionella detection Dubai-based Advanced Biotechnology Centre (ABC) has become the only laboratory in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) region certified to provide DNA technique for Legionella detection, following its ISO 17025 accreditation by the Dubai Accreditation Centre (DAC). Legionella species which occur naturally in soil, rivers and lakes have the ability to successfully colonise man-made water handling and storage systems and HVAC systems. This colonisation, proliferation and subsequent circulation of the bacterium under ideal environmental conditions have raised concerns among Facility Management (FM) companies, the hotel industry and also common people aware of the potential health issues Legionella engenders. The potential for Legionella to become a health
hazard to the point of being fatal to a large number of people is greatly enhanced by conventional water and air conditioning engineering methods used in re-circulating cooling towers, evaporative condensers, showers, fountains, artificial lakes, water storage and hot & cold water distribution systems. The risk is also present in health care systems such as dental chair units. Dr Sanjeet Mishra, Technical Manager, ABC, said DNA-based testing for Legionella gives quicker and more accurate results than the conventional method, which takes 13-15 days compared to 48 hours for the DNA technique. He continued, “When you get a positive result at the end of 14 days, you realise that your system has been affected. However, for that period, you have exposed people staying or
Images of legionella
JUNE 2010
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Happenings > the region
Advanced Biotechnology Centre (ABC) is the only DNA based testing lab which is accredited to the ISO 17025 by Dubai Accreditation Centre (DAC)
working in the premises to Legionella.” Both conventional and DNA based Legionella testing are recommended and performed in line with the American Public Health Association (APHA) method along with the ISO 11731 procedure. In the conventional method, the plate has to be incubated for at least seven days to produce a colony and under the right conditions too. Further, appropriate methods are utilised to try and ensure that except for Legionella, the growth of other organisms is prevented. At the end of 7-10 days, presumptive colonies are counted. The presumptive colonies are again subjected to confirmatory tests to determine whether it is a case of Legionella. Dr Mishra explained that the principle behind the DNA based technique is simple: the DNA carries genetic information which is a characteristic of and specific to any organism, from a microbe to a human being and therefore, can be used as a signature for detection. Legionella has a unique DNA sequence which can be detected using conserved regions that can be targeted as markers or the target DNA. The DNA-based PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) technique detection follows the same initial processing; the difference being that post-filtration, instead of putting the sample in the plate, DNA is directly extracted. When the extraction is done, the total DNA of all the organisms present in the sample is obtained. But the primers employed in the subsequent PCR are very specific in that it will amplify and detect only Legionella. “The PCR technique has revolutionised the concept of molecular diagnostic since as low as approximately 5-6 Legionella bacterial cells can be detected,” said Dr Mishra. Aided by suitable temperatures and relative humidity, the numerous residential 14
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and public buildings, district cooling plants, artificial water bodies, water features and irrigation systems can harbour and spread Legionella. Recognising the seriousness of the issue, Dubai Municipality has begun enforcing a three-month testing regime for Legionella. The Public Health & Safety Department of Dubai Municipality has also a strict regulation for testing Legionella in dental chairs. However, while the authorities in Dubai accept the results obtained by DNA testing, customer acceptance in general has been a ‘work in progress.’ Existing guidelines are inclined towards the conventional technique because the remedial measures required to be taken depends on the count. But Dr Mishra feels that the bottom line should be zero-tolerance towards this potential health hazard. “If you have detected Legionella, it means that at some point of time, your system is infected. If the DNA test result is positive, you can start taking remedial measures from the 49th hour itself,” he noted. With regard to pricing, Dr Mishra claimed that for Legionella testing, the cost of DNA technique is at par with the conventional method. At present, ABC offers DNA testing for Legionella directly to customers in the hospitality industry and to Facility Management (FM) companies, District Cooling companies, government organisations, health care facilities etc and also to private home owners.
Both conventional and DNA based Legionella testing are recommended and performed in line with the American Public Health Association (APHA) method along with the ISO 11731 procedurE
Waste no more MEWS 2010 shines spotlight on unified approach to waste management
The second edition of Middle East Waste Summit (MEWS 2010), organised by Dubai Municipality in cooperation with Turret-Middle East, was held at the Palladium at Dubai Media City from May 18 to 20, 2010. MEWS 2010 was held under the patronage of H. H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Minister of Finance and Industry and Chairman of Dubai Municipality. Addressing the opening session, Eng. Salah Al Amiri, Assistant Director General of Dubai Municipality for Environment and Public Health Services Sector called for examining alternative methods in the waste treatment and disposal methods that are technically and financially attractive. While welcoming the contribution of the construction sector to Dubai’s rapid economic growth in the past decade, he pointed out that this growth hasn’t been at the expense of Dubai’s environment, which is evident in the clean air and water and the good living conditions prevalent in the Emirate. Amiri said the need for such forums have increased recently, especially in light of the increasing quantities of waste produced in Dubai as a result of urbanisation and increased industrial activities. “There is a need for practical and appropriate solutions through the use of best practices and new technologies in waste management,” he said. Rapid economic and industrial growth and the expanding population have been the major forces driving up the amount of waste generated in the Gulf region. Countries in the region produced over 22.2 million tonnes of municipal solid waste and 4.6 million tonnes of industrial solid waste in 2009, reflecting the need for more efficient waste management strategies. Eng. Hassan Makki, Director of Dubai Municipality’s Waste Management
The opening session of Middle East Waste Summit 2010
Department, who chaired the opening session entitled ‘Global climate change and the waste industry,’ said the success of the MEWS 2009 played a role in the Municipality extending its cooperation and support to the 2010 edition. He said, “Dubai Municipality developed the MEWS as a platform for governments and businesses in the region to discuss the growing threat posed by improperly managed waste.” The inaugural edition was launched in 2009 by the Municipality to provide a unifying venue for addressing the region’s waste problems. On behalf of H.E. Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, UAE Minister of Environment and Water, Obaid Bin Essa Ahmed, Executive Director of the Municipalities Coordination Office and In-Charge of Environment
Affairs at the Ministry addressed the inaugural session. He talked about the major government initiatives such as the creation of the National Centre for Cleaner Production and rehabilitation of the nation’s landfills. This year’s summit discussions centred on waste avoidance and resource management; policy, regulation and enforcement issues in waste; waste to energy; strategies for municipal waste and recycling; landfills; and construction and industrial waste management. Among the international experts who participated in MEWS 2010 were Dr. Andreas Moening, CEO of the German Association for Waste Management, Fareed I Bushehri, Regional DTIE Officer of the UN Environment Programme, Sarah Sanders
Hewett, Principal Consultant of Hong Kong’s Environmental Resources Management, and Richard Thompson, Technical Officer of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Obsolete Pesticide Programme in Italy. Over 200 business leaders actively participated in the event’s comprehensive programme of international and regional keynote speeches, expert panel discussions, presentations and case studies, and interactive roundtable discussions. “The international attendance we have witnessed this year proves that the Summit has emerged as a reputable platform for tackling one of the region’s most serious and yet underestimated challenges. More importantly, we have observed a better appreciation of how we need to adopt a unified approach to waste management, as reflected by the cooperative strategies that have resulted from the activities of the past three days. MEWS will continue its mission to make the Middle East a more eco-friendly, business, lifestyle and travel location,” said Chris Fountain, Managing Director of Turret Middle East.
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21.04.2010 JUNE 201007:25:35 15
Happenings > the region
Water from the sun
The different systems to be installed in Europe and North Africa will be three compact systems of two different sizes (150 l/day and 300 l/day) and two multimodule two-loop systems (3m3/day and 5m3/day) for full solar energy supply and for combined solar and waste heat energy supply. Comprehensive performance evaluation and water quality analyses will be conducted on these systems. In order to favour the market penetration of MD systems, the project will focus on cost reduction and quality improvement of MD modules and systems. Furthermore, it is aiming to develop components such as brine cooler and brine disposal units for groundwater desalination at inland locations with limited raw water resources. Scalable system configurations are also to be developed, in order to adapt them to different customer demands. For health protection, solar energy-driven units for potable water disinfection will be integrated into the desalination units. Suitable markets and target user groups will be identified for the technology. The Mediras project partners are highly complementary and consist of 10 research institutions, SMEs from the solar business and distributors who have a network in Africa and Spain. For more information, visit www.mediras.eu News Courtesy: Research EU Focus April 2010 edition.
EU-funded project to test solar-powered membrane distillation (MD) technology in Tunisia, Italy and Spain
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systems in the capacity range between 0.1– 20m3/day. It is very robust against different raw water conditions and operable with alternating energy supplies such as solar energy. The Mediras project is placing a strong emphasis on the design, set-up and operation of different demonstration systems. Altogether five systems will be installed in potential user sites in Pantelleria (Italy), Gran Canaria and Tenerife (Spain) and Tunisia.
The Mediras project is placing a strong emphasis on the design, setup and operation of different demonstration systems
Desalination Unit with Heat Recovery
COLD FEED
PV-Module
Membrane HOT FEED
Today, industrial-scale sea and brackish water desalination plants are well developed and provide big cities with fresh water. However, small villages or settlements in remote rural areas do not have the infrastructure to benefit from these techniques. The technical complexity of such large plants is high and cannot easily be scaled down to very small systems and water demands. Furthermore, the lack of energy sources, as well as missing or weak and unreliable connections to the electricity grid, complicate the use of standard desalination techniques in such places. In many South Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African countries, hotels and resorts have a significant fresh water problem during the summer season. Many already have their own desalination system to produce fresh water from sea or brackish water. In arid and semi-arid regions, the lack of drinkable water often coincides with high isolation. This speaks for the use of solar energy as the driving force in water treatment systems, especially in remote rural areas without grid connection and with limited access to fossil fuel. The main disadvantage of common desalination technologies compared to solar energy, such as reverse osmosis, multistage flash (MSF) or multiple effect distillation (MED), is the need for a constant power supply close to 24 hours a day. Especially for small (i.e. < 50â&#x20AC;&#x201C;100m3/ day) solar-driven desalination systems aiming for low technical complexity, new technologies must be developed which can be better adapted to the intermittent energy supply delivered by the Sun. The modular system set-up to be used by the Mediras project is based on the highly innovative membrane distillation (MD) technology. MD is a desalination technology that has been investigated over the past few years and that uses solar thermal and photovoltaic energy supplies. The results demonstrate that MD is mostly suitable for small distributed desalination
Solar Thermal Collector
Fresh Water Storage
Brine Disposal Compact System: Principle Set-Up
Sea Water
Emerson Process Management launches Abu Dhabi office Invests $4 million in a new 22,000-square-foot office as part of the company’s 2010 regional expansion plans
L-R: Dave Tredinnick, Jim Nyquist, Richard Olson and Cor Corbeek
Emerson Process Management, offering process automation solutions and wholly-owned by Emerson, has launched its new office in Abu Dhabi at an investment of $4 million. The new 22,000-square-footoffice located in Musaffah Industrial Area was inaugurated by US Ambassador to the UAE Richard Olson. Speaking at the launch, Dave Tredinnick, President of Emerson Process Management Middle East and Africa, said, “Emerson Process Management is continuing to invest across the Middle East and Africa, in terms of people, facilities and leadership. We have experienced tremendous growth across all of our businesses. One of our key growth initiatives is to continue to move our operations closer to our customers, in terms of manufacturing, service and support. This year we will also be opening new facilities in close proximity to our installed base, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia and Ras Laffan, Qatar. The launch of our new
Emerson Process Management is continuing to invest across the Middle East and Africa, in terms of people, facilities and leadership. We have experienced tremendous growth across all of our businesses
Abu Dhabi facility is a great example of our commitment to delivering localised, sales, service and engineering to satisfy our customers’ demands for Emerson Process Management Solutions.” Cor Corbeek, General Manager, Central Region, Middle East and Africa, added: “Emerson Process Management combines superior products and technology offering its customers industry-specific engineering, consulting, project management, and maintenance services. The importance of Abu Dhabi as a key growth market, increasing competitiveness within the sector and the need to offer comprehensive sales and after-sales services, led to the launch of this enormous wholly-owned facility in Abu Dhabi.” Emerson Process Management’s Abu Dhabi facility currently has 40 employees, which is expected to more than quadruple within the next five years. It will serve as a sales office and Flow Service Centre, providing systems staging and integration for process systems and solutions as well as power and water solutions, Rosemount quick ship and repairs, project engineering and services, training and project management solutions. Ahmad Nabulsi, Managing Director of Trizac Abu Dhabi, Emerson Process Management’s local business partner, said, “We have been associated with Emerson Process Management since 1994, responsible for their local distribution and sales. This new facility will go a long way in reassuring customers about the company’s commitment to this market, as well as assist in exploring new business opportunities to further stimulate the phenomenal growth the company has experienced over the past years.” JUNE 2010
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Happenings > at large
Clockwise from top: Glanerbrug STP • Norit X-Flow 3mm membrane module • Norit Airlift MBR Megablock
EU funds innovative MBR project
Regge & Dinkel Water Board and Norit X-Flow to pilot innovative wastewater treatment concept Regge and Dinkel, the Water Board of the eastern region of Holland and Norit X-Flow have received a Euro3.4 million grant from the European Union’s Water Framework Directive Innovation Programme to deploy Megablock, a new modular concept for municipal wastewater treatment developed by Norit X-Flow, at the wastewater treatment plant in Glanerbrug. The Water Framework Directive Innovation Programme promotes projects which are practical, innovative and cost-effective in improving surface water quality. In the first phase, the new concept’s technically efficiency and cost-effectiveness for upgrading existing wastewater treatment plants and improving permeate water quality will be demonstrated. In the second phase, the Glanerbrug wastewater treatment plant will be equipped with a second Megablock unit. The additional treated wastewater will be fed indirectly into the surface water system of a local stream in an urban area. By sending water
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to the stream in times of drought, more water will flow through the streams and ponds and improve the water quality significantly. The project is expected to be completed by late 2011. The new Airlift MBR Megablock concept is a compact-modular purification system that combines biological treatment with ultra-filtration membrane
separation. The flexible concept consists of self-sustaining block shaped segments, that can be easily clamped together to blocks when extra capacity is required. These pre-designed blocks minimise plant engineering and the on-site construction period significantly. Block-based plants can be installed and running in less time, at a lower cost and with a smaller footprint than any other technology available to date. This concept was showcased at Aquatech India in February this year. The combination of biological treatment and membranes offers several advantages over conventional activated sludge systems, such as a higher biomass concentration and no sludge carryover. As a result the biological treatment system is much more compact, while the external placement of the membranes assures a clean and robust process. This, combined with the high level of automation of the new Airlift MBR Megablock concept creates an operatorfriendly environment. This project is funded by the Water Framework Directive Innovation Programme, performed by NL Innovation and assigned by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management.
Pollution of Madrid’s Rivers
Spanish researchers find that wastewater treatment plants fail to fully degrade many pollutants emanating from households A team of researchers The study focuses on the region of Madrid, demonstrated in 21 large metropolitan areas in from IMDEA, the Madrid but results would “certainly” be similar in the the US and other super populated regions. CST-2052 H2O Mag 4.72x7.09 4/27/10 10:57 AM Page 1 Institute for Advanced Studies, rivers in other densely populated regions, as was Samples were taken in three different and the University of Almeria has confirmed the presence of 88 pollutants in river waters in the region of Madrid. These compounds, most of which are household personal care products and pharmaceuticals, are to a great extent eliminated at wastewater treatment plants, but the fraction that remains is detected in the river waters. • What are the foundation requirements? The study has been published • Which type of tank is best for this application? in Journal of Environmental • Who produces certified drawings for the project? Analytical Chemistry. “Wastewater treatment plants • What is the better value, including maintenance fail to fully degrade many and repair? household products, such as biocides and aromas present in With over 100 years of storage manufacturing creams, toothpaste and shampoo. experience, CST Industries has the information, As a result, they end up in the know-how and practical advice you need. When you’re environment”, said Amadeo R Fernández-Alba, co-author of the ready to begin the planning process, to consider tank study and Professor of Chemistry selection, to prepare project budgets or to prepare at UAL. specifications for bidding, we can help. The researcher underlined the fact that “there is no imminent Before you make a decision, make us your go-to danger, as the concentration and toxicity of most of the resource for storage tank information. To receive compounds is low, but the factual, explanatory “Think Tank” bulletins, register situation must be evaluated and online at www.tanks.com or call your CST sales monitored using parameters that professional today. guarantee they are harmless both in the short and long term”. These substances are degraded quickly by the environment, but constant discharges make them appear persistent. Fernández-Alba acknowledges that nobody knows the consequences that the combined presence of all these chemical compounds, many of which are medicines, could have on our health and the environment. Most of the 88 contaminants ©2010D CST-2052 “are not regulated, although the possibility that they may achieve Phone: +1-913-748-4514 • Fax: +1-913-621-4071 this status is not discarded”. info@tanks.com
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JUNE 2010
19
Happenings > at large
A view of the Manzanares River
months in 2008 from the rivers Tajo, Tajuña, Jarama, Alberche, Henares, Guadarrama, Aulencia, Manzanares, Lozoya and Perales. The largest concentrations of pollutants were found in the most populated areas in the centre and south of the region.
Risk of emerging pollutants In order to confirm the nature of the 88 chemical compounds, the researchers used advanced analysis techniques (solid phase-extraction and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with state-of-the-art analysers). Concentrations ranged from one to 652 nanogrammes/ litre for nine priority substances or candidate pollutants, and from 110 to 9,942 ng/l for 79 emerging pollutants. According to the European Union Water Framework Directive, there are “priority” pollutants, which are persistent and toxic, such as organochloride compounds, other “candidates” that are being studied 20
JUNE 2010
to ascertain whether they could be priority substances and a third group of “emergents”, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, with a low level of persistence and toxicity, but which could become problematic if they accumulate. The study also indicates that three substances constitute a potential risk for aquatic organisms: ciprofloxacin (an antibiotic), ibuprofen and 4-AAA (metamizole or metamizole sodium metabolites). As a result, more in-depth research is recommended. The researchers also confirm that two of the compounds analysed, caffeine and nicotine (on present in tobacco), could be used as quick indicators of the overall contamination of river waters due to human activity, without having to analyse all the substances. “Building complete databases of pollutants and rivers will make it possible to compare, solve specific environmental problems and enhance the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants,” Fernández-Alba concluded.
Wastewater treatment plants fail to fully degrade many household products, such as biocides and aromas present in creams, toothpaste and shampoo. As a result, they end up in the environment
The contractors and subcontractors on the job were trained in sustainability practices that they can use with other LEED jobs. We’re creating the green collar workforce of tomorrow. p6
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Case-in point
A Metasys® building management system coordinates all control activities across the facilities and provides a single point of access to the information required for optimizing efficiency, comfort and safety.
The newly expanded Johnson Controls global headquarters demonstrates the benefits of a three-pronged approach to sustainability.
may 2010 • www.cpi-industry.com
Every ‘Phil’ Counts
We look at how the Grand page 5 Hyatt Dubai and its property manager, Phil Barnett Runoff water is collected through permeable on the parking lots and directed to a have cut water and powerpaving detention pond, thereby reducing the environmental impact on groundwater consumption through their and waterways. retrofit initiatives
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Why should our buildings be so obese? asks Solar thermal systems supply more than 30 percent of the hot water needs for two buildings. Sarfraz Dairkee, adding that it is important Metasys is a registered trademark of Johnson Controls, Inc. to address © 2009 Johnson Controls, Inc. Printed in USA CSST-09-103 (Rev 1 www.johnsoncontrols.com issues that give rise to retrofit opportunities. rey delante
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page 7
Retrofit News and Chronicle
Feature
Engineering conservation In an interview with Climate Control Middle East, Phil Barnett, Property Manager at Grand Hyatt Dubai, gives an insight into the various initiatives the hotel has taken to make it environmentally sustainable. The article also brings to light the fact that engineers are often the unsung heroes in the battle of conservation.
A
hotel is a microcosm. Running it is akin to running a small community of diverse people with varying needs and demands. And to run it efficiently and economically is a challenge. Add the dimension of making it an environmentally sustainable undertaking, and it becomes a balancing act. Phil Barnett should know. He, as the Property Manager of Grand Hyatt Dubai, is familiar with its inner workings. He knows that behind all the glitz and glamour, a luxury hotel needs to have a welloiled and complex machinery that keeps the establishment running. As a longtime resident of Dubai, with his relevant and rich experience at Hyatt Regency Deira, he has brought to the table innovative measures that are helping make Grand Hyatt Dubai environmentally sustainable. THE POWER OF AN IDEA During his time at Hyatt Regency, Barnett was instrumental in installing a condensate reclamation system in the hotel. Thanks to the system, Barnett and his team were able to capture cold water runoff from chilled water coils, which they collected and piped to cooling towers as make-up water for the cooling towers. “The best part of the unique measure was that the condensate water was very cold,” Barnett says. “That, in itself, was a
step forward in terms of savings, as it cut down on refrigeration plant power consumption. So, on partially humid days, we got 25 gallons a day of the water. Since cold water is being sent into a system that is already producing cold water, the reclamation system not only saves water, but also, the power is absolutely free, except for the power consumption, in the form of pump costs. Apart from that, there are no running costs.” THE BACKROOM BOYS Engineers are often the unsung heroes in the cause of energy saving. Barnett echoes this sentiment when he says: “As engineers, we continually look at new ways of power conservation.” A cost-cutting initiative Barnett introduced in the hotel exemplifies this: changing the electricity steam boilers into gas-fired boilers. “I thus reduced electricity consumption and cost,” says Barnett. “In those days, we did not have the concept of Green Buildings. Such buildings did not exist. But that’s what these initiatives amounted to – water and power savings. We were looking at energy conservation.” Barnett also introduced the regimen of a yearly thermograph survey, which helped in identifying air leaks. “Through the initiative, we stopped air conditioned air from escaping from the building,”
Phil Barnett
“In those days, we did not have the concept of Green Buildings. Such buildings did not exist. But that’s what these initiatives amounted to – water and power savings. We were looking at energy conservation.”
says Barnett. “It identified installation failures and air conditioning losses.” As a remedy, Barnett and his men installed air curtains and brought costs down. EVERY ‘PHIL’ COUNTS There was a time in Dubai, when people and businesses used power indiscriminately. There seemed to be a perennial supply of it, and not many were interested in counting the costs – both economic and environmental. But everyone was made to sit up and pause for thought when costs began to pinch. “Early in the 1990s – in 1992, in fact – the price of city’s power increased from 7.50 fils/KW to 15 fils/KW,” recalls Barnett. “It was a 100% increase! It caused people to press the panic buttons, and everybody got onto the energy-conservation bandwagon. Today, it is 33 fils!”
Pages 2 - 3
MAY 2010 issue
SCREAMING IT FROM ROOFTOPS In 2003, Grand Hyatt opened, and Barnett executed a couple of innovative concepts there. One of them was a solar hot water project. Barnett elaborates: “It was an idea I had to use the cinema (Grand Cineplex) roof space, which was wide open, and which gets sunlight all day long. And it is adjacent to the hotel’s dieselfired hot water plant. So, by installing solar panels, I was able to produce hot water that was heated by solar energy.” This is how the system worked, and still does: In conjunction with storage facility, the water was heated during the day and well into the evening, at which point, the diesel-fired boiler took over. “I’m achieving a high temperature, and I need 70ºC to satisfy the internal requirements of the building,” Barnett says. “I have been saving diesel fuel consumption by 33% every year. That’s a heck of a lot of carbon – a gallon of diesel equals 2.7 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide. So, it’s savings in hundreds of thousands of gallons. It is not only a saving on diesel costs, but also a reduction in carbon emissions.” SPRINGING A SURPRISE Apart from introducing innovative ideas, troubleshooting is another of Barnett’s specialities. The trouble, in this case, sprung in the form of mildew and fungus in the residential building of the Grand Hyatt. “In summer, we received hot and humid air, and we were not able to cool it enough to get the moisture out,” recounts Barnett. “The dehumidification system would have cost us 175KW/ hour in electrical reheating, to dehumidify the necessary fresh air. I overcame this by installing two coils in each
fresh air unit.” The problem, Barnett figured out, was humidity entering the apartment – an inability to cool the outside air below its dew point. Thus, humidity was being carried indoors, as a result of which, mildew and fungus sprouted. Design consultants offered conventional dehumidification solutions, including duct re-heating and/or desiccant wheels. Both solutions would have meant consumption of very large amounts of electricity. Calculations showed the estimates at 175KW/hour. Barnett hit upon a simple plan: “My solution was a thin coil placed on the fresh air stream before the chilled water coil, and connecting it to a similar coil after the chilled water coil. A closed loop circulated with a fractional horsepower pump through each coil. This carried outside air temperature – which can reach 45ºC – to the inner coil, when the air passing through it is reheated from 12ºC to 17ºC. This allowed us to cool the incoming air below its dew point, thus expelling all humidity, and then reheating this air using a heat transfer. This achieved a temperature of 5ºC and solved the problem, with no electrical consumption. I did this four years ago, and have not had a problem since then.” GOING DOWN THE DRAIN Barnett’s next project at the Grand Hyatt was to install an effluent treatment plant. “Firstly, I got the city of Dubai to give me a second effluent connection,” Barnett explains. “The Director of Drainage agreed to help supply the effluent to cooling tower make-up water. The effluent has lot of suspended solids and has minerals in it. I installed a treatment
The Hyatt initiative The Hyatt head office has set up a special division for conservation, with its own Vice President, to administer global Hyatt environmental initiatives. Under this, each hotel is monitored and compared electronically. Global reports are issued to gauge their performance, based on overall targets. “We are introducing compulsory energy audits,” says Phil Barnett. “We are given targets, benchmarks, lists of conservation techniques, operational procedures, down to devices, such as timers and motion detectors. All these technologies can save electricity and water.” Barnett informs that in addition, every Hyatt hotel has formed a green team consisting of representatives from all levels and departments in the building. “We sit together on a monthly basis and talk about our observations and ideas, and where they see savings potential,” he elaborates. The ideas that emerge from the meetings are highlighted in the minutes and action plans are issued. In addition, the green team’s initiatives are shared by all Hyatt hotels. Barnett adds: “If someone in some other Hyatt hotel – say, in California – has a good idea, we pick it up in Dubai. Many of the good ideas do not come only from the top management but also from the guy at the operational level.”
plant to filter the particulates suspended in the water. Secondly, I installed an RO section to remove some of the dissolved minerals by mixing these two waters together. I produced make-up water that was similar in consistency to Dubai mains water.” The entire exercise had interesting and far-reaching implications. It translated into environmental and economic sustainability. For one, the city supplies effluent water at a fraction of the cost of mains water. This means that in summer, the hotel is able to save 100,000 gallons of drinking water a day. Installing automatic taps and flow restrictors in guest rooms was yet another measure the hotel adopted. Albeit a minor, low-cost initiative, it is still a laudable one.
INNOVATION IS THE KEY Barnett, in keeping with hotel’s policy, is always on the lookout for new ways to cut costs and energy consumption. So, when he was recently introduced to a hybrid transformer made in South Korea, he put it to good use. “The South Korean company said that it would save 8-10% of power consumption,” Barnett says. “They offered to install it on a trial basis, at no cost to me. Today, I am happy to say, I have had it running since mid-November 2009, and I get 13-14% average savings in my power consumption every month. I’m happy with the machine. It will pay for itself in one and a half years. After that, it is a case of clear profits.” The device, Barnett explains, has no moving parts, and is, therefore, maintenance-
Retrofit News and Chronicle
Feature
The hybrid transformer from South Korea
free: “The way it works is that it sits next to the DEWA transformer and balances your power and removes all harmonics. In big buildings with VFDs, harmonics is a big problem in increasing your power consumption. In power, you have a nice, smooth wave. When you are supplying a non-linear load, another wave comes backwards and causes interference. And to overcome the back wave, you consume more power. This device cleans up the back wave.” Barnett has taken this innovative experiment a step further: “I showed this device to the DEWA people and told them, ‘This is the future’. It is expensive, but the net result is that you use less power.” Grand Hyatt Dubai currently has 28 transformers, each 1,500 kVA, but only one of the transformers has been fitted with the device. Barnett is studying the loads of the other transformers so that he can take a call on expanding the use of the device in future installations. “I want to save money and power,” says Barnett. LIGHT MINUS HEAT To replace the MR16 halogen spotlights in the hotel is another initiative that Barnett
wants to undertake. “They look nice, but cost money,” he says. “They use 50W of electricity. Over 90% of the electricity is dissipated as heat. LED has replaced the MR16. It is similar in colour and intensity, but uses only 7W of electricity, and burns absolutely cool. So no heat is generated.” This implies that there is less heat load on the building, which in turn, means the air conditioning does not need to be notched up higher to cool the interiors. In the final analysis, not only is there savings in terms of bringing down the energy use from 50W to 7W but there is also a reduction in the heat load. Barnett is, therefore, understandably in a hurry to get rid of the halogen lamps in the hotel. He says with palpable enthusiasm: “I have 2,500 halogen lamps to be replaced with LED. 50W down to 7W, and no heat! So electricity load and air conditioning load will come down. Also, the bulbs will have 25,000 hours as opposed to 3,000 hours’ lifetime. They are expensive, but the payback is six months. Definitely, LED is the way to go. We are looking at installing them this year.”
WATER – GREY AREAS Another initiative Grand Hyatt Dubai is considering is to install a system to conserve rinse water generated by the laundry system. The rinse water has relatively less soap and no dirt. The good news is, it can be captured and processed through a filtration system and into a tank. “After that, it is a matter of delivering the water to the machines as wash water – reusing the water many, many times,” explains Barnett. “The rinse water comes back to the machine as wash water. There is currently fresh water coming in. So that would be 50% savings on consumption of fresh water.” The hotel also has its sights set on using the building’s grey water – capturing it and passing it through a small treatment plant for coloration purposes and cleaning it. It can be subsequently used to flush toilets. Currently, fresh water is being used for this purpose. Barnett, with one eye on water conservation and another on cost cutting, exclaims, “What a waste of this fresh water! Grey water will save us money and 30,000 gallons a day!” Barnett believes that the project can easily be implemented, as the hotel building already has a twopipe system in place. CORPORATE COMMITMENT TOWARDS CONSERVATION Barnet’s personal commitment to safeguard the environment and to cut costs is aligned to that of Hyatt Hotels, which wants to be recognised for its CSR policy, vis-à-vis the environment. The powers that be would like every Hyatt hotel the world over to reduce water and electricity usage by 15% by 2015. “To achieve this, you have to do the kind of things I am doing,” Barnett says. “These initiatives cost money.” The Wasl Corp, which owns the hotel is aware of
the virtues of retrofitting and embracing new ideas to make the establishment more comfortable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Barnett endorses this: “I made a presentation to the owning company. They listened to me and accepted the savings potential. They also appreciated the environmental impact reductions. They were pleased that we were leaning in this direction.” The corporate support has nudged Barnett to push his agenda forward: “Initially, it is a challenge to persuade the owners of any facility, but it depends on how the plan and the vision are presented. It has to be presented properly, and not just the commercial perspective, because in some cases, the ROI period could be long. But the impact on environment is equally important. We are looking at solar lighting technologies.” But Barnett adds with cautious enthusiasm: “We are investigating; I don’t want to rush. I believe in stringent tests of the technologies, and if satisfied, will go in that direction. If they give lights for only four hours, that is not good enough for me.” GRAND PLANS With all the groundwork that Grand Hyatt has done under the guidance of Barnett, LEED certification would, perhaps, be the logical step forward. Barnett concedes this and adds: “Hyatt is one of the founding members of the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC). I am still in contact with Dr Sadek Owainati (EGBC co-founder) – he was the lead consultant for this building, and so he has a soft spot. He is in dialogue with me to turn this into a certified green building. We have to look what it is going to cost us. It is a goal. Certain things we are stuck with, considering it is an already constructed building.”
may 2010 issue
Pages 4 - 5
Case-in point Highlighting regional and global retrofit initiatives
A study in green The newly expanded Johnson Controls global headquarters at Glendale, Wisconsin, demonstrates the benefits of a three-pronged approach to sustainability.
A
growing number of companies increasingly measure their performance using the triple bottom line indicators of economic, social and environmental impact. Johnson Controls Inc, set out to incorporate these values in the construction and expansion of its headquarters campus in Glendale, Wisconsin. The company began demolition of parts of the old structure in Fall 2007, and had a grand opening of its new facility in Fall 2009. It will submit an application to the US Green Building Council to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification for its new campus, which includes four buildings and the surrounding grounds. The company hopes to receive this recognition. The 33-acre complex includes 306,359 square feet of new and completely renovated office space. Two existing buildings with a combined 160,000 square feet area were renovated for the corporate headquarters, and three new buildings were constructed – a 114,599-squarefoot headquarters for its Power Solutions business; a 31,700-square-foot building that includes a cafeteria, meeting rooms and fitness centre and a new four-level parking structure for more than 400 vehicles, including space for plug-in hybrids. BACKED BY EXPERIENCE No newcomer to the green concept, Johnson Controls was aided in its expansion project
by over a century of experience in making buildings energy efficient. A decade ago, its Brengel Technology Center was one of the first LEEDcertified buildings in the world. It also was the very first building in the world to be re-certified LEED GoldExisting Buildings. This translated into the new corporate campus incorporating geothermal heat pumps, photovoltaic energy, underfloor heating and cooling, skylights and bigger windows to increase the use of natural light to reduce dependence on artificial illumination. Collecting rainwater and using it to flush toilets, a parking lot surfaced withreduce permeable “The heat pumps winter heating by about 29 percent pavers tocosts allow rain and versus current natural gas boilers. snowmelt to filter through We’re using geothermal to remove were“The other adopted. condenser heat inreduce summer and heatmeasures pumps winter reduce chiller operating costs by A diverse workforce trained heating costs by about 29 percent 23 percent,” says Vander versus current natural gasHeiden. boilers. in sustainable construction, We’re using geothermal to remove helped execute concepts By using global positioning system condenser heatthese in summer and navigation, theoperating team could determine in a reduce cost-effective way. chiller costs by
to provide exact design and construction measurements that are shared by all project members. Using BIM made it a more cost-effective project, because it helped avoid costly mistakes that can happen in conventional construction.
TECHNICAL INNOVATION Debbie Vander Heiden, the Johnson Controls on-site project manager, says that other planning technologies were crucial to one particular innovative environmental element of the project – geothermal heat pumps. The geothermal system relies on the constant temperature of the Earth to help heat or cool the buildings. Some 272 wells were drilled Commitment to to accommodate a closed-loop supplier diversity system that supplies the heat pumps in the building. The project includes contracts with Commitment to reduce 35 diverse businesses in an effort to “The heat pumps help the suppliers create green jobs, supplier diversity winter heating costs by build expertise in sustainability, about 29%, versus current and develop the capacity to handle The project includes contracts with other major green contracts. The to $18.5 natural gas boilers. We’re 35 diverse businesses in an effort every geothermal well site along with million insuppliers expenditures exceeded the 23 percent,” says Vander Heiden. help the create green jobs, using geothermal to remove the measurements for all the pipes. company’s goalinofsustainability, spending at least build expertise GETTING THE TEAM ONfeet heat in with summer That meant the 180,000 of piping condenser 20 percent its capacity budget firms that By using global positioning system and developofthe to handle could be manufactured to precise BOARD reduce chiller operating were owned, operated or controlled by navigation, the team could determine and other major green contracts. The $18.5 specifications, simpler and morewith minorities or23%,” women and certifiedthe either every geothermal well site along million in expenditures exceeded To make any agreen project costs by elaborates cost-effective process than by the National Supplier the measurements for all thefabricating pipes. company’s goal Minority of spending at least work, vital to get the Vander Heiden. eachit’s one by hand. Development Council (NMSDC) or the That meant the 180,000 feet of piping 20 percent of its budget with firms that entire project team on By using global positioning Women’s Business Enterprise National could be manufactured to precise were owned, operated or controlled by Council (WBENC). specifications, a simpler and more minorities or women and certifiedthe either board from the beginning. system navigation, Long-term cost-effective process than fabricating by the National Minority Supplier LEED, therefore, encouraged team couldsuppliers determine The diverse providedevery products each one by hand. Development Council (NMSDC) or the energy costs key everyone to be involved in the geothermal well site along and services such as: Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). process from an early stage, Although sometimes concerns are with measurements • Site electrical services for all Long-term voicedwas aboutgoing the upfront costaoflot green the pipes. That meant the as there to be • Green landscape services The diverse suppliers provided products projects, thecosts financial benefits on this energy key of interconnection between 180,000 feetsuch ofcable piping could installation and• Low-voltage services as: project are proof of sustainability’s the Although different environmental to precise value. While overall campus space • Site Aluminum glazing sometimes concerns are will be manufactured electrical services almost about double, the company voiced the upfront costexpects of greena specifications credits. – a simpler Deck installation • Green landscape services and minimal increase in energy costs. projects, the financial benefits on this Early planning was more• Low-voltage cost-effective process Steel fabrication cable installation project are proof ofsupplements sustainability’s • Solar generation especially important in this than fabricating each oneforby • Liner installation and stone value. Whileneeds overallwhile campus space will Aluminum glazing electricity reducing pervious lots double,gas the company expects case,almost because of the by use greenhouse emissions 1.1 a hand. • Deck installation in energy million increase pounds per year forcosts. the of minimal Building Information • Steel fabrication “The contractors and subcontractors campus. A 1,330-square-foot solar • Solar generation supplements Modelling (BIM), which LONG-TERM ENERGY COSTS on•the jobinstallation were trained sustainability Liner andinstone for thermal installation on the roof electricity needs while reducing practices thatKEY they can use with other involves three-dimensional, HOLDS THE pervious lots annually saves 2,837 therms of energy. greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 LEED jobs. We’re creating the green building modelling software pounds per year for the Concerns are sometimes • million Skylights and increased window campus. A 1,330-square-foot solar space reduce the use of thermal installation on the roof energy for indoor lighting. annually saves 2,837 therms of energy. • A 30,000-gallon cistern captures • Skylights window rainwater and fromincreased roof surfaces on new space reduce the use of
collarcontractors workforce of tomorrow,” “The and subcontractors Komorowski says. on the job were trained in sustainability practices that they can use with other The project also provided economic LEED jobs. We’re creating the green development by of using locally harvested collar workforce tomorrow,”
On the grounds, 1,452 solar photovoltaic panels make up one of the largest arrays in Wisconsin, delivering up to 250kW of electricity to the site.
On the grounds, 1,452 solar photovoltaic panels make up one of the largest arrays in Wisconsin, delivering up to 250kW of electricity to the site.
On the grounds, 1,452 solar panels On the grounds, 1,452 solar photovoltaic photovoltaic make up one make up one of thepanels largest arrays in Wisconsin, of the largest arrays in Wisconsin, delivering up to 250kW of electricity to the site. delivering up to 250kW of electricity to the site.
Low flow fixtures and dual-flush toilets significantly reduce water use across the campus. Harvested rain water is used to flush most of the toilets on the campus.
Low-flow fixtures and dual-flush Low flow fixtures and dual-flush toilets water toilets significantly reduce significantly reduce use across the campus. use across thewater campus. Harvested Harvested rain water is used to flush most of the rain water is used to flush most of toilets on the campus. the toilets on the campus. Low flow fixtures and dual-flush toilets significantly reduce water use across the campus. Harvested rain water is used to flush most of the toilets on the campus.
Years buildin
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Model About 12,000 square feet of About 12,000 feet of green roof absorbs green roofsquare absorbs precipitation, precipitation, which reduces runoff, insulates which reduces runoff, insulates the building, and extends the life of the roof. the building, the Skylights reduce theand need extends for lighting inside life of the roof. Skylights reduce the buildings. the lighting inside the Aboutneed 12,000for square feet of green roof absorbs precipitation, which reduces runoff, insulates buildings. the building, and extends the life of the roof. Skylights reduce the need for lighting inside the buildings. About 12,000 square feet of green roof absorbs precipitation, which reduces runoff, insulates the building, and extends the life of the roof. Skylights reduce the need for lighting inside the buildings.
More than 14,000 square feet of thin-film PV cells are laminated to the roofing membrane of one building to generate electricity.
More than 14,000 square feetPVof More than 14,000 square feet of thin-film cells thin-film cells are laminated are laminated PV to the roofing membrane of one to thetoroofing membrane of one building generate electricity. building to generate electricity.
Energy-efficient glass and Energy-efficient glass and skylights help capture skylights help as much natural light capture as possible. as Thismuch reduces dependencelight on artificial illumination,This thereby natural as possible. reducing energy consumption. on artificial reduces dependence illumination, thereby reducing Energy-efficient glass and skylights help capture energy consumption. as much natural light as possible. This reduces dependence on artificial illumination, thereby reducing energy consumption.
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• Deck installation • Steel fabrication • Liner installation and stone for pervious lots
Retrofit News and Chronicle “The contractors and subcontractors on the job were trained in sustainability practices that they can use with other LEED jobs. We’re creating the green collar workforce of tomorrow,” Komorowski says.
Feature
Energy-efficient glass and skylights help capture as much natural light as possible. This reduces dependence on artificial illumination, thereby reducing energy consumption.
The project also provided economic voiced by about the upfront development using locally harvested cost of green projects. and manufactured materials for This, more than 25 percent materials, however, canof project be obviated including the raised floor, concrete, bysteel the financial and long-term limestone.
benefits. This project is no “We’ve learned for exception, as the it best willpractices enhance developing green projects, making sustainability value. While best use of contractors, and managing overall campus the process,” he says. space “These arewill lessons we’re sharing withcompany our partners almost double, the on this project – and down the line, our expects a minimal increase in customers and many others will benefit energy costs. from our experience.” Solar g e n e ra t i o n supplements electricity needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 million pounds per year for the campus. A 1,330-square-foot solar thermal installation on the roof annually saves 2,837 therms of energy. Skylights and increased window space reduce the use of energy for indoor lighting. A 30,000-gallon cistern captures rainwater from roof surfaces on new buildings for reuse, reducing potable water consumption for new bathroom fixtures by 77% or 595,000 gallons. A number of on-site recycling strategies are already saving money and resources, as almost 90% of new construction waste and more than 75% of demolition waste from existing buildings have been recycled. SUPPLIER DIVERSITY The project includes contracts with 35 diverse businesses in an effort to help the suppliers create green jobs, build expertise in sustainability, and develop the capacity to handle other major green contracts. The $18.5 million in expenditures exceeded the company’s goal of spending
What BIM provides Financial security: The system’s technical accuracy
can make informed decisions that Security means precise measurement andwho fewer change orders. That save energy and money and help the allows for more automation when fabricating materials, environment.” management
which also saves money. It also reduces the financial variables
Vander notesasthat can make on aHeiden project, alleven the the details arewho worked outinformed early. decisions that By capturing rainwater and security features at the headquarters save energy and money and help the By capturing rainwater and snowmelt in this snowmelt in this cistern, then were developed with energy savings cistern, then cleaning and reusing it, municipal environment.” Johnson Controls preparing for cleaning and reusing it, municipal Condensed timetable: Owing to the isautomation, in mind. water use is reduced by 77 percent. water use is reduced by 77%. thousands of people to visit this site who can make informed that contractors can do a lot of off-site work in clean, drydecisions factory Vander Heiden notes that even the in theenergy comingand years to see save money andhow helpthe the The Johnson Controls P2000 security security features at the headquarters environments, which reduces weather-related delays while company is brimming with innovation management system and Digital Vision environment.” were developed energy savings and sustainable other work with is done on site. Johnson Controlstechnology. is preparing for Network provide protection throughout in mind. thousands of people to visit this site A Metasys® building management system the headquarters campus. It’s designed Vander Heiden notes that even the “It will be easier for own customers coordinates all control activities across the in the coming years our to see how the to energy efficiently by integrating security features at the headquarters Project satisfaction: 3-D modelling assures Theuse Johnson Controls P2000 security The to see value in this approach, when facilities and provides a single point of access to company is brimming with innovation access control with lighting and were developed with and energy savings management system Digital Vision the information required for optimizing efficiency, that the customer gets exactlywe they want, before can show how well we’re putting Johnson Controls is preparing for andwhat sustainable technology. HVAC systems. in mind. comfort and safety. Network provide protection throughout it into effect at home andsite how thousands ofhere people to visit–this construction begins. ® A Metasys building management system the headquarters campus. It’s designed we’re doing ityears cost effectively,” in the coming to see how the “It will be easier for our own customers Additionally, digital closed circuit The Johnson Controls P2000 security coordinates all control activities across the to use energy efficiently by integrating Komorowski says. company is brimming with innovation facilities and provides a single point of access to TV cameras across campus management system and Digital Vision to see value in this approach, when access control with the lighting and take A Metasys and sustainable technology. the informationbuilding required formanagement optimizing efficiency, Network we can show how well we’re putting advantage of advanced analytics to provide protection throughout HVAC systems. systemand coordinates all control “This is a powerful comfort safety. it intocampus effect here at home and how notify facilities operators ofIt’s abnormal at least 20% of its budget learned the–statement best A Metasys® building management system the headquarters campus. designed We’ve activities across the facilities and about Johnson committed “It willhow be easier forControls our owniscustomers coordinates all control activities across the we’re doing it cost effectively,” events, plus some 150 card access and to use energy efficiently by integrating with firms that were owned, practices for developing green provides a single point of access Additionally, digital closed circuit to sustainability. It’s a showplace of see value in this approach, when facilities and provides a single point of access to Komorowski says. biometric readers a and hightake level access control with lighting to the information required for TV cameras across the campus orprovide controlled projects, making the best use the information required for optimizing efficiency, operated excellent work environments, energy we can show how well we’re putting of protection. A Johnsonanalytics Controlsto HVAC systems. optimising efficiency, comfort advantage of advanced comfort and safety. efficiency andhere management it into effect at home –statement and how by minorities or women contractors, and managing “This campus isfacility a powerful and safety. Intelligent Fire Control system features of notify facilities operators of abnormal initiatives,” heit adds. “We’re looking we’re doing costControls effectively,” and certified either by the the process. These are lessons about how Johnson is committed full analog reporting from smoke Additionally, digital closed circuit events, plus some 150 card access and forward to accommodating many years Komorowski says.It’s a showplace to sustainability. of detectors, along with voice TV cameras across thedigital campus take National Minority we’re sharing with our biometric readers provide aSupplier high level of business and employee growth.” excellent work environments, energy evacuation functionality. Infrared camera partners advantage of advanced to Development Council of protection. A Johnsonanalytics Controls on this project – and campus a powerful statement efficiency and isfacility management technology is used at the solar array field “This notify facilities operators of abnormal Intelligent Fire Control features (NMSDC) or thesystem Women’s The company began demolition in Fall down theJohnson line, our customers about how Controls is committed initiatives,” he adds. “We’re looking to create an “electronic fence“. events, plus some 150 card access and full analog reporting from smoke 2007, and a grand opening inyears Fall to sustainability. It’s awill showplace of Business Enterprise National and many others benefit forward to had accommodating many biometric readers provide a high level detectors, along with digital voice 2009. The campus is a continuation excellent work environments, energyof of business and employee growth.” Council (WBENC). from our experience.” of protection. A Johnson Infrared Controlscamera evacuation functionality. Runoff water is collected through permeable Johnson legacy that began in efficiencyControls and facility management Intelligent Control system features The Fire diverse suppliers technology is used at the solar array field 1885. paving on the parking lots and directed to a Its three global“We’re businesses initiatives,” hebegan adds. looking The company demolition in—Fall full analog reporting from smoke detention pond, thereby reducing the to create anis “electronic fence“. provided products and services SECURITY MANAGEMENT Automotive Experience, Building forward to had accommodating manyinyears Everything tiedwith together using the 2007, and a grand opening Fall environmental impact on groundwater detectors, along digital voice ® Efficiency of business andPower employee growth.” building Johnson MetasysInfrared such as:Controls security features at —theof and waterways. 2009. Theand campus is Solutions a continuation Runoff water is collected through evacuation functionality. camera The continue to drivewere toward its mission of management to permeable pavingthrough on thepermeable parking Runoff water is collected • Site electrical Johnson Controls legacydeveloped that began in technology is system used atservices thecoordinate solar arrayallfield headquarters a more comfortable, safe and The began demolition in—Fall activities across the facilities and provide delivering paving on the parking lots directed to a lots and directed toand a detention 1885.company Its three global businesses to create an “electronic fence“. • Green landscape services with energy savings in mind. detention pond, thereby reducing the the sustainable world. 2007, and had a grand opening pond, thereby reducing a single point of access to performance Automotive Experience, Buildingin Fall Everything is tied together the • Low-voltage cable ®using environmental impactimpact on groundwater Johnson Controls P2000of environmental on 2009. Theand campus is Solutions a continuation indicators – the information required for The Efficiency Power — Johnson Controls Metasys building and waterways. and waterways. groundwater Runoff water is collected through permeable installation security Johnson Controls legacy that began in optimizing building efficiency, comfort continue tomanagement drive toward its system mission of management system to coordinate all paving on the parking lots and directed to a 1885.Digital Its three global businesses — and and safety. • Aluminium glazing Vision Network delivering a more comfortable, safe activities across the facilities and provide and detention pond, thereby reducing the Automotive Experience, Building Everything is tied together using the sustainable world. a single of access to performance • Deckpoint installation provide protection throughout environmental impact on groundwater ® Efficiency and Power Solutions — “The integration ofMetasys the building systems Johnson Controls building and waterways. indicators – the information required for • Steel fabrication the campus. It is,of continue to driveleader toward its mission and the information technology Aheadquarters climate management system to coordinate all optimizing building efficiency, comfort • Liner across installation andand stone thus, designed to use energy delivering a more comfortable, safe and infrastructure into one intelligent activities the facilities provide and safety. sustainable world. network is an of important part of our for pervious lots efficiently byglobalintegrating a single point access to performance The Wisconsin headquarters strategy for notes indicators – sustainability,” the information required for access projectcontrol is part of with a Johnson Controls lighting “The integration of the building systems Komorowski, who leads the facilities optimizing building efficiency, comfort pledge to systems. reduce its total U.S. and the information technology climate leader The project also provided andA HVAC management “Ourintelligent Metasys and safety. team. greenhouse gas emissions infrastructure into one economic development Additionally, digital intensity closed Sustainability a by network is an Manager importantprovides part of our per of revenue 30 percent The dollar Wisconsin global by headquarters using locally harvested and circuit TV cameras across dashboard that delivers information, “The integration of the building systems Solar systems supply more than 30 Solarthermal thermal systems supply strategy for sustainability,” notes from 2002 to 2012 through the U.S. project is part of a Johnson Controls including greenhouse gas emissions and the information technology climate leader percent of the hot water for two buildings. manufactured materials for theA campus take advantage more than 30% of needs the hot water Komorowski, who leads the facilities EPA’s Climate Leaders program. pledge to reduce its total U.S. estimations, toteam. our management team infrastructure into one intelligent needs for two buildings. management “Ourof Metasys more than 25% project of greenhouse advanced analytics to gas emissions intensity network is an Manager importantprovides part of our The Wisconsin global headquarters Sustainability a the materials, including notify facilities operators per dollar of revenue by 30 percent strategy for sustainability,” notes project is part of a Johnson Controls dashboard that delivers information, ® Solar thermal systems supply more than Controls, 30 is a registered trademark of Johnson Inc. raised Metasys floor, steel of from abnormal plus 2002 to 2012events, through the U.S. Komorowski, who concrete, leads the facilities pledge to reduce its total U.S. including percent of the Controls, hot water buildings. (Rev © 2009 Johnson Inc.needs Printedfor in two USA CSST-09-103 11/09) greenhouse gas emissions EPA’s 150 Climatecard Leaders program. and limestone. some access and management “Our Metasys estimations, toteam. our management team www.johnsoncontrols.com greenhouse gas emissions intensity Sustainability Manageron provides a Commenting training biometric readers provide a per dollar of revenue by 30 percent dashboard that delivers information, Solar thermal systems supply more than 30 a green workforce, Ward high level of protection. A from 2002 to 2012 through the U.S. is athe registered trademark Johnson Controls, Inc. including greenhouse gas emissions Metasys percent® of hot water needsoffor two buildings. EPA’s Climate LeadersIntelligent program. Komorowski, Johnson Controls Johnson Controls © 2009 Johnson Controls, Inc. Printed in USA CSST-09-103 (Rev 11/09) estimations, to our management team
Security management Security management
Powerful statement Powerful statement Powerful statement
Building automation Building automation Building automation
Fulfilling a commitment www.johnsoncontrols.com
Director of Facilities and
The Wisconsin global headquarters project is part of a Building Services says: “The is atotal registered trademark of Johnson Controls, Inc. Metasysits Johnson Controls pledge to reduce US greenhouse contractors and subcontractors © 2009 Johnson Controls, Inc. Printed in USA CSST-09-103 (Rev 11/09) gas emissions intensity per dollar of revenue by 30% www.johnsoncontrols.com on the job were trained in from 2002 to 2012, through the USEPA’s Climate Leaders sustainability practices that programme. Solar thermal systems supply more than 30% they can use with other LEED of the hot water needs for two buildings. jobs. We’re creating the green ®
collar workforce of tomorrow.
Fire Control system features full analogue reporting from smoke detectors, along with digital voice evacuation functionality. Infrared camera technology is used at the solar array field to create an ‘electronic fence’.
may 2010 issue
BUILDING AUTOMATION In a move to integrate the campus under a single system, everything is tied together, using the Johnson Controls Metasys building management system to coordinate all activities across the facilities and provide a single point of access to performance indicators – the information required for optimising building efficiency, comfort and safety. “The integration of the building systems and the information technology infrastructure into one intelligent network is an important part of our strategy for sustainability,” notes Komorowski, who leads the facilities management team. “Our Metasys Sustainability Manager provides a dashboard that delivers information, including greenhouse gas emissions estimations, to our management team, who can make informed decisions that save energy and money and help the environment.” A SUSTAINABLE STATEMENT Johnson Controls is preparing for thousands of people to visit this site in the coming years, to see how innovation and sustainable technology can be combined to yield positive results. Calling it a showplace displaying a congenial work environment, energy efficiency and facility management initiatives, Komorowski says, “It will be easier for our own customers to see value in this approach, when we can show how well we’re putting it into effect here at home – and how we’re doing it cost effectively.” According to Johnson Controls, the campus reflects its three global businesses – automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions – in its drive towards creating a more comfortable, safe and sustainable world.
Pages 6 - 7
Retrofit champion Every month, we profile a key personality that is driving retrofitting initiatives in the region
‘Let’s cut the excess flab’
Why should our buildings be so obese? asks Sarfraz Dairkee, adding that it is important to address issues that give rise to retrofit opportunities.
T
o drive home his point about the retrofit market in the UAE, Sarfraz H Dairkee, General Manager – Corporate Development and Engineering, MAHY Khoory, likes to quote Dr-Ing M Norbert Fisch, Institute of Energy Design, Building and Solar Technology (IGS), Technical University Braunschweig, who observed that proper retrofitting of buildings in the UAE can achieve the benefits equivalent of a nuclear power plant, at a fraction of the costs. Dr Fisch made this observation at a conference organised by AHK (The German Emirati Joint Council for Industry & Commerce) in Abu Dhabi, last month.
Likening the extremely high energy footprint of existing buildings to obesity, Dairkee says that retrofitting them would be akin to putting them through dieting and exercise to cut the “excess flab”. Dairkee blames the “excess flab” in buildings on the market’s penchant for selling products instead of solutions. The product-centric selling approach that rules the market today is akin to “the fast food culture”, which is marked by instant gratification and an easy-way-out mentality, resulting in people becoming obese and unhealthy; in the same way, we have “obese” structures. The need of the hour, in the case of building design, is a solutions-based
approach, where a pump supplier, instead of blindly selling the pump, will question if a pump is needed in the first place. “Such a change will happen only if the market is willing,” Dairkee says. Solution development is increasingly an interdisciplinary affair; hence, all the engineering disciplines involved need to interact more closely with one another, which brings us to the concept of building commissioning. Dairkee points out that commissioning starts by asking the right questions. “A design charrette can be organised to bring together all the stakeholders for exchange of views,” he says. “When all the stakeholders
Retrofit News and Chronicle
Page 8
Feature
are involved, there is ownership of ideas. As a result, the building project becomes something more than mere drawings and papers.” In fact, one of the biggest factors behind the overdesigning of buildings is poor communication and interaction between the stakeholders and the specialist disciplines involved, right from concept to occupancy. It is the physical attribute rather than the subtle quality that gets all the attention. Often, the means for measuring and verifying quality and performance are not available, so the same gets attributed to certain brands or points of origin. “In the end, you limit yourself to the small picture,” Dairkee says. Also, asking questions can help owners define their project requirements, understand quality better and ensure smooth communication with other stakeholders. The objective is to move beyond the gross in order to get to the subtle. “Defining your requirements in terms of ‘a beautiful glass building’ or ‘so many square feet area’ are examples of the gross or the superficial. Instead, you must probe deeper and find out why you need so much square feet or why you need glass?” said Dairkee. Also, asking questions can help owners better define their project understand quality better and ensure smooth communication with other
stakeholders. The objective is to move beyond the gross in order to get to the subtle. “Defining your requirements in terms of ‘a beautiful glass building’ or ‘so many square feet of area’ are examples of the gross or the superficial,” Dairkee says. “Instead, you must probe deeper and find out why you need so many square feet or why you need glass.”
contains detailed information about the building’s energy consumption. Moreover, in many EU member countries, an energy passport is required before any new project can get a building permit. Dairkee says: “What you get is a measurable and verifiable document, which can be used for benchmarking. We can have something similar in this region, too. The data
It is the physical attribute rather than the subtle quality that gets all the attention. Often, the means for measuring and verifying quality and performance are not available, so the same gets attributed to certain brands or points of origin. A clear method of benchmarking, too, needs to be adopted; the classic example of a benchmarking tool is the ‘Building Energy Passport’, used widely throughout Europe. Under an EC Directive, all buildings being constructed, rented or sold must have a valid energy performance certificate, known as an ‘energy passport’, which
it provides can serve as a navigation tool by telling us where we stand today, so that we can decide where we want to go. My past stint in the Merchant Navy taught me that if we didn’t have such markers, we are not going to reach our destination, no matter how hard we pushed the engine.” Can local standards be a panacea where the
challenge of over-design is concerned? To the extent, they truly incorporate local environmental conditions, local standards can be beneficial. “Unfortunately, the prevalent idea is to control the environment, instead of working with it,” Dairkee rues. He likens the difference between the two to hitting the bull’s eye using a machine gun versus using a rifle armed with a single bullet. The ‘machine gun’ approach results in everybody designing and piling on safety factors, which ultimately culminates in an ‘obese’ design. “Design factor is ignorance factor,” Dairkee says. “Larger the design factor, higher the ignorance.” The way out of this ignorance, he continues, is “learning to unlearn” and “getting out of conditioned thinking, which computers are more adept at”. He suggests Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig and Small is Beautiful by E F Schumacher as must-read books for today’s engineers, who more often than not, have to work at the interfaces of different disciplines. “What these books teach you is get out of the arrogance of knowing,” Dairkee says. “There is always something new to learn; there is always a better way of doing things, even if they were done well the first time around. The answers don’t reveal themselves easily, but if you are determined, they can be found.”
Walking the talk Among Dairkee’s memorable projects was the development of a refrigerator running on bio-gas in the 1980s when working for the Indian HVACR engineering solutions provider, Voltas. The asking price for technology transfer from Europe was too high; equally high was the scepticism about developing such a technology in-house in India. Armed with technical literature “gathering dust” from the corporate library and a vapour absorption refrigerator from the local junkyard, Dairkee set out to prove the sceptics wrong. His persistence won supporters from an unexpected quarter – the company’s highly unionised workforce, a few of whom would join Dairkee after factory hours to work on the project without monetary compensation, something dismissed as impossible in those pre-liberalisation days. “When the refrigerator finally produced ice at the end of one very long day, each one of us was literally in tears, as all the hard work and effort had paid off,” Dairkee says. As head of testing in Voltas, Dairkee undertook the difficult task of teaching himself FORTRAN programming language, so as to develop a simulation programme for testing the air conditioners manufactured by the company.
Zero incident
KBR and alliance partners achieve one million hour safety record on Sydney desalination project Sydney Water has acknowledged its commitment to safety with a ceremony commending the Water Delivery Alliance on achieving a significant safety record on the recently-completed Sydney desalination plant. The alliance comprises global engineering, construction and services firm KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root) and its partners Bovis Lend Lease, McConnell Dowell, Worley Parsons, Environmental Resources Management and Sydney Water. Sydney Water (SW) Managing Director, Kerry Schott, said the alliance partners worked one million hours without a single recordable safety incident. She described this as “an outstanding result that has never been reached on any Sydney Water project before.” KBR’s Director of Water, Asia Pacific, Ted Cusack, described the result as a pleasing reflection of KBR’s own commitment to safety. He added, “‘I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate KBR’s 50th birthday in Australia.” The Water Delivery Alliance recently completed design and construction of the 18-kilometre pipeline that delivers drinking water from the new desalination plant in Kurnell to the Sydney suburb of Erskineville. The desalination plant itself was designed and built by the Blue Water Joint Venture, comprising John Holland and Veolia Water. The entire project
received the Government Partnership Excellence Award at Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s National Infrastructure Awards. The Water Delivery Alliance achieved a first on the drinking water pipeline across Botany Bay as part of Sydney’s $1.8 billion desalination project. A major part of the pipeline was laid under Botany Bay and the crossing was completed using a purposebuilt 130 metre-long and six storey-high lay-barge to lay a seven kilometre long twin pipeline of 1,400-mm diameter steel pipes. It was the first time ever that twin pipes of this size and length had been laid beneath a waterway. The pipeline, from the desalination plant at Kurnell to the City Water Tunnel at Erskineville, is one of the largest pieces of infrastructure in the Sydney Water supply system. The pipeline is transporting up to 250 million litres of drinking water a day (with capacity for 500 million litres a day in the future) to a network supplying 1.5 million residents south of Sydney Harbour. As well as the Botany Bay crossing, the pipeline included 10 kilometres of landbased trenched and tunnelled pipelines of 1,800-mm diameter beneath mediumdensity residential, commercial, industrial and open-space areas. Sydney Water awarded the design, build and commissioning contract for the pipeline to the Water Delivery Alliance as part of the $650 million Water Delivery
The barge Nebula which laid the Botany Bay pipeline
Infrastructure Project. The pipeline also incorporated: • One of the country’s biggest drinking water pumping stations • Flow and pressure controls • Corrosion protection including monitoring systems, air relief, isolation, scour and other valves. • Environmental management, OH&S management, community and stakeholder consultation and liaison, quality management, and incident and risk management. Construction of the pipeline began in early 2008 and finished 10 days before the date to switch on the plant on January 28, 2010. The twin pipes (about 1,200 individual lengths of 12-metre pipe weighing 30 tonnes each) were laid down across Botany Bay, and connected to a mincrotunnelled 800-metre section of 1.8-metre diameter pipe. This section of the pipeline was microtunnelled under the bay to avoid impacting on sensitive seagrasses off Silver Beach at Kurnell. One of three tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) employed on the project operated 24 hours a day on the TBM drive. It took a month to complete and involved the installation of 271 jacking pipes. The best distance achieved in a 12-hour shift was 36 metres. KBR’s Craig Nichelsen, Design and Completion Manager for the Water Delivery Alliance, said that in the main, environmentally friendly trenchless technology was adopted for the onshore pipeline. “Only around three kilometres was installed by conventional open-cut method, with sheetpile and trench-box shoring. The remaining seven kilometres was achieved using the TBMs to cause minimal disruption to residents and other stakeholders. Of the 18-kilometre route, only 1.3 kilometres was laid in residential areas’. Notwithstanding the world first for the underwater twin-pipe laying operation, some of the tunnels for this project were the longest ever undertaken by pipe jack method in the Southern Hemisphere. As well as membership of the Water Delivery Alliance, KBR undertook independent verification for the Bluewater Joint Venture (John Holland and Veolia Water), which constructed the desalination plant. On time and around $60 million under budget, Sydney’s desalination plant is providing water to meet up to 15% of Sydney’s water needs. JUNE 2010
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ON THE RECORD
Membrane Perspectives Ian Lomax, Strategic Marketing Manager, Dow Water & Process Solutions spoke to Anoop K Menon on the trends and challenges in the desalination industry, ranging from acceptance of large diameter RO elements to Boron regulations and concerns about chemical and brine discharge. At the IDA World Congress 2009 in Dubai, there was a lot of buzz around large diameter elements taking the centre stage with regard to membrane desalination. Where are we today with these elements? Five to six years ago, the industry (membrane manufacturers, vessel manufacturers, consultant engineers, endusers) realised that systems were getting bigger, so sizes bigger than the standard 8-inch are needed. The industry consensus was 16-inch; may not be the optimum, but it was a good compromise across the technologies. The thing that really limits it was vessel technology. At that time, the numbers implied that there were savings to be made in capex, opex and other areas by going to the bigger sizes. But the benefits are potentially capex savings rather than opex because 16-inch is a new segment. Dow can supply 16-inch elements on a large commercial scale as of today. All said and done, the going has been slow for 16-inch. Being inherently conservative, the water industry is slow on the uptake with regard to new technology or innovations. Moreover, prices are on the higher side since nobody is producing 16-inch elements, valves and vessels in bulk today. As a result, engineering companies don’t see significant savings over what they can make more easily, with higher area 8-inch elements. Moreoever, using 16-inch requires a rethink about the way people engineer and design desalination systems. If they regard 16-inch elements as a mere replacement of four pressure vessels with one pressure vessel while keeping the same number of trains, pumps and valves, the savings will be hard to come by. There has to be a change in the mindset on the lines of - instead of having 20 trains, we will do it with 10. For 22
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that to work, somebody needs to be able supply pumps of twice the capacity at not more than twice the price or be able to produce 16-inch pressure vessels at no more than four times the price. At the moment, everything is at a premium. I am positive this segment will grow as we see some headway being made with companies trying to bid with bigger systems that incorporate 16-inch. Once the first big system goes out, I expect it to have a pull through effect.
The membrane industry has made massive strides in reducing energy and improving quality, and helped bring the cost of water down. However, product looks the same from the outside. That’s why suddenly the 16-inch is interesting because it is physically different too
At the session on finance in the IDA Conference, an issue that came up was how existing financing models discourage new innovations on the grounds of higher risks and costs. Isn’t that a barrier to the adoption of innovations like 16-inch elements? This isn’t restricted to this region; I think it is an industry-wide problem. Getting in new technologies, getting parameters changed is very difficult because a lot of drive in this industry is coming through consultant engineers and water authorities with solid (but) traditional water treatment backgrounds. Consultant engineers, by nature, tend to be very conservative because they are advising their customers based on their best practices and knowledge, and what they have built in the past. They tend to fall back on these specs. So, to get in new technology, the manufacturer will have to find an entrepreneurial contractor or a customer who can see the benefits, and then get the plant running. In Australia for instance, there is a requirement on the lines of showing you had this large system running for a minimum of two years, which really means they need a product we had five years ago. But we are moving ahead much more quickly; therefore, as manufacturers, we are now trying to persuade our customers to change. We spend a lot of time and effort writing technical/scientific papers that explain what we are doing, the benefits and the costs. Equally, we are trying to find engineering companies who are progressive and can work with new technology. When you said earlier that the water industry is conservative, does it include all the segments? When I said this industry is conservative, I meant end-users. From the industry end,
whether you look at membranes or energy recovery, we are advancing quickly. One problem may be that the product you see today looks exactly like the one you saw 10 or 20 years ago because the change is not so much external than internal. An analogy that sums it up best is the microprocessor. It still looks the same, even though its processing capacity is doubling or tripling every few years. The same analogy applies to RO elements too. When I started in this industry, an RO element could produce 4,000 gallons/day; the one we exhibited in our booth at IDA can produce 12,000 gallons/day. Salt passage was four per cent; now it is less than one per cent or less than half of it. The membrane industry has made massive strides in reducing energy and improving quality, and helped bring down the cost of water down. However, product looks the same from the outside. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why suddenly the 16-inch is interesting because it is physically different too.
Ian Lomax
One of the discussions I attended at the IDA was about regulations that limit boron levels in drinking water. How is the membrane desalination industry affected by such regulations? There are two key drivers for boron. One is the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, which set a preliminary limit of 0.5 mg/L for drinking water. As the WHO standard has been adopted by most public health authorities, the industry has to comply with the same. Boron removal increases the cost of water significantly in exchange for a relatively small improvement. Some countries are questioning why they should pay this cost? Most of the desalinated water is used for washing, cooking, bathing, while people prefer to drink bottled water. So they are asking, what is the health threat from boron? We have been hearing reports that WHO is going to relax the Boron guideline. It is included in the plan of work of the rolling revision of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality. At its meeting in November 2009, the Drinking-water Quality Committee recommended revising the Boron Guideline Value to 2.4 mg/L. If the recommendation is accepted, it is good news for membrane systems. A Boron value of 0.5 mg/l has been difficult JUNE 2010
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ON THE RECORD
to achieve in typical single SWRO processes. If we are working on a band between 1 and 2 mg/l, it is relatively easy to achieve in a single pass, which helps save both capital cost and energy. The other driver is boron toxicity, especially in the case of citrus plantations because too much boron can be problematic for the citrus crop. So if the area in question has citrus plantations, then a boron value of 0.3 or 0.5 mg/l has to be maintained. But the Gulf region, to my knowledge, doesn’t have citrus plantations. I don’t think date palms are as susceptible. The Gulf countries point of view, it comes down to what is the acceptable international standard, and where do they want to be with that standard. Even if WHO relaxes the boron guidelines, my feeling is that the industry will try to stick to 1 mg/l. If you are trying to get 1 and 1.1 acceptable, it is a different situation than if it is a warranty case and you have to go and prove it. For the industry, boron is purely a cost issue. It has had a positive spin-off in that it has driven technology and improved rejection. Coming to the age old concerns about the discharge of chemicals and brine from the desalination plants into the sea, has there much progress in addressing them? 24
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You have more of these issues with thermal desalination than with SWRO. The only chemical you would introduce into the environment with SWRO would a small level of anti-scalants. Membranes cannot tolerate chlorine so that isn’t an issue
The balance of installed capacity today is heavily in favour of thermal desalination. In the future, we will see SWRO growing more strongly.The big MSF plants will tend to be specific instead of being the default choice
either. Are we adding salt? I don’t think so because all we are doing is taking a volume of sea water from the ocean, extracting the water and returning the same mass of salt in half of the volume. So we are not adding anything. It is akin to a natural process like evaporation. Only in this case, we are taking the water through the membrane and leaving the salt back in the ocean. So at a macro level, it doesn’t make a big difference. But at a local level where you have got very high concentration or intensity of desalination plants, you might have a local impact. It is possible is take steps to diffuse the brine. The main criticism against SWRO is that produces a plume of discharge brine that is more saline and may have an impact on fish life, plants and marine environment. What we try to do is diffuse the plume as quickly as possible, though it adds to the cost. In the case of the Perth desalination plant, where they discharge into an enclosed lagoon and an ecologically sensitive area to boot, the standards are stringent. You are diluting the brine plume to bulk concentration in a very short distance. (The brine from the Perth plant is discharged through a multi-port diffuser, designed to achieve rapid mixing of the brine with seawater to one practical salinity unit (PSU) above ambient salinity within 50 metres of the diffuser – H20 editorial). Do you think the future of desalination is SWRO? The balance of installed capacity today is tilted towards thermal desalination. In the future, we will see SWRO growing more strongly. The big Multi-stage Flash Distillation (MSF) plants will tend to be specific instead of being the default choice. Moreover, this region has seasonal fluctuation in power demand but continual demand for water, so you will see more hybrid situations where MSF and membranes are run side by side. You can use the membrane system to produce water and load the station because it needs electricity rather than have to produce waste heat very wastefully, by producing electricity you don’t need. We will see Multi Effect Desalination (MED) probably taking a step forward because using nano-filtration ahead of MED will improve the efficiency as you can run at higher temperatures and reduce the amount of scaling chemicals.
market marketplace in either the Model S10 or S17 sensor style housings. Field rebuildable and repairable, the S10 and S17 sensors have been designed for ease of use and reliable per formance, claims ECD. ECD’s S10 and S17 sensors are constructed with various industrial housing materials including Stainless Steel, Titanium, Hastelloy, Kynar and Polypropylene for compatibility with various industr y process fluids, to maximise sensor per formance and minimise cost of ownership. Suitable for industrial and sanitar y applications, the sensors meet industr y pressure and temperature specifications. The ECD S10 and S17 sensors are also compatible with ECD’s transmitters and controllers. The T23 and T28 loop powered transmitters can be used with either NEMA 4X, T23, or explosion proof, T28, area classifications. The C22 controller has dual sensor inputs that allow any combination of measurements and outputs to be combined in one controller. For more details, visit: www.ecdi.com
Compact Universal Toroidal Sensors Electro Chemical Devices (ECD) has launched Models S10 and S17 Universal Toroidal Sensors for measuring multiple individual liquid parameters for industrial process and manufacturing operations. The ECD Models S10 and S17 measure pH, ORP, DO, Resistivity and Conductivity. The S10 and S17 feature a small diameter configuration design that can easily fit into existing installations. They suppor t applications in many industries: municipal water/waste treatment, industrial wastewater, petrochemical processing, food/beverage, electronics and semiconductor, metals/ 26
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mining, pulp/paper, biotech and pharmaceutical, power generation, pollution monitoring, aquaculture and more. ECD’s Model S10 is an immersion or inser tion sensor, and the Model S17 is a valve retractable sensor. The S10 and S17 Toroidal Sensors have a 0.75-inch diameter PVDF body, a universal diameter that can readily fit into existing devices without needing to re-plumb the flow cell. The sensors feature a standard measurement range from 50mS to 1000mS. All of ECD’s precision pH, ORP, DO, pION, Resistivity and Conductivity electrodes are available
The S10 and S17 Toroidal Sensors have a 0.75-inch diameter PVDF body, a universal diameter that can readily fit into existing devices without needing to re-plumb the flow cell
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COVER STORY
Safe water
Using Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) technology helped Dubai Sports City widen the scope for wastewater re-use within the development By Anoop K Menon
T
he wastewater plant tour ended inside the Reverse Osmosis (RO) room with Majd Hamdallah, Head of Operations, Eagle Electromechanical Company heading towards his colleague, who held in his hands a large glass tumbler filled with clear water. About time, I murmured to myself, as the long traipse through the plant’s innards had left me with a gnawing thirst. Taking the tumbler in one hand, Hamdallah gestured at its contents with the other and said, “We treat a portion of the treated sewage effluent (TSE) to drinking water quality that meets the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) standards by using RO.” He then brought it up and proceeded to take a few swigs from it. Hamdallah greeted my incredulous look with a big grin. “There is no better way to prove a point than walking the talk,” he said, which in this case, was how the superior product output of Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) technology increased the scope for wastewater re-use than conventional treatment methods. From somewhere, a voice whispered, “It’s your turn now.” This exchange had taken place inside the premises of the largest operating membrane bio-reactor (MBR) wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the Middle East, designed, built and operated by Eagle
Electromechanical Company. The 25,000 m3/day WWTP, located in the Dubai Sports City development in Dubailand, stands out from its peers in several ways. It also represents a milestone in engineering excellence for the company, which has always practised localisation and designed its own wastewater treatment systems instead of relying on outside designs, as intended by Mohamed Hijaz, Eagle’s founder and General Manager. “All the things you are going to see inside the plant today were designed in-house by our engineers,” stressed a visibly proud Hamdallah at the beginning of the tour. The Dubai Sports City WWTP takes Eagle’s wastewater operating capacity in the region to over 100,000m3/day in Dubai alone.
Key highlights A major highlight of the Dubai Sport City WWTP is that it is completely enclosed, while occupying an incredibly small footprint of 3,200 square metres for its capacity. Eagle designed the plant in a manner which makes it inconspicuous in terms of appearance noise as well as odour because it is based next to a sensitive location. “The sports academy is located only 60 metres away from the plant site. Hence, the client’s brief was strict – the WWTP shouldn’t be visual eyesore nor
We treat a portion of the treated sewage effluent (TSE) in this RO room to drinking water quality that meets the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) standards.
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should there be any complaint about odour,” explained Hamdallah. Another highlight is the RO system where a portion of the TSE (10%) is treated to DEWA drinking water quality standards for use as make-up water in Dubai Sports City’s 84,000m3 canal project, also designed by Eagle. The project’s targets played an important role in the choice of MBR technology and RO plant for the Dubai Sports City WWTP. The targets were as follows: a) Receive and treat raw sewage collected by Dubai Sports City sewerage network b) Treat rejected canal filtration plant backwash waste stream c) Polish the TSE supplied by Dubai Municipality d) Supply TSE to irrigation systems within the development d) Supply TSE for fire fighting network within the development e) Supply of RO treated high quality water (800m3/day) to top up the sports canal “We had to produce high quality TSE for irrigation with BOD less than 5mg/L, TSS less than 5mg/L, ammonia less than 1mg/L (<0.5 mg/L achievable), Total Nitrogen less than 10mg/L (3mg/L achievable in warm climate) and Total Phosphorous less than < 0.5 mg/L (0.1mg/L achievable). We also had to produce DEWA-quality water to top up the sports canal with nil BOD, TN, TP, Ammonia and total dissolved solids (TDS) less than 250-ppm. This sweet water was necessary to control the TDS in the canal water due to surface evaporation losses. After taking into consideration all these requirements as well as the area designated for the WWTP, we felt that MBR technology was the optimal solution,” said Hamdallah. The construction of the Dubai Sports City WWTP started in June 2006 and got completed in April 2009. The total built up area (including the 25,000m3 capacity irrigation tank, roads and pumping stations for irrigation and fire fighting) is
The engineering structure of the WWTP is completely enclosed within a building, ensuring that it architecturally blends in with the surroundings while preventing odour emissions
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COVER STORY
fibre and flat sheet membranes require 1-mm punch-hole screens,” he said. The screened sewage is transferred to the fine screen chamber (sewage lifting chamber), where three pumps lift it to the inlet chamber where it is distributed to three phases of anoxic tanks. “When water level reaches the first start level of the float switch, the first pump starts pumping; when it reaches the second level, the second pump starts pumping. Three additional float switches have been provided for dry run protection,” said Hamdallah.
9,000 square metres. The average daily capacity of the plant is 25,000m3, with a maximum daily capacity of 30,000m3. The plant has three streams of 8,600m3/day capacity each.
Blending in The engineering structure of the WWTP is completely enclosed within a building, ensuring that it architecturally blends in with the surroundings while preventing odour emissions. Efficient utilisation of space was accomplished in two ways - first, by eliminating sedimentary tanks because separation of solids from treated water takes place in the MBR. In conventional activated sludge processes, the same is achieved by sedimentation in the secondary clarifier tank, which takes up a considerable amount of space. “MBR eliminates the secondary clarifier and sand filters associated with conventional treatment, although the biological process remains the same. In normal extended aeration, we have 24 hours retention time; for MBR plants, we only need 6-8 hours retention time,” said Hamdallah. Second, flow balancing was conducted within the biological reaction tanks, negating the need for a separate balancing facility. This has the additional advantage of eliminating odour problems as the raw sewage is not retained within tanks upstream. “At Eagle, we prefer to do equalisation for the peak flow inside the process instead of doing it before the pre-treatment to eliminate odour emissions,” explained Hamdallah.
Critical pre-treatment Effective pre-treatment is critical to protect the membranes from damage and to maximise membrane life. Hence, special attention is paid to upstream screening in MBR plants to protect the membranes from the hair and fibrous material that can clog or damage them. The major components of the screening system at the Sports City WWTP are coarse screening, grit removal and fine screening. The inlet head works at the WWTP has four fine screens (three duty/one standby) with 1-mm omni-directional openings, preceded by three 6-mm coarse screens (two duty/one stand-by) and grit cum grease removal system with grit classifier. “If you neglect pre-treatment, you will end up with more cleaning, more use of chemicals and more maintenance. A well 30
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Inside the bio-reactor
Majd Hamdallah
designed screening stage ensure that you don’t any bypass or overflow of unscreened wastewater making its way into the biological stage,” explained Hamdallah. During the coarse screening stage, raw sewage is transferred into the inlet area, where two step screens are provided. According to the set points of level sensor, when the sewage reaches a certain level, the step screen starts working and moves large waste particles like plastic sheets and metals to the screw conveyor, which transfers the debris to the compactor works. At the compactor, the liquid is discharged to the drain system while the dried discharge is sent to the discharge bin. Soda ash dosing is done at the inlet channel according to the pH set points for maintaining correct pH level. The screened sewage from the inlet channel is passed through the grit removal tank, where the constant action of the agitator moves the sand particles downwards. The sand particles are removed by the pumps at the bottom of the tank and transferred to the sand classifier. After grit screening, the sewage passes to the fine screen area. Hamdallah pointed out that generally for fine screening, hollow fibre manufacturers specify 1-mm omnidirectional punch hole screens while flat sheet manufacturers specify 3-mm screens. “Based on local experience with different projects, we concluded that both hollow
The liquid sewage from inlet channel is transferred to three anoxic tanks, which is provided with three mixers for proper mixing of incoming screened sewage. The anoxic zones provide biological de-nitrification. Each pre-anoxic compartment is equipped with submersible mixers to ensure adequate mixing in each compartment. The mixed liquid sewage is passed to three oxic tanks (aeration tanks). Aeration is provided in the aerobic lanes by fine bubble diffused aeration grids to achieve nitrification and oxidation of organic matter (BOD5). Adequate oxygen is required for the proper growth of bacteria in the oxic tanks. A group of blowers discharge air into one common process aeration manifold, which delivers air to the drop legs/diffusers installed in the aeration tanks. The treated sewage then passes to the post-anoxic compartment/ Balancing Tank through overflow opening. “Before the membranes, we have a balancing tank for equalisation, which is also used as a second anoxic tank,” said Hamdallah. The Balancing Tank is equipped with submersible mixers to ensure adequate mixing. Four submersible balancing transfer pumps transfer the mixed liquor from the Balancing Tank to the membrane feed channel. This arrangement allows the biological trains and membrane trains to operate independently. The mixed liquid from membrane distribution channel passes through membrane trains. (A membrane train is a treatment unit consisting of multiple ‘cassettes’ that are joined together and connected to a common permeate pump). The membranes at the Sports City WWTP are ZeeWeed Hollow Fibre Ultrafiltration membranes, supplied by GE Water & Process
Technologies. The configuration consists of a total of 30 membrane cassettes, five cassettes per train. There six membrane tanks. In the Returned Activated Sludge (RAS) chamber, mixed liquor from each membrane tank overflows a full-width weir at the end of the tank into mixed liquor recirculation. In the sludge digestion tanks, two decanting arms are provided. Aeration for the tank is provided with the help of coarse bubble diffusers at the bottom of the tanks. Two overflow pipes transfer the overflow liquid back to coarse screen. “Because we were close to a sensitive area, we preferred aerobic digesters so that we have more control and more stabilised sludge,” said Hamdallah. The sludge settles at the bottom of the tanks. It is then pumped to the sludge decanting centrifuge system, where the separation takes place. Basically, the feed enters a horizontal cylindrical bowl through a stationary inlet tube and is accelerated smoothly by an inlet distributor. The centrifugal force that stems from the rotation causes sedimentation of the solids on the wall of the bowl. The cake leaves the bowl into the casing and the solid discharge is transferred to discharge bin. “The design requirement was to achieve 20% dry solid content but we are actually getting up to 25%,” said Hamdallah.
Storage and disinfection Permeate from the membrane tanks is transferred to the TSE or irrigation tank with the help of six permeate pumps. “We use permeate reversible pumps that not only pumps the permeate feed to the TSE tank, but also drives the back-pulse mode for cleaning the membranes,” said Hamdallah. During the automatic back-pulse mode of operation, the membranes are flushed from the inside periodically for a set duration. This ensures that that the surface and pores of the membrane are kept clean, which in turn reduces fouling potential. The water used to back pulse the membranes is the permeate stored in the back-pulse tank. Chlorine dosing is carried out in the main header when the permeate is being transferred to the irrigation tank for disinfection purposes. The chlorine is properly mixed with the aid of static mixer provided in the header pipe. “As the effluent is stored within irrigation tanks, there is a chance of bacterial re-growth. Thus, in order to inhibit this, residual chlorine is
necessary to safeguard the health of people which may come into contact with the irrigation water. We have a higher dose to keep the chlorine content always at a minimum 0.5 mg/L,” said Hamdallah. However, the use of MBR also helps reduce the burden on the final disinfection system because the membranes physically disinfect the water by restricting the passage of bacteria and even viruses. The pump room has a total of four irrigation pumps, two fire pumps, one jockey pump and two booster pumps. “Instead of potable water, we are using the high quality water obtained after RO processing for fire fighting. As per Dubai Civil Defence regulations, we also have diesel generator for powering the pumps if there is a failure,” noted Hamdallah. The treated water in the back pulse tank is treated through RO to remove salts and other impurities. “Because the TSE used in the RO is of a very high quality, we have achieved recovery rate of 84%,” claimed Hamdallah. The capacity of the RO plant is 1000m3/day.
High level of automation Eagle has relied on automation for smooth operation of the WWTP. The irrigation pump starts and stops on the basis of the flow and pressure set- points of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Electrical power for all drives and equipments in the WWTP is provided by MCC panels. In fact, there are three major MCC rooms for the different areas of the WWTP. The MCC panels also control the functionality of the components via programmed PLC system. All operational activities within the WWTP is monitored and logged by two SCADA systems, one dedicated to the membrane unit and other for the entire plant. Hamdallah said, “The high level of automation ensures superior feedback and control, enabling the operators to monitor and manage any changes which may present themselves and respond accordingly. It supplements a robust process which ensures that the MBR generates the same effluent quality, irrespective of flow and load variations.”
developments, the requirement for irrigation is much higher than the produced sewage, which is low due to the initial low occupancy levels. In this case, we had to compensate the difference through tankers.” However, tanker sewage poses its own challenges, like more septic characteristics than normal sewage. “For example, the BOD for normal sewage is 180-200 mg/L, while for tanker sewage, it is around 300-350 mg/L. Therefore, the plant had to deal with stronger sewage than normal, and it has been very successful in this regard,” said Hamdallah. He pointed out that Eagle’s focus on indigenous design and knowledge transfer has played a pivotal role in the Sports City plant’s success, from operational as well as environmental standpoints, with its aesthetic value a big bonus. “Eagle succeeded in this great challenge of building a large capacity plant inside a closed building on such a small footprint. Moreover, we are providing a high quality product of irrigation and potable water grade, whilst meeting the best practices of odour control, visual impact and sludge treatment.” said Hamdallah. He also sought to highlight MBR as the best technology to promote and sustain wastewater re-use in this region, while pointing out Eagle itself has 16 MBR installations in the region, nine of them running. “This is probably the largest number of operational plants in the Middle East,” claimed Hamdallah, adding that Eagle is committed to creating a green environment for the present and future generations by designing and operating wastewater treatment plants aimed at waste reduction and water re-use. We reached the RO plant room, and Hamdallah moved towards his colleague holding a large glass tumbler.... Post-script: As you can see, I decided to walk the talk myself.
Dealing with low flow While walking to the RO plant, Hamdallah pointed out that the WWTP receives 10,000m3/ day of raw sewage, 95% of which is supplied by sewage tankers. He said, “Generally, in new JUNE 2010
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photo-op
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Close Encounter with an MBR Plant
Eagle Electromechanical Co has completed and is presently operating the largest MBR Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Middle East. The 25,000m3/ day Dubai Sports City Wastewater Treatment Plant uses ZeeWeed Ultrafiltration membranes, supplied by GE Water & Process Technologies. The consultant was Hyder Consulting ME, while the civil contractor was Wade Adams.
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1 Coarse Screening 2 Grit removal 3 Fine screening 4 Sewage lifting chamber 5 Anoxic Tanks 6 Oxic Tanks 7 Air Blowers 8 Balancing Tank 9 Membrane Tank 10 A view of a membrane cassette 11 Permeation and aeration lines 12 Permeate pumps 13 Irrigation Tank 14 Chlorination system 15 RO System 16 Sludge Digestion Tank 17 Sludge Decanter 18 Screw Conveyor 19 Sludge collection 20 Pump Room 21 MCC Panels 22 SCADA system
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INTERVIEW: AUTOMATION
On the SCADA trail Jose I. de la Fuente is the GCC Area Manager -Water Utilities, Telvent Environment, a leading IT solutions and business information services provider serving the energy, transportation, agriculture and environment markets. Under the environment business area, Telvent provides integrated water management solutions and information services to water utilities and agencies for areas, ranging from operations management and planning to customer service and business procedures. In an email interview, De la Fuente spoke on the changing scope of Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition (SCADA) technology and its emergence as a key information platform for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water/wastewater utilities. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenging economic environment, operational efficiency is getting priority over capital expenditure. How can automation in general and SCADA systems in particular help water/ wastewater utilities achieve these efficiencies in their operations within the plant and beyond at the network level? Automation is at the core of the operational business side of the utility. As providers of real time information, SCADAs are the source of data needed by utilities to be able to define operational indicators to improve processes and performance levels. In this sense, SCADA systems have evolved to become more than just control systems, and transformed into information platforms to be used throughout the utility. Good examples of this are the way SCADAs are used today to detect leaks in a very short period of time or to define the optimum pumping levels in a dynamic way to save energy while satisfying the water demand. How does Telvent differentiate itself from competition? Where others remain just as systems providers, our long experience in the water market allows us to go beyond this approach and work with utilities to help them solve their problems. We use our systems and our long term partners as tools to provide the best solutions to the water utilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s problems, not as the end of our relationship with them. And whatever solutions we finally provide, from operation, and maintenance, to planning, customer service or business management, we do it from a water market approach. Our customers often say that we provide 34
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them technology, not from a technical point of view, but from a water market perspective. A lot of companies can implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), but not many can do it from a water perspective. Does the business opportunity in the Middle East lie in migration from legacy systems or in green field installations? The opportunity in Middle East is more in legacy systems than in green field installations. The rapid urban
development of this region means that the systems have to adapt to these changes and cope with greater sizes and demand challenges. Often, customers have acquired technologies that were made obsolete by rapid growth in the areas and population served. Today, customers have realised this and are demanding systems that are capable of better performance and adding new functionality in a modular way. However, there are also opportunities in green field installations that are many in
Jose I. de la Fuente
number as customers often require stateof-the art systems that can help them manage these installations. Customers with existing systems will find that our solutions’ flexibility, modularity and adaptability make changes in size and functionality in response to demand quite easy. On the other hand, green field installations provide us with the opportunity to implement our solution portfolio and set the ground for incremental installation as the utility’s needs grow.
But these are not the only options. From our experience, the inherent nature of SCADA makes it perfectly suitable for integration with hydraulic models for active leak detection activities, with maintenance systems for corrective, preventive and predictive maintenance works, and even directly with ERP and Business Intelligence software systems to provide customised indicators and information, which can be used by management to monitor the utility’s performance.
What is Telvent’s approach to delivering SCADA systems to clients? Telvent’s approach to delivering SCADA systems to clients is varied and is guided by customer flexibility. When possible, we deploy a co-engineering approach which is beneficial for both sides. In this case, we work with the utility as a long term partner who can help them design and size the SCADA system to meet their needs. We know that all utilities are different, so there is always an intense review of customer requirements and system specification and a preliminary design and costing of the solution and services offered, given the amount of custom development needed to meet unique functionalities where required. In some cases, such as in Qatar and Turkey, we also provided an onsite operation and maintenance support of the SCADA system. In the case of the Middle East, we see more and more utilities leaving room for additional functionalities, while looking to increase the SCADA capabilities to make it a widespread data platform.
What are the trends in automation systems for water sector? Could you also elaborate on the communications aspects too? These trends are very much related to the use of SCADA as utility-wide information platform as mentioned earlier. For this reason, utilities are moving towards to more interoperable systems, based on standards to promote the ability to interface to all sorts of field equipment and expert systems without sacrificing functionality. This is not an easy thing to achieve, and therefore industry-wide standards bodies are being set up to try to create a standard set of protocols and interfaces to allow this to happen. Also, we see an upcoming trend where customers are starting to rely on the outsourced networking, instead of private copper. These can be leased lines for example, and more customers are starting to rely on the more advanced “cloud” networks such as MPLS and even cellular networks. This is still to come here, but as these technologies become cheaper, more reliable, secure and easier to manage, they can significantly reduce the cost per out station and reduce the operational effort to maintain them.
What are the different technologies that SCADA is converging with today? What are the benefits in this regard? Mainstream Information Technology (IT) technologies are finding their way into the control room, and there is a need for SCADA to interface to these systems. This poses a challenge since SCADA systems must have significantly higher availability than typical IT systems. Other operational efficiency technologies such as outage management, workforce automation and GIS systems are becoming wide-spread in the industry, and having full vertical integration with the SCADA system is fast becoming the expected standard.
How significant would you regard the concerns being raised regarding cyber security and SCADA? Customers and their national security agencies are very concerned about the impact of their telemetry systems being vulnerable to attack. Given the spate of cyber attacks in the news recently, many in the water industry feel it is only a matter of time before a city or nation’s water supply becomes the focus of an attack which may have a criminal or political intent behind it. Telvent has devoted an entire team of security specialists whose job is to be at the leading edge of security and countersecurity technology, and regularly provide best practice advice to the project teams about the holistic approach to security. One example of this commitment is the multi-year association we currently have with the National SCADA Test Bed (NSTB), operated by the US Department of Energy at the Idaho National Lab (INL). How far away is the water sector from the ‘smart grid’ concept which seems to be gathering momentum in the power sector? We actually believe that water utilities can start experiencing the benefits of this approach today. It is important to understand that to meet this challenge, the water industry needs not only to develop new technologies that improve water management but also advance the integration of existing information management tools to build the foundation of what we call ‘Smart Water Networks.’ By doing this, water utilities will reap all the benefits of their existing technology base while setting the grounds to integrate new technologies that will help them obtain a better return on future investments.
the water industry needs not only to develop new technologies that improve water management but also advance the integration of existing information management tools to build the foundation of what we call ‘Smart Water Networks.’ JUNE 2010
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TENDERS Project Number Project Name Territory Client
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PROJECTS
170/2010-O Water Supply System Upgrade Project Oman Name: Rural Areas Electricity Company (Oman) Address: Subsidiary of Electricity Holding Company S.A.O.C City: Mina Al-Fahal PC 116 Postal/Zip Code : 850 Country: Oman Tel: (+968) 2469 5162 Fax: (+968) 2469 5311 Website: http://www.ehcoman.com Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for upgrading water supply system by adding new Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit with capacity of 200 cubic metres per day. 515 July 19, 2010 Tender No. 170/2010 This project is at Kumzar Water Desalination Plant in Oman. Tender documents can be obtained from: Rural Areas Electricity Company SAOC Muscat, Oman. The last date to purchase tender documents is June 23, 2010. Potable Water Works GTC-323/2010-Q Reservoir Capacity Upgrade Project Qatar Name: Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Address: NBK Building City: Doha Postal/Zip Code : 41 Country: Qatar Tel: (+974) 484 5111/ 555 5901/ 484 5555 Fax: (+974) 484 5191/ 466 2046 E-mail : aalnajjar@kahramaa.com.qa Website: http://www.km.com.qa Carrying out upgrading of reservoir capacity for an electricity & water authority. 1100 July 11, 2010 Tender No. GTC-323/2010 This project is at Shahaniya Rps. and Shahaniya Dukhan Rps. in Qatar. The scope of work comprises the detailed design and material supply for the construction of two (2) 6 million-gallon reinforced concrete conventional reservoirs; installation of all piping, completion of new boundary walling and modification of existing control and monitoring systems inside the existing two (2) stations. Tender documents can be obtained from: Water Network Affairs Section, Field Services Department, 7th Floor, Building 2, Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) Dafna, Qatar. Bid bond is QR1 Million. Tel: (+974-4) 438 3576. Potable Water Works
Project Number YM/R/PM/138-SA Project Name Booster & Pumps Overhaul Works Phases 1 & 2 Territory Saudi Arabia Client Name: Saline Water Conversion Corporation SWCC (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11691 Postal/Zip Code : 85369 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 463 1111/ 463 4546/ 463 0503 Fax: (+966-1) 464 3235 E-mail : info@swcc.gov.sa Website: http://www.swcc.gov.sa Description Carrying out overhauling of main booster and pumps, including replacement of main worn out spares for a water conversion corporation - Phases 1 & 2. Tender Cost $ 135 Closing Date July 10, 2010 Remarks Tender No. YM/R/PM/138 This tender service is at Madina - Yanbu in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: 36
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middleeasttenders.com / +971 2 634 8495
Saline Water Conversion Corporation Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tender Categories Potable Water Works Project Number Project Name Territory Client
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149/2010-O Power & Desalination O&M Works Project Oman Name: Rural Areas Electricity Company (Oman) Address: Subsidiary of Electricity Holding Company S.A.O.C City: Mina Al-Fahal PC 116 Postal/Zip Code : 850 Country: Oman Tel: (+968) 2469 5162 Fax: (+968) 2469 5311 Website: http://www.ehcoman.com Carr ying out operation and maintenance of a power and desalination plant for electrical company. 2,055 July 5, 2010 Tender No. 149/2010 This project is at Masirah Island in Oman. Tender documents can be obtained from: Oman Telecommunications Company (S.A.O.C.) Muscat, Oman. The last date to purchase tender document is June 09, 2010. Potable Water Works Power Generation & Distribution 143/2010-O Water Supply Upgrade Project Oman Name: Rural Areas Electricity Company (Oman) Address: Subsidiary of Electricity Holding Company S.A.O.C City: Mina Al-Fahal PC 116 Postal/Zip Code : 850 Country: Oman Tel: (+968) 2469 5162 Fax: (+968) 2469 5311 Website: http://www.ehcoman.com Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for upgrading water supply for an electrical company. 900 July 5, 2010 Tender No. 143/2010 This project is at Masirah Water Desalination Plant in Oman. Tender documents can be obtained from: Rural Areas Electricity Company SAOC Muscat, Oman. The last date to purchase tender documents is June 09, 2010. Potable Water Works 44500311019-SA Flood Hazards Prevention & Storm Water Drainage Project-34 Saudi Arabia Name: Municipality of Al Jouf Region (Saudi Arabia) City: Meccah Postal/Zip Code : 75 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-4) 624 1633 Fax: (+966-4) 624 9044 Implementation of flood hazards prevention and storm water drainage for a municipality. 800 July 12, 2010 Tender No. 4/4/5003/1/10/19 This project is in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Aljouf Municipality Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Municipal Services Sewerage & Drainage
Project Number 29/1431/1432-SA/1 Project Name Wastewater Sub-Networks Installation Project Territory Saudi Arabia Client Name: Water Directorate (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11195 Country: Saudi Arabia
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Tel: (+966-1) 476 1377 Fax: (+966-1) 401 2365 Installation of main and sub-wastewater networks for a water directorate. 1,335 July 11, 2010 Tender No. 29/1431/1432 This project is in Saudi Arabia. Tender documents can be obtained from: Tenders & Procurement Department, Madina Education Directorate Madina, Saudi Arabia. Sewerage & Drainage
Project Number 28/1431/1432-SA Project Name Pipelines & Wastewater Networks Installation Project Territory Saudi Arabia Client Name: Water Directorate (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11195 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 476 1377 Fax: (+966-1) 401 2365 Description Installation of main pipelines and wastewater networks for a water directorate. Tender Cost $ 1,335 Closing Date July 10, 2010 Remarks Tender No. 28/1431/1432 This project is in Saudi Arabia . Tender documents can be obtained from: Tenders & Procurement Department, Madina Water Directorate Madina, Saudi Arabia. Potable Water Works Tender Categories Sewerage & Drainage Project Number 28/1431/1432-SA Project Name Pipelines & Wastewater Networks Installation Project Territory Saudi Arabia Client Name: Water Directorate (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11195 Country: Saudi Arabia Tel: (+966-1) 476 1377 Fax: (+966-1) 401 2365 Description Installation of main pipelines and wastewater networks for a water directorate. Tender Cost $ 1,335 Closing Date July 10, 2010 Remarks Tender No. 28/1431/1432 This project is in Saudi Arabia . Tender documents can be obtained from: Tenders & Procurement Department, Madina Water Directorate Madina, Saudi Arabia. Tender Categories Potable Water Works Sewerage & Drainage Project Number HS/118-K Project Name Sanitary Drainage Lines Construction Project Territory Kuwait Client Name: Ministry of Public Works (Kuwait) Address: Ministry of Public Works Bldg., 3rd Floor, 6th Ring Road City: Safat 13001 Postal/Zip Code : 8 Country: Kuwait Tel: (+965) 2538 5520 / 2538 5530 Fax: (+965) 2538 5219 / 2538 5234 E-mail : hmansour@mpa.gov.kw Description Construction, completion and maintenance of sanitary drainage line for a public works authority. Tender Cost $ 2,760 Closing Date July 18, 2010 Remarks Tender No. HS/118 This project is in Kuwait. The tender is open to pre-qualified contractors only. Tender documents can be obtained from: Central Tenders Committee Safat 13011, Kuwait. TeleTel:: (+965) 2401200 Fax: (+965) 2416574 Bid bond is KD 74,000. Tender Categories Sewerage & Drainage
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eventsCALENDAR JUNE June 20-21, 2010
ACE 2010, Chicago Over the past 129 years, AWWA and its Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) have served as the source of knowledge and information for water professionals who work to improve the supply and quality of water in North America and beyond. AWWA Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) 2010 will offer more than three days of technical sessions, 14 workshops, plant tours, networking opportunities and the exposition. Denis Hayes will be the highlighted speaker at the Opening General Session. More than 100 professional sessions – each with multiple presentations within them—will explore water resource sustainability, system sustainability, workforce sustainability and economic sustainability. The key tracks of ACE Professional Programme are Distribution and Plant Operations, Engineering and Construction, Executive, International, Legislative & Regulatory and Management. The ACE10 exposition will feature more than 500 providers of technology and services. Registration for the event is available online at www.awwa.org/ace10 Contact: AWWA—ACE10 Tel: 1- 303.347.6203 Fax: 1-303.347.0804 URL: www.awwa.org/ace10 June 22-25, 2010
2010 Asia-Pacific Conference on Desalination and Water Reuse, PRC An important part of the forum on Qingdao Marine Science & Technology and Economic Development, the conference has been held for the past five years. The 38
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conference aims at promoting the desalination technology development in China and Asia Pacific area, which is the largest application market of water treatment technology. It aims to become a platform for exchange of information on government policies, plans and communications, as well as legal, economic and financial co-operation for the region’s desalination industry. The theme of the conference is Desalination: Guarantee of Economic and Social Sustainable Development Contact: Yang Yan, China Desalination Association Tel: 86-10-64661601 Fax: 86-10-64661601 E-mail: yang_yan90@126.com URL: www.cda-apdwr2009.co June 28- July 2, 2010
Singapore International Water Week, SIngapore The Singapore International Water Week is the global platform that brings policymakers, industry leaders, experts and practitioners together to address challenges, showcase technologies, discover opportunities and celebrate achievements in the water world. The event’s flagship programmes comprises Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, Water Leaders Summit, Water Convention, Water Expo and Business Forums. The organisers of the third Singapore International Water Week have announced a record turnout expected for the 2010 edition, boosted by the debut of two new country pavilions, a 10% increase in the number of participating companies, and more than 70 co-located events to date. Highlights include the inaugural Asia Pacific Water Ministerial Forum, the 14th Meeting of the UN SecretaryGeneral’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, the
second World Cities Summit, the first ever River Basin and Delta Management Workshop and the IWA Project Innovation Award. This year’s this year’s Water Leaders Summit will focus on three critical areas in water management - .Good governance: sustainable and integrated resources management; Innovative technology: clean solutions for green growth and Sound financing: ensuring affordability and sustainable infrastructure. More than 160 oral presentations from over 30 countries will be made at the Water Convention, jointly organised by the International Water Association (IWA) and supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), where trends and challenges facing the water world globally, and in particular, in Asia Pacific and the Middle East will be examined. To generate greater synergy and facilitate dialogue in the governance and financing of water innovations, eight country and regionspecific Business Forums will be held at the Water Week. Contact: SIWW Tel: +65 6731 3160/3169 Fax: +65 6731 3055 E-mail: info@siww.com.sg URL: www.siww.com.sg June 30-July 1, 2010, Abu Dhabi
Water Days The Water Days conference, organised by SESAME Business Consultants, will address the recently concluded governmental water regulations ESTIDAMA. In addition, the conference introduces practical approaches to water conservation through green buildings, efficient water distribution and biological waste water treatment. The need to understand and protect the ecology of marine and coastal environments is
2010 another important element on water resource management highlighted at this conference. The conference will conclude in the ‘Green Lounge,’ an open Panel discussion between experts and the audience. Certificates of Attendance for conference delegates are issued by the NYIT, The New York Institute of Technology. As all previous conferences, “Water Days” will be made CO2-neutral by investments into carbon offsetting projects. Contact: SESAME Business Consultants Tel: +971 2 6277 006 E-mail: simons@sesam-uae.com URL: www.sesam-uae.com
SEPTEMBER Sep 13 - 17, 2010, Munich
IFAT ENTSORGA 2010 IFAT ENTSORGA is the one of the leading global trade fairs tracking innovations, new developments and services in the fields of water, sewage, waste and raw materials management. In the 16th edition, the already extensive sections on water, sewage and refuse are now being expanded to include a focus on generating energy from waste water and refuse. Also in the spotlight will be themes such as energy management and efficiency, urban mining (i.e. the exploitation of secondary raw materials), new methods of desalination and sanitation. The area of coastal protection and flood control is also being explored in greater depth, in cooperation with the Technisches Hilfswerk (THW). In 2008 IFAT set a new record for attendance, with 2,605 exhibitors from 41 countries and around 120,000 trade visitors from 170 countries. Contact: Georg Moller Exhibition Group Director, Tel: +49 89 949-20 260 E-mail: georg.moller@messemuenchen.de URL: ww.ifat.de
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