PITTSBURGH (News release) -- Evoqua Water Technologies, an industry leader in mission-critical water treatment solutions, named Kimberly-Clark as the recipient of the 2021 Evoqua Water Sustainability Award. The award recognizes Evoqua customers for their excellence in water stewardship, including those companies using new or existing technologies in innovative and sustainable ways.
Kimberly-Clark's sustainability strategy recognizes the need for strong water stewardship practices in its operations. They continue to look for opportunities to make meaningful improvements in their processes for sustainable water use. Such was the case at their Maumelle, Arkansas manufacturing facility, where Kimberly-Clark was looking to be more water-conscious. Evoqua worked with the facility to design a treatment solution to provide consistent, high-quality water output to meet their current and future water demands while taking advantage of water reuse opportunities.
To reduce water withdrawal, instead of conventional reverse osmosis (RO), the Maumelle manufacturing facility was equipped with high recovery RO systems to treat the freshwater for their manufacturing processes. During the design phase, the team integrated the new systems with existing pre-treatment solutions to minimize their footprint. The system's design includes Evoqua's Water One® service, which remotely monitors the deionized (DI) water system to ensure consistent, high-quality water output. Overall, the new treatment system has resulted in significant water and chemical savings for the facility.
"At Evoqua, we are dedicated to developing and delivering sustainable solutions that help our customers and communities protect the world's most valuable resource -- water," said Ron Keating, Evoqua's Chief Executive Officer. "Kimberly-Clark's achievements in reducing and reusing water in their operations make it an exemplary company, and we are honored to be part of their sustainability journey."
Each year, the award is given to celebrate World Water Day, which occurs annually on March 22. Evoqua employees nominate sustainable companies from the company's customer base for exhibiting excellent water stewardship and demonstrating sustainable efforts in their strategies around community impact, water and energy efficiency, and environmental protection. Other finalists included Seaboard Energy and Northumbrian Water Group.
Seaboard Energy required an effective treatment solution to consistently achieve compliance with their municipal discharge permit at their biodiesel plant in St. Joseph, Missouri. After a successful onsite pilot study, Seaboard Energy engaged Evoqua to design and build a new innovative treatment solution combining an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and a hydrogen sulfide bioscrubber to overcome sulfur toxicity, a common issue in biodiesel production. The system is designed to cost-effectively treat the wastewater to meet all effluent and emission discharge permit levels while minimizing energy use and sludge production.
Northumbrian Water Group's (NWG) Mosswood Water treatment plant, located in the United Kingdom, is responsible for meeting the water needs of over 660,000 people in the Durham and Sunderland region. To improve the treatment plant's reliability and future resilience, NWG installed a multi-barrier process to treat the chlorine-resistant organism cryptosporidium. Utilizing Evoqua's Wafer® UV generator, NWG is meeting regulatory requirements for treating the cryptosporidium. The innovative, compact system design eliminated the need for a new, large treatment facility, reducing NWG's physical footprint, capital cost, and avoiding harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
