Innovative Solutions

Biomass is a source of energy that is derived from plants. Fuel sources are derived from both forests and agriculture, and can be differentiated into three categories: lignocelluloses biomass (wood, straw, bagasse and agricultural residues), glucide biomass (cereals, sugar beet and sugar cane) and oleaginous biomass (colza and palm oil).

Biomass is increasingly being used as a primary source of energy because of its economic and environmental advantages:
 

• Economic: it may help mitigate the impacts of fluctuations in oil and gas prices if plant sources are locally available or are independent of oil/gas prices. It can also help stimulate employment in regional or rural communities.
• Environmental: biomass is a renewable energy source. When a plant or a plant residue is burnt it releases carbon dioxide equivalent to the quantity the plant assimilated during the photosynthesis process while it was still growing. Therefore, the carbon footprint of biomass is neutral.

Veolia Energy (Dalkia) has extensive experience in the design, construction and management of biomass installations, providing services to over 100 biomass plants around the world. In Australia Veolia Energy (Dalkia) is currently providing its customers with technical and commercial feasibility studies for several potential projects.

Delta Electricity, located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, has implemented water-saving technologies at its Vales Point Power Station in response to the challenges of ongoing water shortages in the region.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies completed the design and construction of a water reclamation plant for the Vales Point Power Station. The 1.2 megalitre per day plant uses microfiltration and reverse osmosis to treat effluent from the nearby Mannering Park sewage treatment plant to produce high-quality water suitable for reuse within the power station, saving valuable potable water.

Since commissioning in October 2008, 270 million litres of potable water have been saved, resulting in a reduced reliance on the Central Coast drinking water supply. The plant has the capability to save a further 230 million litres each year. Vales Point Power Station can continue to produce electricity during water restrictions, minimising the impact on supply to the surrounding community. The purity of water treated by the reclamation plant is also extremely high, resulting in a significant reduction in the risk of water contamination which may damage plant and result in reduced operation of the facility.

With the growing demand for water in South Australia and its increasingly limited supply, a need was identified to test the potential application of natural treatment and storage of stormwater in aquifers which could be recovered to meet drinking water standards.

United Water led the innovative research project, which used separate injection and recovery wells to transfer injected water in a process known as ‘Aquifer Storage Transfer and Recovery’ (ASTR). By separating recharge and recovery wells, the residence time and travel distance between wells can enable the aquifer to operate as a natural biofilter.

The ASTR research project brought together numerous South Australian organisations from research, State Government agencies, Local Government and industry. The research explored the fate of water quality hazards through a wetland system and limestone aquifer. Completed in 2009, the research project demonstrated that recovered water at the ASTR site generally meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines without further treatment. However, it did contain iron at levels close to the guideline values and on occasions exceeded the aesthetic limit for colour.

While further research is needed to test the robustness of the concept and to engage with the community concerning the desirability of this source of water for various uses, the project has provided a wealth of data, fundamental understanding of processes within the aquifer and input to the development of the Australian Water Recycling Guidelines. In addition, the research project has demonstrated the potential for stormwater to be treated using passive methods to a level which meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines health criteria.

This collaborative research project won the 2009 National Award for Excellence in Stormwater Research and Development from the Stormwater Industry Association. In addition, the project also won the Australian Water Association (SA Branch) 2009 Research and Development Award.

As part of the New South Wales Government’s Central Coast Water Savings Fund, which aims to save 355 million litres of water a year, Mars Food was awarded a grant to reduce their reliance on local potable water by installing a water treatment and recycling plant at its Central Coast manufacturing site. This region has faced significant water shortages as the result of ongoing drought. Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies partnered with Mars Food to help design, develop and commission the state-of-the-art water recycling and treatment plant. The facility uses ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis technology and ultra-violet light to treat both wastewater streams from the food manufacturing process and stormwater onsite, and reuse them for non-product utility purposes.

Following the commissioning of this tertiary treatment plant in February 2009, Mars Food has halved its water consumption, drastically reducing its reliance on local water sources. Mars Food has also expanded its spill management ponds to collect and store stormwater from all hard surfaces at the site resulting in extensive rainwater capture and reuse through the recycling system.

The Mars Food Water Recycling Project won first prize at the Global Water Awards in the category of ‘Industrial Water Project of the Year’, an award which represents the most impressive technical achievement in the field of industrial water.

Veolia Water is a founding industry participant and active supporter in the establishment of the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence.

Together with client WaterSecure, Veolia Water, other industry participants and research partners including the University of Queensland, the Advanced Water Management centre, Griffith University and the University of New South Wales, established the National Centre of Excellence in Water Recycling in 2009.

Based in Brisbane, this centre aims to increase the use and acceptance of recycled water in Australia. It will also help Australia to become an international leader in research in this area.

Veolia Water will work with partners in the centre to contribute to and guide the centre’s research programs, drawing on its operational experience and international research and development activities. The centre received Federal Government funding of $20 million over five years.

Improving customer service is an important goal of our business as a whole. With this in mind, Veolia Energy (Dalkia) invested one million to re-engineer the customer delivery component of its HVAC service business with the introduction of a field service Mobility Solution in 2009.

The Mobility Solution consists of hand-held electronic devices for field service employees, providing them with all the data necessary to meet and adapt to changing customer requirements. One of the key features of the device is a structured occupational health and safety risk assessment which is activated before the start of every job. In addition to providing vital on-the-job information, the technology enables us to automate job notification and ensures work is allocated efficiently, which will help us enhance customer satisfaction while driving business efficiency.

In New Zealand, United Water, a wholly owned subsidiary of Veolia Water, implemented ‘Aqualink’, an electronic work dispatch system in two further contracts in 2009.

The system, developed in-house by United Water, enables employees on the road to capture and update data on emergency and routine activities with real-time information using mobile mini-tablet style computers installed within the fleet vehicles.

Employees use this system to update data on emergency work such as burst water mains, stormwater and wastewater chokes or for the installation of new service connections to properties, reducing both time and paperwork.

This new system has improved employee access to information and enabled staff to provide a more efficient service with increased information at their fingertips.

The system also gives employees access to GIS (Graphical Information System) for underground assets.

Aqualink is now being used in four contracts in New Zealand as well as for dispatching wastewater network jobs in Adelaide, South Australia.