Promoting sustainable water use in industry

Water is a fundamental commodity for nearly every step of manufacturing and production processes around the world. Optimisation of water use by industry can reduce pressure on water resources and exposure to risks of shortages, while decarbonising the economy in a cost effective manner. Ecolab has invested in a range of proprietary technologies and core competences to drive water cycle improvements across customer operations bringing significant savings in costs, energy efficiency and emissions. One such example is the company’s 3D TRASAR™ Technology for cooling water, which uses smart sensor technology to provide remote monitoring, reporting and alarming.

Ecolab implemented its 3D TRASAR™ Technology in partnership with one of the world’s largest steel mill groups, which was committed to protecting the environment, improving its operational sustainability and delivering sustainable products for its customers. The company partnered with Ecolab to optimise efficiency of one its manufacturing sites in eastern Romania.

As part of a detailed performance improvement plan, Ecolab employed its 3D TRASAR™ Technology in one of the plant’s blast furnace open cooling systems, installed cooling tower level control to allow for improved blast furnace water balance, switched the make-up water source from demineralised water to soft water and optimised the recirculation pumps to create a more sustainable and profitable operation. The implementation was phased in over the course of one year. During the year, several different projects were implemented by the Ecolab managed operations team to reduce water, energy and waste consumption. Improvement projects were identified in the area of cooling water, waste handling and disposal and energy management. Ecolab’s 3D TRASAR™ Cooling Water Technology was implemented in the hot phase units to monitor and control water mass balance and treatment dosages and avoid over consuming water and chemicals.

Ecolab’s product and process technologies helped to reduce water, energy and waste consumption. This has enabled the customer to honour its commitments in protecting the environment and improving sustainability. At its Romanian plant, the customer successfully managed to save 8.3 billion litres of water, reduce by 6.2 million kWh the energy use, avoid 1,226 metric tons of CO2e, save €1.2 million and create a more sustainable operation in just over one year.