Spotlight on Degrémont, the water treatment expert
Producing clean water for consumption, while preserving the environment is one of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s daily tasks. A French company with worldwide influence, its Degrémont subsidiary has specialized in facilities for producing drinking water and treating wastewater and sludge for over 70 years.
Water is a vital resource, but is in short supply for nearly two thirds of the planet’s population. According to a United Nations report, 13% of the world’s population – a total of 884 million individuals – had no access to drinking water in 2010. Since its creation in 1939 at Rueil-Malmaison, Degrémont – a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT who employs 4,400 people in 70 countries – has emerged as a world leader in water treatment plants. With a total revenue of 1.52 billion euro, with 13.5 million euro allocated to Research and Development and 500 patents filed, today the facilities of this family business serve 1 billion inhabitants. Degrémont’s challenges are many: producing drinking water and water for consumption, facilitating wastewater re-use, preserving natural resources, ensuring health and safety, creating alternative production solutions, improving sludge management for better recovery, and reducing the use of fossil fuels.
From design to after sales service
Degrémont designs, builds and implements drinking-water or desalination facilities, wastewater treatment stations and sludge treatment facilities for communities and manufacturers worldwide. As both a project manager and water treatment expert, Degrémont also operates facilities and assumes responsibility for all services related to their successful operation (maintenance, provision of spare parts, etc.). An essential contributor to sustainable development, Degrémont simultaneously assists its clients by adapting to their needs while preserving the environment. The firm also ensures the continuity of its services and control of operating costs.
Innovative solutions to make water drinkable
Producing clean water for consumption is Degrémont’s main challenge. The company has 3,000 plants to produce drinking water from well or surface water in industrialized and developing countries. To ensure sanitary quality, the company has developed innovative solutions. From flotation to ultra-filtration, each technology is based on density, automation, optimal reliability and cost control. Degrémont is also a pioneer in seawater desalination by reverse osmosis (link to desalination article on website). This technique offers an alternative to growing household and industrial needs. Thus, 10 million inhabitants throughout the world consume water desalinated by Degrémont’s 250 desalination plants.
Guaranteeing the sanitary quality of water
Another challenge for Degrémont is wastewater treatment. Its 2,500 treatment plants offer the ability to recycle 2.4 million cubic meters per day. They produce quality water that respects the environment, using a range of technological solutions, such as physical-chemical or biological treatment, aerobic or anaerobic, ozonization or membrane bioreactors. Thus, Degrémont not only guarantees the excellent sanitary quality of the treated water, but also allows communities and manufacturers to reuse urban or industrial wastewater to preserve natural resources.
Re-use: giving wastewater a second life
If some two thirds of the world population lack water, wastewater recycling becomes a major alternative, because water is a reusable resource, whether for agricultural uses (irrigation) or industrial and urban uses (supply of fountains, street cleaning, etc.). Intended for restoring water to its initial quality, the Re-Use method enables Degrémont to reduce polluting run-off while increasing available resources at a lower cost, through innovative techniques such as ultraviolet, reverse osmosis or membrane filtration.
Reducing and reusing sludge volumes
A by-product of wastewater treatment, sludge is a major economic and environmental challenge. Degrémont therefore also specializes in treating this sludge. The SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT subsidiary offers its customers a wide range of procedures, ranging from digestion to incineration, thickening, dehydration, composting and drying. The goal is to reduce the volume of sludge produced, as well as to re-use it for agricultural purposes and to apply its energy potential in the form of biogas.
Three global contracts signed – a confirmation of expertise
Since early 2011, Degrémont has produced a number of new international development contracts. Specifically, the company has completed the acquisition of AMERIWATER, a company based in Ohio that specializes in the design, manufacture and supply of ultra-pure water production systems in the United States. The SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT facility was also awarded contracts to expand the drinking water plant in Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), and the wastewater treatment and recycling plant of Doha Wast (Qatar). Degrémont also renewed the operating contract for the treatment station at Nice Côte d’Azure, and was awarded the contract to operate and maintain water and sanitation services for Adelaide (Australia). This news gives full recognition of Degrémont’s activities.
The Melbourne desalination plant
To find out more:
• Visit Degrémont official website
• Visit the Melbourne desalination plant
