The winners of the 2015 Aquatech Innovation Award were announced at the opening ceremony of the Amsterdam International Water Week and 25th edition of Aquatech Amsterdam, with the overall first place going to a technology able to treat highly saline wastewater and reclaim almost every drop of water at the same time.
The winning entry, the DyVaR process of Dutch company Salttech BV, is of relevance to the oil and gas industry and provides a zero liquid discharge treatment option. The variant of the technology entered into the competition was named DyVaR O&G ZLD.
“I am very excited about the winner,” said award jury chair Dr. Cees Buisman. Highly saline waters are being produced in the oil and gas sector in increasing quantities. They require treatment to meet environmental regulations and to recover water for reuse, but the high salinity makes this a technically challenging task, especially if it is to be done cost effectively. “The problem of how to get rid of these brines is immense,” Buisman said.
Already proven in locations in North America and the Middle East, DyVaR uses evaporative and cyclonic technologies to separate out salts and other components, recovering almost all of the water and making it available for reuse. “They solved the problem for any combination of salts, which for many other technologies is not possible,” Buisman said.
Corrosion is one aspect of the challenge of dealing with highly saline waters. “They solved this by using polymer materials,” Buisman said, adding that the other key aspect is scaling, which has been solved by the use of cyclones. “That combination is a very big innovation, and it is also being recognized by the market in terms of orders."
Other winners include:
- Not-yet-to-market: PearlAqua by AquiSense Technologies, a world-first UV LED water disinfection system from US company AquiSense Technologies;
- Process control technology & process automation: Hach Prognosys predictive diagnostic system by Hach, an instrument predictive diagnostic system;
- Transport and storage: AQS-SYS, Aquarius Spectrum Ltd., an automated system for detecting when leaks develop in supply networks from Israeli company Aquarius Spectrum; and
- Water supply/water treatment: MPC-Buoy: Monitor, Predict & Control Algal Blooms by LG Sonic BV, an ultrasonic system for treating algal blooms from Dutch company LG Sonic.
The Aquatech Innovation Award continues to grow in size and status. More than 70 companies entered this year’s competition. The jury panel assessed entrants on the basis of originality, practicality and sustainability, and the number of nominees put forward by the jury as finalists also represented an increase, due to a strong showing by smaller companies. Nominees’ solutions deal with some of the most pressing concerns of the water sector.
Source: Aquatech
