For Immediate Release
Plainfield, Illin., May 4, 2007 - HPD has been awarded the supply of the world's first brine concentrator system as a key component of a reverse osmosis (RO) drinking water plant at a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facility. The new system will be installed by C. Overaa & Co. at the Deuel Vocational Institute (DVI) in Tracy, CA.
The new HPD system will use evaporation technology to treat 250 gpm of reject from the groundwater RO system, which is designed to provide drinking water to DVI. The brine concentrator will reduce the subsequent effluent stream volume by 97% and recycle high-quality drinking water back to the facility. The remaining 3% of the stream is composed of highly concentrated brine that will be sent to a small, on-site evaporation pond to achieve zero liquid discharge.
A mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) system will drive the falling film evaporator to concentrate the brine, which optimizes energy efficiency using less than 80 kWh of electrical energy per 1000 gallons of water evaporated. The brine concentrator will use seeded-slurry technology to minimize scaling in the system, which is challenging due to the feed stream composition.
This process is especially important due to the growing effort in California to conserve valuable water and in other arid regions in the southwestern United States where drought conditions strain local water supplies.
"C. Overaa & Co. is excited to be partnered with HPD to build a project using evaporation technology which will provide benefits to the people of California for our future water supply", said Kevin M. Triplett, Overaa Project Manager. "The importance of this new technology is very evident given California's past dry winter and the current voluntary water rationing in the San Francisco Bay Area."
Overaa's contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation calls the construction of a new 800,000 gallon per day water treatment facility using the combination of a reverse osmosis and brine concentrator technologies, with four brine evaporation ponds. The new plant will treat water from existing groundwater wells to supply high-quality drinking water to the DVI facility.
Overaa is one of the largest construction companies in the Bay Area and is ranked as one of the nation's top 400 construction firms (ENR).
Over the course of its 100 years, Overaa has played a significant role in key facilities and structures in the local region. Overaa has built more than 40 water and wastewater treatment facilities throughout Northern California. Currently, similar projects are being constructed in Hollister, Schellville, Healdsburg, Dublin San Ramon, and Tracy. For more information, visit www.overaa.com.