Quality and supply assurance are of primary importance to AquaMinerals’ clients. Along with the water companies, we direct a lot of our energy and coordination effort to these issues. In a pilot initiative, AquaMinerals is taking over responsibility for managing residuals at the De Punt site of Waterbedrijf Groningen.
It is not always easy for the water company to deliver a residual at the planned time. In addition, at some sites it is difficult in practice to effectively control a material’s quality, which nearly always involves a high cost.
The aluminium sludge at the De Punt site does not dewater well, which is why its dry-matter content when it is disposed is only 1 to 2%. In other words, the operation essentially involves the disposal of water, with resulting high transport and processing costs. Despite the efforts made over the last few years, obtaining a drier sludge remains problematic.
AquaMinerals and Waterbedrijf Groningen have therefore decided to conduct a pilot project in which we will take over management of the sludge lagoons and the sludge dewatering. Combined with a greater attention to the loading of the sludge, we believe that the dry-matter content can be increased by 50%. If it works, we would then like to study with our partners the utility of installing equipment to thicken the sludge even more.
This new form of cooperation and shared responsibilities has been effectively fine-tuned by the two parties over the last few weeks. We’re keen to see the results!