It was late 2016, just after the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, when I launched Hydroleap to reimagine the way people look at wastewater and the ways to treat it.
The caravan of ideas that had been brimming in my mind and underworks for a while was ready to hit the road. What I had was a vision to drive water sustainability and an intricate understanding of the immense opportunities that technology can create to propel the water treatment industry from its dinosaur-age practices.
The most exciting part of the first phase of my journey was bringing the lab research at the National University of Singapore into the real world. Since Singapore became an independent republic in 1965, water has been a national priority because of its tiny land mass and lack of freshwater resources. The World Resources Institute ranked the country among the most vulnerable to water stress along with the arid states of Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait in 2015.
With a population of over 5.6 million people and a booming industrial sector, Singapore’s water demand continues to rise. Recycled wastewater can provide for 40 per cent of Singapore’s water demand which is expected to increase to 55 per cent by 2060.
However, with climate change and geopolitical uncertainties, achieving greater water self-sufficiency becomes imperative. The tiny city-state targeting world dominance has been focused on the self-sufficiency of water and has been regarded as a poster child for effective wastewater management over the years.
Recognising the urgency to secure a sustainable water supply, Singapore has invested heavily in pioneering water management strategies. Further, Singapore’s success in water management has been driven by its commitment to collaborative innovation.
By fostering partnerships between the government, industry stakeholders, and research institutions, the nation has transformed its water landscape. Such alliances facilitate the exchange of expertise, drive technological advancements, and expedite the implementation of novel treatment solutions.
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We, too, partnered with the NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) to develop a low-cost, low-energy electrochemical pre-treatment technology for the desalination of seawater and together were awarded SG $1.7 M by Singapore’s PUB.
Evidently, one area with immense potential for enhancing water self-sufficiency lies in improving industrial wastewater treatment.
Harnessing industrial wastewater treatment for self-sufficiency
Singapore’s industrial sector accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the country’s total water demand. Given the significant water usage associated with manufacturing processes, industrial wastewater treatment presents a substantial opportunity for conserving and reclaiming water resources.
One vital chapter to Singapore’s water story is ensuring comprehensive regulatory frameworks as Singapore looks to mitigate water stress and reinforce its position as a regional and global leader in water sustainability and practices. Regular audits, monitoring systems, and stringent enforcement of standards are pushing industries to adopt advanced wastewater treatment practices.
With ambitious goals like boosting its overall water recycling rate to 70 per cent by 2030, the other two key chapters are leveraging technology and reducing the carbon footprint from water treatments.
If we go back in time, conventional industrial wastewater treatment methods have often relied on the extensive use of chemicals and energy, such as coagulants, flocculants, aeration, and disinfectants, to remove contaminants.
While effective, these chemical and energy-intensive processes come with the added cost of operating, purchasing, storage, and handling and, most importantly, pose safety risks. It generates copious amounts of sludge that adds to the environmental burden. If discharged improperly, sludge can contaminate surface water, groundwater, and soil.
It can also cause eutrophication, leading to excessive algae growth and depletion of oxygen levels in the water, which disrupts aquatic ecosystems, leading to fish kills and the degradation of water quality. Toxic substances in the sludge can persist in the environment and accumulate in organisms over time, potentially entering the food chain and posing long-term risks to human and ecological health.
Aeration is a huge part of current existing plants in the secondary treatment, which uses 30-50 per cent of the power consumption of a whole treatment plant. This is exactly why a paradigm shift is needed in the way wastewater is treated. Chemical-free and advanced technologies such as electrooxidation and electrocoagulation allow for a huge advantage in lowering cost and carbon emissions.
Industries from construction to food, manufacturing, cooling towers, and desalination are all looking for ways to become more environmental in how they process the vast amounts of water they rely on for daily operations.
Food and Beverage manufacturing plants are typically large water consumers in Singapore (or even globally), comprising 60 per cent of water intake, followed by cooling towers. Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) is another challenge for the water treatment industry in Southeast Asia at present because of the difficulty in purifying a large amount of highly polluted wastewater.
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There are a lot of success stories of industries benefiting from shifting to advanced electrochemical solutions over conventional technologies. Through our electrocoagulation solution (HL-EC), one of the largest food manufacturers in the Philippines is treating their industrial wastewater effectively by removing up to 98 per cent Total Suspended Solids (TSS), 93 per cent oil & grease (O&G) and 95 per cent phosphate as well as reducing their carbon footprint by nearly 50 per cent. Electrooxidation solution (HL-EO) is helping a huge blue-chip data centre in Singapore to save 70 per cent of its water discharges by reducing and reusing blow-down water.
The water route ahead
Beginning in 2024, Singapore’s national water agency will enforce new recycling requirements for all new projects within water-intensive industries, and more or less the same trend can be seen even in the region.
Moreover, the implementation of NEWater, the world’s first large-scale water reclamation plant, has significantly reduced Singapore’s reliance on external water sources. Similarly, the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, which is a superhighway for used water management, has revolutionised the space, harnessing it as a resource through energy generation and nutrient recovery.
These successes serve as inspiration for future advancements in industrial wastewater treatment, signalling a path toward complete water independence.
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