ACG, a supplier of integrated manufacturing solutions to the global pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries, has shared its nomination for the Global Water Intelligence’s Industrial Project of the Year Award.
Established in 2006 by Global Water Intelligence, the awards recognise the most important achievements in the international water industry. Each of the four finalists in the category represent an outstanding technical or environmental achievement in the field of industrial water and wastewater.
The ZLD project at ACG’s Dahanu plant recycles and recovers over 95% of water for reuse, helping to meet regulations and alleviate local water stress. The innovative combination of expanded granular sludge bed treatment, anoxic treatment for denitrification, membrane bioreactor and high-recovery RO were deployed.
This was alongside advanced vacuum membrane distillation technology, which combines the advantages of thermal distillation and membranes to achieve high water quality at lower energy consumption. The membrane distillation technology used in the plant embodies an industry-changing move by ACG and its partner, industrial wastewater treatment specialist Aquatech.
It is the first full-scale plant integrating advanced vacuum membrane distillation for membrane evaporation and an agitated thin film dryer for dewatering. The innovative solution enables ACG to save power and generate 400 Kwh per day of green energy through biomethane production, while achieving ZLD with an optimal energy footprint.
The project at Dahanu is part of a larger water technology and service program implemented across multiple additional sites. The program aims to produce high-quality water for reuse from challenging waste streams by combining biological waste water treatment and membrane distillation to achieve ACG’s water sustainability goals.
The winners of the 2023 Global Water Awards will be announced at the Global Water Summit in Berlin later this month.