Induss I, the largest plant in the country for the production of purified water and its distribution network, was officially put into operation by the Flemish Minister-President Kris Peeters this morning. This plant, on which construction merely began a year ago, delivers large quantities of deionised (demineralised) water to chemical and petrochemical companies. The construction of the water plant and the 20 km long pipeline network along the Scheldelaan that transports the deionised water to the customers was an investment that cost about 30 million Euros.
Ninety-nine percent of all minerals are removed from the used surface water in the water plant. The water from the nearby Schelde is not usable as raw material, because it contains too much salt and should first be desalinated. This is both economically and ecologically not sound. That is why the deionising plant uses the surface water from the Albertkanaal.
Induss I can deliver about 19,200 m³ of deionised water per day. That is an equivalent of the content of 8 Olympic swimming pools. The plant was designed in such a way that its production capacity can still be tripled in the coming years.
When the plant was put into operation, the Flemish Minister-President declared: “Now that Induss I has been officially put into operation, Flanders has a new asset with which it can further embed the chemical and petrochemical industry in Flanders. It strengthens the chemical and petrochemical cluster around Antwerp which is already one of the largest in the world even more and is an important additional asset to attract new foreign investments”
Robert Voorhamme, chairman of water-link, said: “A year ago, sceptics frowned at the fact that we declared that this plant would be constructed in one year’s time. But the time has come today: this daring exploit was nicely completed on time. The water plant, called, Induss I, is operational! I wish to heartily congratulate the entire Induss team.”
Ellen Theeuwes, CEO of Induss,declared: “It is no coincidence that our largest plant up till now was built in the port of Antwerp. Antwerp is the second most important petrochemical industry after Houston, Texas, in the world. Petrochemical companies use high-pressure turbines that are highly susceptible to impurities. This means that deionised water should be used for steam production, because this is very pure water.”
She also added: “Meanwhile, Induss II en Induss III, established in the port of Ghent, already produce deionised water and steam. Induss I is the crème de la crème of what is currently possible on a technological level. The size of this new, energy efficient and environmentally friendly plant enables us to optimise the processes, resulting in an exceptionally high quality. With Induss I, we now also have an excellent business card for putting our expertise to work elsewhere in the world”.
When designing and building Induss I, the team opted for a number of energy-saving measures and solutions (heat recovery, effective insulation of the factory building and well thought-out material selection). When making choices regarding the purification technology, the best available techniques and the particularly stringent requirements that clients have with regard to the quality of the water that has to be delivered have been taken into account.
About Induss Induss was established in June 2010 as a subsidiary firm of water-link. Induss provides a sustainable and economically sound solution for industrial problems with regard to the water balance (water management). Induss, amongst other activities, produces and delivers specialised water to the industry (chemical, petrochemical, textile, bioenergy, food…). Ranging from cooling water, steam and deionised water for the petrochemical industry to hyper-pure water for the food industry. The plant also pays plenty of attention to the rest of the cycle, including clever re(use) of water and waste water purification. Induss moreover offers its expertise and services for licence applications, maintenance of existing plants and other water related matters. Reliability, cost control and sustainability are top priorities. www.induss.eu
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