New energy-efficient waterworks supplies clean water in Colombia , Danfoss
Release Date: 2010-07-08
A new waterworks is supplying 15,000 Wayúu people with desalinated drinking water in the Guajira province of North-East Colombia. Variable speed drives from Danfoss are saving 45% in energy.
For many years, the Wayúu people living around Uribia, near the Atlantic Ocean, suffered a lack of clean drinking water. The water supply in the desert of the Uribia area, where they live, was always problematic but now a new drinking water desalination plant with a capacity of 2,000 cubic meters per day is finally able to supply 15,000 Wayúu people with water. However, due to the high level of marine salt in the groundwater, a so called “reverse osmosis” treatment system has to be used.
The new plant is equipped with energy-efficient pumps operating with variable speed drives from Danfoss. The installation of these drives saves 19% at the moment, when using old existing membranes, but will reach 45% in saved energy after a full overhaul has been completed. The investment in variable speed drives is recouped in only 10 months due to the far lower operational costs. This fact along with the prolonged lifetime of the membranes and the lower maintenance costs are very much welcomed by the end-user, the local government in Uribia. The construction company Technoaguas, responsible for rebuilding the plant and installing the new technology, is also pleased:
“Two variable speed drives (30kW and 45kW) from Danfoss control the precise pressure that makes the filtration procedure very efficient. This improves the quality and quantity of the total amount of treated water, and results in significant energy savings, so we are very satisfied,” Juan Fernando Arias, owner of Tecnoaguas explains.
The desalination plant separates the salt from the water through several filtering stages, so that the outgoing concentration is below 300ppm (parts per million) and suitable for consumption. When membranes are replaced this year, it is estimated that the water quality will be below 150ppm. A reverse osmosis system existed before, but it was using a traditional, energy-inefficient pumping system and was in a very bad condition. The rainfall in the Uribia region is below 200mm per year. The extraction of water from underground has therefore always been complicated and this project marks the first successful use of a groundwater source in the Guajira peninsula, to the delight of the Wayúu people.
The project in Uribia has turned out so successfully that several other similar drinking water treatment plants are planned in the Uribia region.
| Type: | NORMAL |
| Company: | Danfoss |
| Country: | Denmark |