Waterwonders
From cooling equipment and bottle filling lines to separators and decanters for water recovery and treatment, the GEA Group plays an important role in the world water industry.
Nowhere more so than China’s Three Gorges Dam project where GEA Heat Exchangers supplied 84 transformer oil water coolers to meet strict specifications: they needed to operate in a restricted space at the dam wall and cope with high levels of sediment and debris in the water. In 2000 GEA Heat Exchangers welcomed a Chinese delegation at its manufacturing site in Monzingen where GEA Renzmann & Grünewald transformer oil coolers are developed and produced. With GEA Renzmann & Grünewald coolers, GEA is one of the leading manufacturers of transformer oil coolers worldwide. The visitors, including high-ranking professors from China’s design institutes and universities, were shown a model of the proposed cooler and also a cooler used for on-site tests at hydro power plants. From July 2000 the cooler was tested at the Three Gorges Dam over 18 months – including two monsoon seasons – and passed with flying colors. Since GEA’s 84 transformer oil water coolers were delivered and commissioned, the company has won more orders for Chinese hydro power plants and is now a leader in this market.
GEA Heat Exchangers also manufactured and supplied 96 closed circuit coolers for the dam’s generators. Six 25-meter ring pipes, each containing 16 coolers, surround the generators. GEA closed circuit coolers – also used to cool ships and submarines – offer optimal heat exchange while using minimal resources.
Sustainability is also an important part of GEA Heat Exchangers’ portfolio of cooling equipment for power plants. It offers dry and wet cooling systems to the power plant industry, making sure that the consumption of scarce water resources is minimized.
GEA Heat Exchangers supplies 2H fills and clarifiers for removing impurities at water treatment plants and also products for sewage treatment.
GEA Westfalia Separator Group, part of GEA Mechanical Equipment, is one of the world’s leading suppliers of separators and decanters for treating water and fluids. More than 3,500 installations are helping to improve the recovery of drinking water, processing of waste water, removal of water from sludge and its concentration, as well as the recovery of water from production processes.
Among its latest innovations is the Westfalia Separator® BallastMaster system. This filters out and destroys harmful organisms from ballast water in ships before it is discharged into the sea. The International Maritime Organization is making ballast water treatment on ships compulsory by 2016.
Most industries, particularly food processing, require large volumes of water, most of which is disposed of as waste. GEA Process Engineering companies help their customers to find economical and environmentally friendly methods for treating and recycling waste water in factories and plants. For example, GEA Niro supplied a state-of-the-art milk powder plant to Burra Foods in Australia capable of spray drying 1.2 million liters of milk per day from which 970,000 liters of water is recycled. Some 20,000 liters of this is nutritious enough for pig food, while 850,000 liters is used to irrigate crops in an area that suffers from drought. The remaining 100,000 liters is reused as part of the heating process.
Another GEA Process Engineering company, GEA Procomac, has developed an aseptic bottle filling process for beverages without having to heat the bottles or clean them with chemicals. This saves on water and energy.
GEA has a presence in the desalination industry in the shape of GEA Refrigeration Technologies. It has supplied compressor stations and gas treatment plants to the Jebel Ali power and desalination plant on the Dubai coast. The plant uses excess heat from generating power to provide the energy required for desalination.
At the other end of the temperature scale, GEA Refrigeration Technologies has brought snow to Dubai. GEA Grasso screw compressors and snow makers are central to what is the world’s largest indoor ski slope, maintaining temperatures of -1 to -2°C. GEA Refrigeration Technologies also supplies refrigeration equipment for ice rinks throughout Europe.
Ice is commonly used for cooling in many industrial and food processes. With Geneglace ice generators GEA offers the widest range of ice generators on the market.
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