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Europe - 2007
Reduced Water Consumption, Discharge Exceed Alcoa Goals
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A closed-loop water system at Alcoa's Fusina, Italy, location has reduced water consumption by 95% for the facility's European Mill Products (EMP) business and allowed EMP to achieve Alcoa's goal of zero process water discharge 13 years before the 2020 deadline.
The EMP business at Fusina, which includes a casthouse and rolling mill, historically used around 750 cubic meters of water per hour that was drawn from a local river. Process water discharge averaged around 730 cubic meters per hour.
In 2007, EMP completed installation of a closed-loop system that recycles and recirculates process water. Only water that is evaporated in the cooling towers needs to be replaced, and this averages around 40 cubic meters per hour. The 95% reduction in process water exceeds Alcoa's global goal of a 70% reduction by 2010.
Under normal operation, the closed loop system also achieves the zero process water discharge goal. Sporadic discharges are sometimes necessary to maintain water quality within the system.
The system cost approximately US$4 million, and the facility will reap annual savings of around US$70,000 in water and discharge costs. This figure is expected to increase as maintenance savings are calculated. Drawing less water from the river reduces the amount of sand in the system, ultimately decreasing the amount of cleaning and filter changes required.
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