Water & Wastewater Asia January/February 2020

Water & Wastewater Asia 

INCORPORATING THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE SINGAPORE WATER ASSOCIATION 

MICA (P) No: 076/05/2019 • ISSN: 2010-233X • KDN: PPS 1501/11/2012(022878) • www.waterwastewaterasia.com • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 

Photo credit: mrjn Photography 

The leading separation specialist 

SIWW 2020: Climate resilience, resource 

resilience & smart utilities 

Man v. Machine: Talking to equipment 

in the age of Industry 4.0 

Radar is the better ultrasonic!

January / February 2020 • waterwastewaterasia.com

PANG YANRONG 

Senior Editor 

FROM THE EDITOR 

A fresh start 

Happy New Year! We hope you all enjoyed the 

happy holidays. 

As with each of our January/February issue, 

we are kicking off the year with a couple of 

interesting stories. 

For starters, the United States Government, 

in partnership with the Association of 

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and UL, 

aim to strengthen ASEAN science and 

technology capacity, and gender equality and 

improvement through the annual ASEAN- 

U.S.Science Prize for Women. And last year’s 

winner was Dr Zhou Yan, associate professor 

in the School of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering (CEE), and deputy director of 

Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre (AEBC) under Nanyang 

Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological 

University, Singapore (p.10). Her win defines an encouragement for women 

scientists pursuing their research career in a male-dominated industry, 

and we are definitely looking forward to the innovative projects and 

achievements that Dr. Zhou will showcase in 2020 and beyond. 

In addition, we have Dr Ngoc Lieu Le who is a finalist from the annual 

ASEAN-U.S.Science Prize for Women (p.12). Dr Ngoc’s research covers a 

wide range of interdisciplinary research fields with a focus on the areas of 

energy generation from renewable sources. 

We also spoke with Loic Lebegue, global business development director for 

the environment industry at ANDRITZ Separation (p.14). He shared with us 

on how ANDRITZ adapts to the challenges in Southeast Asia while retaining 

its status as a powerhouse in the region. 

We would also like to draw attention to Pani Energy, which has made a 

name for itself through the development of new technologies and its focus 

on improving efficiencies in the desalination and industrial wastewater 

treatment industries (p.45). In this story, Devesh Bhadradwaj, CEO of 

Pani Energy, takes us through how the company makes the most of 

artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to assist plant operators 

beyond cursory data monitoring. A refreshing read for readers who have 

found previous industry-changing technologies not delivering on 

everything they promised to. 

And finally, with a new year and the start of a new issue, you’ll see a 

revamped look to our section head columns as well as improved layouts. 

We hope this will bring a breath of fresh air and to improve easy reading 

for you. 

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6 THE NEWS 

Pan Asian Flow Technology and Muhr Holding Gmbh 

form MUHR Asia 

THE 6 th of September 2018 was a 

significant date for both Pan Asian 

Flow Technology (PAFT) and Muhr 

Holding Gmbh: Both companies 

entered an agreement to form 

MUHR Asia, a joint venture company 

aimed at manufacturing and 

marketing hydro/water applications 

and solutions in Asia. 

Since then, MUHR Asia has been 

keeping busy, exhibiting in various 

water and hydro shows in the 

region and allowing the company 

to raise brand awareness, venture 

into different countries and expand 

its sales network into the Southeast 

Asian region. 

Tan said, “Each of these countries 

have a different state of development, 

and they have different notions of 

how treatment should be like. For 

Singapore, PUB is pushing very hard 

on reducing sludge, saving energy, 

flood mitigation like the Stamford 

Diversion Canal, and they’re also 

looking into advanced reclamation 

to keep out the sea. For different 

countries there are different states 

of development so it’s not easy to 

say where the trend is moving, but 

different countries are moving at 

different speeds. For example, in the 

Philippines, they’re still trying to make 

their non-revenue water (NRW) as low 

as possible.” 

According to General Manager Tan 

Wei Hong, MUHR Asia’s primary 

goal is to address flooding issues 

within Southeast Asia. 

“Flood control, flood mitigation and 

flood barriers have been used quite often 

in Europe – for cities in Southeast Asia, 

we’re still quite ill-prepared for that. So far, 

hydromechanical products have been used 

very often in municipal wastewater plants 

and industrial wastewater plants, but to put 

it into use for flood control has not been 

done so extensively in Southeast Asia. 

Everyone knows how they’re being 

used – for wastewater treatment plants 

in municipal regions, for drinking water 

treatment, penstocks and stoplogs are used 

quite often in the treatment process, to 

control the flow in the tanks. These can also 

be used for flood mitigation or in cities.” 

MUHR Asia’s head of Sales Flow Control, 

Florian Steiner, further elaborated, “These 

are similar products, and we have already 

MUHR Asia’s General Manager, Tan Wei Hong 

dealt with hydromechanical equipment for 

a long time – their main purpose is to block 

and isolate water. A flood is essentially a 

lot of water flow, it has to be isolated and 

blocked from buildings and infrastructure 

to protect the facilities – that’s the idea 

behind it.” 

So far, MUHR Asia 

has enjoyed a 

positive market 

reception towards 

their products 

and solutions 

offered, but Tan 

has observed that 

Singapore may 

not offer the best 

solutions in terms 

of what might be 

feasible for other 

ASEAN territories. 

MUHR Asia’s Head of Sales Flow Control, 

Florian Steiner 

“Going forward in Southeast Asia, 

we’re looking to have a more secure 

source of water. As you know, secure 

water sources are getting lesser, with 

depleting sources, and this is one 

of the priorities of different water 

utilities in Southeast Asia.” 

Steiner explained, “Singapore’s quite highlydeveloped 

in water and wastewater, and 

other regions are not as highly-developed. 

And there will be a demand in the future 

because the people 

rely on fresh water, 

reliable water, and 

of course that’s 

coming from the 

wastewater. You have 

to do something with 

the wastewater, you 

can de-sludge it, you 

cannot just put it in 

the rivers and then 

complain about it.” 

WWA 


THE NEWS 7 

Xylem expands 

regional 

headquarters in 

Singapore with new 

Technology Hub 

XYLEM has launched a new multi-disciplinary 

centre for water, wastewater and energy 

technologies at the company’s regional 

headquarters in Singapore. Located at 

ICON@IBP, the expanded headquarters brings 

the company’s regional R&D capability into a 

new Xylem Technology Hub Singapore (XTHS), 

alongside its regional leadership and personnel. 

Xylem’s expanded headquarters will bring the company’s R&D capability into a 

“This new multi-disciplinary centre will create 

new Xylem Technology Hub Singapore 

ample opportunities to innovate and collaborate 

with our customers, as we work with them to 

tackle the region’s greatest water challenges, including water 

scarcity, affordability and infrastructure resilience,” said 

Mr Patrick Decker, president and CEO of Xylem. 

“Bringing research and development capability into our 

regional headquarters in Singapore puts all of Xylem’s marketleading 

technology capability in one location, focused on the 

region’s water technology and infrastructure solutions.” 

In addition to the research and development Hub, Xylem’s new 

office will feature a customer experience centre and a training 

centre, bringing together all of Xylem’s sales, customer support 

and technical capabilities for Southeast Asia. 

One of the first projects Xylem is pursuing at the centre is a 

collaboration with A*STAR’s Institute of High-Performance 

Computing (IHPC). Xylem will combine its expertise in water 

technologies with IHPC’s expertise in computer modelling 

and simulations. Together, they will evaluate fluid-structure 

interaction in pipe flow to develop a new computational fluid 

dynamics model tailored for Xylem’s applications such as 

SmartBall and PipeDiver. The model will then be applied to the 

design and testing of other advanced products and solutions 

to be deployed in treatment plants and water distribution 

networks. WWA 


8 THE NEWS 

Winners of Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure 2019 Awards 

Bentley Systems announces Winners of Year in 

Infrastructure 2019 Awards 

BENTLEY SYSTEMS has announced the winners of the 

Year in Infrastructure 2019 Awards. The annual awards 

programme honours the extraordinary work of Bentley 

users advancing design, construction, and operations of 

infrastructure throughout the world. Twelve independent 

jury panels of industry experts selected 54 finalists 

from 571 nominations submitted by more than 440 user 

organisations in more than 60 countries. 

Bentley Systems acknowledged 18 Year in Infrastructure 

Awards winners and nine Special Recognition Awards 

winners at a ceremony and gala on October 24 at the 

conclusion of the Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference 

in Singapore. WWA 

Year in Infrastructure 2019 Awards winners for digital 

advancements in infrastructure: 

Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants 

Jacobs Engineering Group and Singapore’s National Water 

Agency, PUB 

Tuas Water Reclamation Plant 

Singapore 

Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater Networks 

Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall, BAM Nuttall Joint Venture 

Thames Tideway Tunnel 

London, United Kingdom 

Year in Infrastructure 2019 Special Recognition Awards winners: 

Digital Cities Award for Comprehensive Water Digital Twins 

Águas do Porto, EM 

H2PORTO Technological Platform for the Integrated Management 

of Porto’s Urban Water Cycle 

Porto, Porto, Portugal 


January / February 2020 • waterwastewaterasia.com 

THE NEWS 9

10 USAID SPECIAL 

Who run the world 

The United States Government, in partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and UL, aim to 

strengthen ASEAN science and technology capacity, and gender equality and improvement through the annual ASEAN-U.S. 

Science Prize for Women. The 2019 Prize will provide promising, ASEAN-based, early-to mid-career female scientists with 

recognition awards from ASEAN and the United States government for their academic and professional achievements. 

Dr Zhou Yan 

The 2019 ASEAN-U.S. Science Prize for Women (Prize) 

emphasizes the role of female scientists who use their 

work to better society in sustainable ways and act as 

role models for other women working in and pursuing careers in 

science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

This year, the Prize theme focused on circular economy in the 

ASEAN region. Applicants will have to clearly demonstrate not only 

a strong understanding of the circular economy, but specifically 

how her research, technology or business model relates to the 

prize topic of circular economy. They must demonstrate how their 

work targets one or more of the following goals: Make the most 

efficient use of resources; create best available techniques for 

sustainable production; create best environmental management 

practice; and promote the activities to end waste, ecolabel/green 

public procurement/eco design and others. 

The winner for 2019 is Dr Zhou Yan (Dr ZY), associate professor 

in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and 

deputy director of Advanced Environmental Biotechnology Centre 

(AEBC) under Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute 

(NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. 

Dr Zhou researches on energy efficient water treatment and 

reclamation, and resources recovery from sludge and waste. 

In particular, she focuses on energy harvesting from municipal 

and industrial wastewater, energy reduction in nutrient removal 

process, sludge management and energy recovery, and nutrient 

recovery and reuse. 

Dr Zhou Yan, Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering (CEE), and Deputy Director of Advanced Environmental 

Biotechnology Centre (AEBC) under Nanyang Environment and Water 

Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 

Dr Zhou also serves as associate editor for the Water and 

Environment Journal, Water Research Journal, and is a management 

committee member of IWA Sludge Management Specialist Group. 

In addition, she has published more than 100 SCI tracked journal 

papers, over 30 conference contributions as well as filed nine 

patents, of which four were granted to date. 


USAID SPECIAL 11 

Congratulations on your win! Could you share with us your 

thoughts on being the winner of the 2019 ASEAN-U.S. Science 

Prize for Women? 

Dr ZY I am deeply honoured to be chosen as the final winner. I 

am really happy that my research and contributions are 

recognised. I shall continue my research in the sustainability and 

circular economy area, and produce more impactful and applied 

solutions. 

What do you think this signifies for women in the water and 

wastewater industry? 

I hope I can be a good model for the women in the water and 

wastewater industry, and encourage women scientists to pursue 

their research career in this field. 

What are some of the biggest challenges that women who want 

to come into the water and wastewater industry will face today? 

The biggest challenge could be that people always have doubts 

on women’s capability in the engineering field, in general. They 

are not confident with our engineering design and the ability of 

project execution and delivery. To tackle this, we really need to 

prove ourselves with successful track record. It would be very 

difficult in the beginning, but we have to try our best. 

What would be your message for women coming into this 

industry? 

Every first entry will be challenging. This is especially more 

challenging for women who need to take care of both family and 

career. But women definitely have advantages in the environmental 

field. We are good at overall project design and planning as well 

as are efficient in micro-level management. Do not give up when 

you encounter difficulties, it is a part of the learning process. Your 

additional effort will eventually pay off. 

How did you step into researching for energy efficient water 

treatment and reclamation, and resource recovery from sludge 

and waste? 

It has been too long that people only focus on linear economy. 

Huge amount of resources are wasted. In the wastewater 

treatment area, intensive energy and chemicals are consumed 

during the treatment process. Actually, there are much more 

energy and chemicals we can recover from wastewater. So I 

decided to move away from wastewater treatment and into water 

and resources recovery from wastewater. 

How has your background prepared you for your success in the 

industry? 

I started with fundamental research on the development of energy 

efficient wastewater treatment process, and energy recovery 

from wastewater and sludge. I had some break-through findings 

and novel ideas that are published in top tier journals. However, I 

believe the research results should be translated into engineering 

application so that the value of the research can be realised. 

Hence, I seek support from local funding agencies and my research 

institute to scale-up my technologies. 

Meanwhile, I am active in philanthropic projects in the ASEAN 

region via NEWRIcomm. Through these ways, I’ve gained intensive 

engineering experience to deploy the research knowledge into real 

application. 

What are some of your proudest achievements and how has it 

shaped you as a person? Could you also share with us of an interesting 

project which you’ve done that has made a huge impact? 

I am a member of Lien Foundation - Environmental Fellowship 

Program mentor team. I am very proud to be involved in 

philanthropic projects; to deploy my research experience and 

knowledge into projects in developing countries so as to solve their 

water and waste issues. 

One of the projects that I am proud of is the project in Kandy, Sri 

Lanka. I am one of the key contributors to the design of a wastewater 

treatment facility for the Temple of the Tooth and also a team 

member in remediating Kandy Lake. Through that project, I started 

my collaboration with the University of Peradeniya (UOP) to further 

develop anaerobic technologies according to local context. 

The project was accorded the IES Prestigious Engineering 

Achievement Award and ASEAN Outstanding Engineering 

Achievement Award in 2017. 

What’s next? 

For the next few years, I am looking at valuable products recovery 

from wastewater and waste that can potentially transfer a 

wastewater treatment plant into a power and chemical production 

plants. Chemicals, like cellulose, short-chain and medium-chain 

fatty acids, biodegradable plastics — PHA, and nutrients — 

fertilisers, can all be produced and recovered at lab-scale, currently. 

The challenges in the next phase will be process scale-up and how 

to seek interests from the market. WWA 


12 USAID SPECIAL 

Dr Ngoc Lieu Le is one of the finalists and one of the two women chosen from the water and wastewater industry. 

Dr Ngoc Lieu Le 

Dr Ngoc Lieu Le is currently a lecturer and faculty member 

at the School of Biotechnology at International University, 

Vietnam National University HCMC. 

Her research covers a wide range of interdisciplinary research 

fields with a focus on the areas of energy generation from 

renewable sources. 

In 2010, Dr. Ngoc was a recipient of IES Prestigious Engineering 

Achievement Award from the Institution of Engineering in 

Singapore. This is a recognition of an outstanding engineering 

project which has made significant contributions to Singapore’s 

development. She was also a recipient of the Green Talents 

award by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research 

in 2013 for her outstanding achievements in creating a more 

sustainable society. In fact, these are only some of the awards 

mentioned. 

Could you share with us your thoughts about being a finalist for 

the Fifth Annual ASEAN-U.S. Science Prize for Women? 

DR N I am extremely honoured to be one of the finalists for the 

Fifth Annual ASEAN-U.S. Science Prize for Women. I am earnestly 

grateful for this recognition for my work on sustainable energy, 

water and environment. The recognition is an important impetus 

for me to continue pursuing this line of research and to, hopefully, 

turn promising research into real solutions. I also hope this 

opportunity will create fantastic collaborations with the ASEAN 

region’s leading researchers as we further face the complexities 

from global issues that individuals cannot tackle alone. 

What do you think is the deciding factor that got you picked as 

one of the finalists? 

I think the committees evaluated my achievements in the circular 

economy research, my passion and commitment in the field as 

well as my contribution in advancing the role of women in science 

by active mentorship, serving as a role model, and my strong 

responsibility in many different local, national and international 

positions. 

Dr Ngoc Lieu Le, Lecturer and Faculty Member at the School of 

Biotechnology at International University, Vietnam National 

University HCMC 


USAID SPECIAL 13 

What steps do you think should be taken to attract women into 

the water and wastewater industry? 

I think there are many steps that should be taken to attract 

women in the field. For example, we need interventions that 

encourage more female students pursuing the Science, 

Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects 

because they are the background for those entering into the 

technical fields, including the water sector. 

Only when women pursue STEM subjects then they have the 

chance to love them and enjoy the related fields. Also, the 

government should provide funding for water projects in 

communities where there is gender-balanced decision making. 

Improving gender diversity in funding capacity development 

projects can promote a more gender-balanced pool of skilled 

professionals for the water sector. 

What will be your message for women coming into this industry? 

Do not think that we are unable to fulfill the tasks in the water 

industry. In recent years, the water sector needs people to work 

smart instead of physical labour. The job is innovative, colourful 

and rewarding so you will never get bored. Water is fundamental 

in greening the economy and to transition to social sustainability. 

Working in this field means we are making our lives and society 

better. 

How did you step into researching for wastewater treatment to 

be recycled and/or to reduce environmental impacts? 

When I studied my PhD at the National University of Singapore, I 

was fortunate to work in Professor Neal Chung’s group, one of the 

leading groups in membrane science and technology for energy 

and water application. Working in a big research group gave me an 

eye-opening mindset in research, realised the need for individual 

contribution in tackling social-economic issues and understand 

how, we, as scientists can do much more to make lives better. 

Since then, the water sector has become one of my main research 

focuses. 

Could you share with us an interesting project which you’ve 

done that has made a huge impact? 

In Vietnam, one of reasons for water pollution is that thousands 

of small enterprises engaged in textile dyeing in local villages 

or provinces, and discharged untreated wastewater into the 

Red River Delta and Mekong Delta, the two main river systems 

in Vietnam. So, we developed the membrane-based separation 

system to completely remove and recover numerous types of dye 

from the effluent before discharge. Besides dyes, the system also 

removes other pollutants such as salts or organics. 

Another interesting project is the collaboration with the University 

of Edinburgh, UK. It is the development of a low-cost water 

purification technology that can upcycle pollutants in order to 

provide clean water supply for shrimp farms, an important 

business in Vietnam which provides a livelihood for more than one 

million people. The project is ongoing and I believe it will make a 

huge impact when completed. 

What is the greatest transformation you’ve witnessed in your 

career? 

After my PhD completion, I worked for 3.5 years as a postdoctoral 

fellow in Saudi Arabia until 2017. I then went back to Vietnam to 

work at the International University as a faculty member. This is 

the greatest transformation in my career as it shaped me into an 

independent scientist. Scientific independence is important for a 

scientist as this means that I have the freedom to develop my 

own research ideas, conduct research for the social-economic 

problems I wish to tackle, seek funds to support my research and 

build my own research team. 

What is next for you? 

We live in a technological world, and its complexity continues to 

throw out challenges that require answers. Water, for example, is a 

complex issue that requires a wider research scope with multidisciplines 

to recognise the wider considerations and generate 

more creativity to overcome barriers. For me, in order to do so, I 

empower myself with great energisation, motivation and passion 

in connecting, collaborating and creating collaborative research 

with various partners including local and foreign scientists, 

enterprise, decision-makers and policy-makers. This is to achieve 

a better and more sustainable world. WWA 


14 5 MINUTES WITH 

The leading 

separation specialist 

Southeast Asia (SEA) is an active and fast-evolving region. 

Consequently, the growing population, urbanisation and rising energy 

demands have brought about significant challenges when it comes 

to efficiency in wastewater treatment, sludge treatment, or providing 

drinking water as well as from seawater desalination. In addition, 

environmental regulations constantly add new pressures while the 

conservation of energy and resources remains a top priority. ANDRITZ 

shares how they tackle these challenges while retaining their position 

as a powerhouse in this region. 

Loic Lebegue, 

Business Development Manager for the 

Environment Industry at ANDRITZ Separation 

The ANDRITZ organisation in the 

region, which is both Asia Pacific 

based and led, is supported by the 

global team of separation professionals, 

their experience, and financial strength, 

geared towards delivering efficient, 

sustainable, reliable, and safe wastewater 

treatment solutions that will meet even 

the most stringent local requirements, 

explained Loic Lebegue, global business 

development director for the environment 

industry at ANDIRTZ Separation. 

For more than 150 years, the 

organisation has been delivering smart 

separation solutions, and today, it 

covers the entire wastewater and sludge 

treatment process — from screening and 

thickening to dewatering, drying, and 

combustion. 

“We believe that the treatment of 

industrial wastewater streams is becoming 

a hot topic. From pulp and paper to food 

processing or chemical industries, the 

industrial output is growing across the 

region, requiring closer attention to waste 

and wastewater treatment,” said Lebegue. 

In order to tackle complex challenges 

brought forth by the growth, a trusted 

and reliable partner such as ANDRITZ is 

required. Lebegue also emphasised that 

the most important factor is to continue to 

invest in wastewater treatment facilities. 

But just as regulatory standards are being 

tightened up, municipal budgets are also 

coming under more pressure. However, 

ANDRITZ believes that with its full and 

global view of the wastewater treatment 

needs, the organisation is able to act as a 

trusted, long-term partner. 


5 MINUTES WITH 15 

ANDRITZ decanter centrifuge D for efficient thickening and dewatering 

A FOCUS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 

A fast-growing middle class with 

rising incomes coupled with a young 

population in most SEA countries, there 

is an increased demand for high-quality 

food and drinks, safe water provision, 

and increased standards of living. This 

triggers growth in all related industries, 

such as food and beverages, chemicals 

and pharmaceuticals, as well as the 

environmental industry with its focus on 

sustainability. In those important sectors, 

efficient separation processes are vital for 

improving products while reducing waste. 

“And on the municipal side: populations 

across the SEA region are expecting 

and demanding better living standards, 

and this requires extensive wastewater 

collection and sustainable treatment,” said 

Lebegue. 

So, exactly how does ANDRITZ resolve the 

separation challenges with their expertise? 

“You should ask our customers!” joked 

Lebegue. “Jokes aside, we believe that our 

approach as defined in our motto “Ask 

your Separation Specialist” is what we 

are doing well: Ensuring that our customers 

get the ideal solution. In particular in 

wastewater treatment, we have maybe the 

most comprehensive portfolio in the industry 

for the key process steps; this enables us to 

provide the right solution for each specific 

plant. 

Take sludge dewatering, for instance. 

Here, we offer screw presses, belt presses, 

centrifuges, or filter presses. We know that 

there is not just one solution that is always 

the best choice for operators — no “one size 

fits all”. We are keen to engage this discussion 

with our customers and establish with them 

the best choice of technology based on their 

key performance criteria and indicators.” 

This is true for dewatering equipment but 

also highly relevant for complex systems such 

as sludge drying systems where ANDRITZ 

delivers all four existing technologies: Belt, 

drum, paddle and fluid bed. 

In addition, the organisation also focuses 

on the area of machine and process control 

where they apply innovative automation 

solutions, and IIoT technologies to further 

optimise their high-end products and 

systems in terms of efficiency, energy 

consumption, reliability, and sustainability. 

A recent example of digitalisation in 

the wastewater industry is ANDRITZ’s 

intelligent filter press. ANDRITZ combined 

its proven filter press automation 

solutions with the Industrial Internet of 

Things (IIoT) technologies to create new 

mechanisms and features that increase 

product quality and decrease operating 

costs. These features such as monitoring 

of dry solids content and filtrate quality 

allow, for example, intelligent washing 

cycles. A filter-press is a batch-operated 

machine and, often, the filtration cycles 

are simply bound to a specific time period. 

With ANDRITZ’s intelligent filter press, 

the equipped Smart Sensors ensure that 

filtration and wash cycles are just as 

long as they need to be, thus, reducing 

fluctuations in the dry solids content and 

increasing up-time availability of the filter 

press as well as end-product quality. 

Another proof to ANDRITZ’s strength is 

their contribution to one of the world’s 

largest wastewater treatment plants in 

Bailonggang, Shanghai, China. 



The company provided the complete sludge 

drying and incineration system comprising 

sludge storage, drying, incineration, and 

flue gas cleaning as well as automation for 

the entire plant. The design of this solution 

was developed over many years while 

working closely together with the Shanghai 

municipality and its consultants. 

“We possibly could also have offered 

another drying technology in a similar 

system, but at the end it is our “Ask your 

Separation Specialist” approach which gave 

the opportunity to the end-user to make 

sure his concerns were addressed. Together 

with him, we engineered this special system 

combining fluid bed technology for drying 

and incinerating the sludge. That’s what 

makes us different,” Lebegue explained. 

Currently, commissioning is on-going. Once 

completed, the plant will have a capacity 

of up to 3,000 metric tons of sludge a 

day and will be the world’s largest sludge 

incineration plant — a benchmark among 

China’s environment projects. 

A PIONEER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 

In Singapore, ANDRITZ has long had a 

presence through its brands such as Bird, 

KHD Humboldt, and Netzsch Filtration. 

ANDRITZ has built on this existing 

infrastructure over the years to develop 

and expand its local capabilities to service 

customers as effectively as possible in this 

growing region. 

Since the first commissioning at Kranji 

in 1996, ANDRITZ has been providing 

emergency service, performing monthly 

preventive maintenance, supplying spare 

parts, and complete overhauls for their 

large installed base, which has been 

growing over the years in Singapore and 

across the region. 

“We want to serve our customers even 

better, so we made a significant investment 

in the ANDRITZ Singapore Tuas workshop 

and repair facilities in 2018. These 

upgrades have set us apart as a regional 

service center. They not only demonstrate 

our commitment to Singapore and our 

passion for continuous improvement, 

but also reflect our determination to 

deliver the best possible service and 

support ANDRITZ can provide and that 

our customers expect. Our ANDRITZ Tuas 

service center is therefore a strong base 

for all our SEA business,” said Lebegue. 

The major investment saw a state-of-theart 

high-speed balancing facility with a 

balancing machine of 4,000 rpm, with 

six-ton capacity, six-metre working length, 

and two-metre diameter. This balancing 

“bunker” allows the balancing of decanter 

centrifuge parts, including scroll conveyors, 

at their normal operating speed while 

ensuring optimal performance after the 

repair and reduces on-site downtime with 

“no surprises”, re-assembly, and re-start. 

This comes in addition to their specific 

services such as gearbox reconditioning, 

welding of tungsten carbide tiles for wear 

protection, or their environmentally friendly 

blasting process utilising dry ice. 

“Our service philosophy is simple. One 

phone call, one dedicated team that speaks 

our customers’ language and knows their 

equipment and process. Therefore, whether 

our customers are looking to optimise or 

extend the lifetime of their equipment, 

our team can troubleshoot and perform 

maintenance on our customers’ machines 

on-site or repair, retrofit, and modify them 

in our modern decanter service workshop, 

24/7,” said Lebegue. WWA 

ANDRITZ service and repair facility in Singapore 



5 MINUTES WITH 17


The infrastructure engineering for digital cities 

At the Year in Infrastructure 2019 

Conference, Bentley Systems, 

Incorporated, the global provider 

of comprehensive software and digital 

twin cloud services for advancing 

design, construction, and operations of 

infrastructure, presented its new digital 

cities initiatives; applying digital twins for 

more efficient city and regional operations, 

and for more connected and resilient 

infrastructure. Digital twins converge 

assets’ 4D-surveyed and engineering 

representations to enable new collaborative 

digital workflows to serve planners and 

engineers in public works, utilities, property 

management and development, and city 

stakeholders. Digital twin cloud services 

provide an intuitive and immersive 4D 

environment converging digital context and 

digital components with digital chronology 

for “evergreen” infrastructure digital twins 

over asset lifecycles. For infrastructure 

professionals, BIM and GIS are effectively 

advanced through 4D digital twins. 

“The concept with digital twin is a digital 

representation of some real-world assets, 

systems or processes. But because we 

have a digital mirror of that, that becomes 

something we can keep up to date to reflect 

the real-world behaviour. We can do things 

with the digital twin before translating 

them to the real world,” explained Gregg 

Herrin, senior director, Water Infrastructure, 

Bentley Systems. “So, we can use that to 

help us understand how to work things 

better and make decisions about possible 

actions that we would take.” 

INFRASTRUCTURE DIGITAL 

TWINS FOR DIGITAL CITIES 

City-scale digital twins begin and are 

updated through 4D surveying and reality 

modelling by ContextCapture and Orbit 

GT, which Bentley recently acquired, 

to derive as-operated 3D models from 

photogrammetry (including from UAVs) 

and/or point clouds. Reality modelling 

provides engineering-precise, realworld 

context to support planning, 

design, construction, and operations. 

Users of Bentley’s open applications 

(OpenBuildings, OpenSite, OpenRoads, 

OpenRail, OpenUtilities) can leverage this 

digital context to model new and improved 

buildings, roads, transit systems, tunnels, 

bridges, utilities, and more. 

4D digital twins become a common 

and federating index for previously 

siloed information, without requiring 

source systems to change their existing 

environments or data formats. The 

foundation context for any digital twin 

includes reality meshes, terrain models, 

imagery, and GIS sources. Engineering 

models (from any BIM software) of 

buildings, streets, transit systems, utilities, 

and other city infrastructure, both surface 

and subsurface, are semantically aligned 

and geo-referenced to enhance the richness 

and relevance of digital twins over time. 

Public works departments, property 

developers, utilities, transportation 

agencies, and others now have access to a 

full and current contextual view of the built 

environment. Engineering and architectural 

firms will be able to develop new services 

that contemplate updating and managing 

digital assets over their lifecycles. Cities 

will also benefit from living and current 

digital twins of their infrastructure and 

surrounding environment. 

DIGITAL REQUIREMENTS FOR 

DIGITAL TWIN 

Most of the utilities or cities already have 

some kind of GIS data or data collection 

system or have a plan to get it, said Herrin. 

He explained, “The truth is you can have 

nothing but an old CAD drawing and a 

general sense where some things are 

from the spreadsheet. You may not have a 

precise digital twin but you can always start 

there and use it to help you understand 

what you can and can’t see within your 

system.” 

“Once you have it, you’ll start playing 

with it then you want to enhance it. It’s 

automatic,” said Frank Braunschweig, 

senior product manager, Bentley Systems. 

With an older digital twin version, operators 

are able to fill in the gaps themselves as 

they use it, Braunschweig explained. 

“You’re able to take the information from 

the real world and instantly get it into your 

twin. The twin gets more and more accurate 

over time, and more and more precise over 

time. It becomes even more useful with 

every new piece of information you learn,” 

said Herrin. 

LEVERAGING ON DIGITAL TWIN 

Águas do Porto (Oporto Water Utility - AdP) 

is responsible for the sustainable and 

integrated management of the entire urban 

water cycle in the coastal community of 

Oporto, Portugal. AdP delivers an average 

of 45,490 cubic metres of water daily and 

collects approximately the same amount 

for treatment. The density and complexity 

of the hydraulic infrastructure and water 

resources in Oporto drive the need for 

integrated management of the urban water 

cycle, which can complicate the integration 

requirements for the varied existing 

systems throughout the company. 

To integrate information across multiple 

software systems, AdP decided to leverage 

on digital twins in what they called the 

Integrated Water Management of the Urban 

Water Cycle – H2Porto. The overall solution 

integrated multiple systems, including 

OpenFlows FLOOD, OpenFlows WaterGEMS, 

OpenFlows SewerGEMS, and ACTION 



Digital twins converge assets’ 4D-surveyed and engineering representations to enable new collaborative digital workflows to serve planners and engineers in 

public works, utilities, property management and development, and city stakeholders. Photo credit: Águas do Porto 

Server. The team produced fully integrated 

digital twins of the city water supply and the 

wastewater, stormwater, as well as beaches 

and bathing water systems. The digital twins 

were then used to forecast flooding and 

water quality issues, improve city services 

and responsiveness, and ensure resilience 

of water infrastructure. 

Phase 1 of the project saw the creation of a 

federated environment from more than 20 

sources to integrate data from customer 

service management, billing, maintenance, 

project management, asset accounting, 

operational systems, lab management, GIS, 

SCADA, and more. Instrumentation data 

integration, which was addressed in phase 

II, required integrating data from sensors, 

telemetry, and remote management, 

including 30,000 telemetry meters and 

more than 200 devices. 

The digital twins provide digital 

representations of all water systems of 

the city and include three meteorological 

models: Combined sewer and storm models 

for the sea front; estuary, coastal area, 

and wave models; and forecasting models. 

The digital twins are leveraged to provide 

access to this information in real time, 

produce forecasts and to automatically 

update boundary conditions from water 

consumption and network sensors, run 

network scenario analysis for pipe bursts 

and valve and pump shut-downs, and 

to publish flows, velocity, water level, 

meteorology and currents. This digital twin 

environment resulted in operating gains of 

25% and reduced water supply failures by 

around 30% and duration of pipe bursts 

repairs by 8%. The immediacy of sensor 

readings improved decision-making as well 

as increased stability and reliability of data 

to about 99%. 

Phase III is underway and is focused on 

installing sensors and automating the 

decision-making tools and interfaces, 

autonomous systems and new liability 

models. Some of H2Porto’s priorities include 

sensor analysis, water supply model, burst 

simulation, meter operational management, 

and KPIs, as well as hydrodynamic model, 

faecal coliform prediction, and coastal 

hydrometeorology. 

“At the end of the day, the purpose of the 

utility has nothing to do with data and 

software. The purpose of the utility is to 

deliver clean water to the people and take 

away dirty water,” said Herrin. 

“But what more people are realising is that 

we might have gotten caught up in data, 

and pretty graphs and charts, but if it’s 

not helping us to deliver clean water and 

take away dirty water, we’re still missing 

something. It’s more than just a data centric 

effort to being an actual digital twin, which 

again isn’t just the data; it’s the behaviour, 

it’s the performance. Now, you get something 

that helps you do the real job,” he added. WWA 



SIWW 2020: Climate resilience, resource 

resilience & smart utilities 

Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) is widely recognised 

as one of the leading water events in the world, and is highly 

relevant to the urban water environment, placing emphasis on 

solutions, innovation and technology. 

Set to run from 5-9 July, the show will see its ninth edition. 

Water & Wastewater Asia speaks to SIWW’s Managing Director, 

Ryan Yuen, about what exhibitors and participants can expect 

from this year’s line-up. 

Fourth from left: Mr Ng Joo Hee, Chief Executive of 

PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency speaking 

at the Water Leaders Summit during SIWW 2018 

Since taking over as the SIWW’s new 

managing director, Ryan Yuen has 

been keeping busy with planning 

and preparing for the upcoming Singapore 

International Water Week (SIWW), which 

will be held at the Sands Expo & Convention 

Centre. 

Previously, Yuen worked as an engineer with 

the Ministry of Environment after graduating 

from the National University of Singapore 

(NUS), before being posted to work for the 

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency. 

In 2007, he also served as the International 

Water Association’s (IWA) regional director 

for Asia, and engaged top global water 

leaders and experts in deploying water and 

sanitation programmes and activities around 

the region – a period of time he describes as 

“truly fulfilling”. 

According to Yuen, “Climate change is 

the single greatest threat to humanity in 

modern times, and the impact of climate 

change on urban water systems cannot be 

underestimated. We will be examining how 

cities, utilities and industries manage water 

stresses by mitigating and adapting to climate 

change during SIWW 2020.” 

“An effective approach to build resource 

resilience would be to embrace the concept 

of a circular economy, and proliferate the 

recovery and reuse of precious resources like 

water, energy and nutrients. In SIWW 2020, 

we will present case studies of how this has 

been successfully implemented in different 

parts of the world. 



Digital and smart solutions are creating unprecedented 

opportunities to leverage on data, sensors, robotics and 

artificial intelligence to address both new and old challenges in 

water management. In SIWW 2020, we will demonstrate how 

these tools allow global water stakeholders to adopt smarter 

and efficient approaches to plan, operate, maintain and replace 

their water systems. 

Ryan Yuen, 

Msanaging Director, SIWW 

Finally, digital and smart solutions are 

creating unprecedented opportunities to 

leverage on data, sensors, robotics and 

artificial intelligence to address both new 

and old challenges to water management. 

In SIWW 2020, we will demonstrate how 

these tools allow global water stakeholders 

to adopt smarter and efficient approaches 

to plan, operate, maintain and replace 

their water systems.” 

The previous SIWW, held in 2018, drew in 

over 24,000 visitors from 110 countries, 

and over 1100 exhibiting companies. For 

this year’s edition, Yuen and his team aim 

to build upon that success and bring more 

partners, sponsors, delegates, exhibitors 

and trade visitors in. 

“In doing so, we hope the international 

water community will recognise SIWW 

as the premier water event for thought 

leadership where experts, ministers, 

government officials, business CEOs 

and civil society leaders come together 

to share and discuss the latest policy, 

business and technological insights 

in tackling our shared urban water 

challenges,” he said. 

Exhibitors will be showcasing the latest 

products, solutions and technologies they 

have to offer, and with 14 country pavilions 

this year, delegates and visitors will be 

spoilt for choice as they visit SIWW. 

“We want to ensure that our exhibitors are 

able to reach out to their target audience, 

especially to buyers from the region, 

through SIWW,” explained Yuen. 

To do this, SIWW will be introducing 

a Hosted Overseas Visitor Programme 

and a Hosted Distributor Programme, 

in a bid to incentivise overseas buyers 

and distributors to meet exhibitors and 

establish new partnerships. 

Through its B2B business-matching app, 

exhibitors will also be able to set up 

one-to-one appointments with delegates. 

Lastly, a presentation stage will be set up 

on the expo floor, providing a platform 

for exhibitors to share their products and 

innovations with trade visitors. 

After working hard, SIWW participants 

will have the chance to kick back with the 

crowd favourite: NEWBrew! A beer brewed 

with Singapore’s ultra-clean high-grade 

NEWater, NEWBrew was a crowd favourite 

when introduced at SIWW 2018, and will 

be making its comeback this year, on a 

much larger scale. WWA 

His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, 8 th Secretary-General, United 

Nations, sharing insight concerning water management and 

sanitation at SIWW 2018 

Cheers! SIWW 2018 saw the introduction of NEWBrew, 

which was crafted using 1920 litres of NEWater 


22 IN THE FIELD 

1 

Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) Singapore is part of The HEINEKEN 

Company and the home of the world-acclaimed Tiger Beer — a 

Singapore icon born and brewed on local soil since 1932. Today, the 

company’s portfolio encompasses ABC Stout, Anchor Beer, Baron’s Strong 

Brew, Guinness, Heineken and the range of Archipelago craft beers. This 

is in addition to internationally renowned beers such as Bulmers, Erdinger, 

Guinness Draught, Kilkenny, Kirin, Sol and Strongbow. 

As a beer producer, APB Singapore’s operations depend on constant water 

supply, which may be exposed to the risk of water scarcity. 

Increasing water efficiency and 

improving water circularity are 

the key priorities to protect and 

conserve water resource. As part of 

APB Singapore’s water conservation 

strategy, the company went into a 

joint development project with PUB 

and National University of Singapore 

to build a water reuse treatment plant 

so as to further reduce water usage in 

the brewery. 

“Water is critical for a business like ours as we use water for brewing and nonbrewing 

purposes alike. For every 1hl (hectolitre) of beer that we brew, we use 

4.6hl of water. And with beer being 95% water, we need to optimise the ways 

in which we brew beer to maximise water efficiency, as well as the operations 

surrounding it,” said Patricia Lee, corporate affairs director, APB Singapore. 

As the largest commercial brewery in Singapore, APB Singapore is committed 

to using water wisely, and constantly seek new and innovative ways to achieve 

water efficiency. However, it is not an easy task as it takes time, resources, and 

multi-stakeholder collaboration. 


IN THE FIELD 23 

2 

A COMMITMENT IN EFFICIENCY 

And so, as part of their commitment to protect water resources, 

APB Singapore entered a joint development project with the Public 

Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore’s national water agency, and the 

National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2017 to develop a solution 

to reduce water intake in the brewery. 

The joint development project saw the construction of the water 

reuse treatment plant by Witco Envirotech Pte Ltd. The plant is 

located within APB Singapore’s brewery and cost about 

S$1.8 million to build. 

In 2019, the water reuse treatment plant became operational. By 

treating and reusing the wastewater from the brewery, the plant is 

set to reduce the brewery’s water intake by more than 10%, saving 

about 66,750m 3 of water annually. The volume of water reused 

annually is also equivalent to 3,160 four-room HDB (Housing & 

Development Board, the statutory board of the Ministry of National 

Development responsible for public housing in Singapore) flats, or 

26 Olympic-sized swimming pool. In fact, the treated water, along 

with rainwater collected from the rainwater harvesting system are 

used for cooling towers, general cleaning and landscaping. 

“The water reuse treatment plant uses biological and membrane 

processes, including reverse osmosis [by Hydranautics]. Reverse 

osmosis is also the process that PUB uses to produce NEWater 

to promote water circularity and address the nation’s agenda of 

protecting water resources,” said Lee. 

3 

From image 1 to 3: As the largest commercial brewery in Singapore, APB Singapore 

is committed to using water wisely, and constantly seek new and innovative ways to 

achieve water efficiency. However, it is not an easy task as it takes time, resources, and 

multi-stakeholder collaboration 

also part of the company’s sustainability agenda. The water reuse 

treatment plant runs on energy efficient equipment such as ie3 

motors to reduce energy consumption. To top it off, APB Singapore 

is also looking to equip their present air blowers, which use the 

most amount of energy in the plant, to variable speed drives so as to 

optimise the aeration process and to consume less electricity. 

“We are one of the first in Asia to integrate a water recycling plant 

at the premise of operation. We will continue to strategise and seek 

innovative ideas, develop capabilities and secure a sustainable 

supply of water for our brewery,” Lee said. WWA 

“On top of achieving water efficiency, promoting water circularity 

is also an important part of our water conservation initiative. The 

construction of the water reuse treatment plant and rainwater 

harvesting system is in line with Singapore’s water conservation 

strategy where 40% of our nation’s water supply comes from 

recycled water,” she added. 

In addition to promoting water circularity within the brewery, 

achieving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions are 

APB Singapore has been recognised for its environmental stewardship 

• APB Singapore has been awarded national recognition from SEC- 

SETSCO Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Manufacturing) 

2019 for its environmental stewardship. 

• International recognition for their water circularity practices where their 

engineering manager, Norman Goh, shared their practices to a diverse 

audience consisting of key decision makers in their respective 

companies at the Singapore International Water Week 2018. 



The Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant is due to be completed in 

2020 – what sets the dual-mode desalination plant apart from the 

others is its complicated design. Water & Wastewater 

Asia sits with Bentley Systems to find out 

how the company’s range of digital 

solutions were just what the 

facility needed. 

Slated for completion in 2020, the 

Keppel Marina East Desalination 

Plant (KMEDP) is a large-scale, dual 

mode desalination plant that can treat either 

saltwater from the sea or freshwater from 

the Marina Reservoir. Mostly underground, 

the facility features 20,000 square metres of 

parkland on the roof and an unconventional 

architectural design. The project team 

from AECOM Singapore Pte Ltd and Keppel 

Seghers used Bentley applications to enable 

BIM strategies throughout design and 

construction. A digital twin of KMEDP is also 

under development. 

According to AECOM Singapore and Keppel 

Seghers, what makes the KMEDP unique is 

how it requires an extensive piping design 

– this in turn was a factor towards choosing 

Bentley Systems for the plant. 

“Bentley Systems is a comprehensive 

integrated model that enhances collaboration 

among suppliers, contractors and designers 

by allowing them to visualise their plans 

via 3D modelling, using the full spectrum 

of functions available in the software. For a 

project like KMEDP which involves multiple 

components, it is extremely critical that 

engineers are able to fully visualise all 

plans in order to resolve conflicts, avoid 

abortive works at construction stage, and 

collect design data which can eventually 

be used to support the operations and 

maintenance of the plant,” said Dr Chiu 

Kuang Ping, executive director, Water & 

Urban Development, AECOM Singapore. 

For the KMEDP, AECOM Singapore and 

Keppel Seghers deployed OpenPlant, 

OpenPlant PID, MicroStation, Navigator, 

LumenRT and ContextCapture – this 

allowed the team to create a 3D reality 

model for the KMEDP project, optimising 

plant design and construction. 

“The OpenPlant allows for more efficient 

detailed piping design and this is 

particularly helpful because changing 

and updating the plant design occurs 

regularly during the detailed design stage, 

and changes are reflected immediately 

and efficiently with OpenPlant. LumenRT, 

on the other hand, allows for better 

visualisation of the plant,” said Dr Chiu. 

According to Keppel Seghers, the solutions have 

improved productivity and efficiency of the design 

stage for the KMEDP. While static 2D designs 

would not have been able to quickly or efficiently 

capture the impact of updates and changes, the 

3D reality model created with Bentley Systems 

helped to reduce the possibility of onsite clashes 

and errors. 

The KMEDP is currently under testing and 

commissioning, and is slated to be ready for 

operation in early 2020. 

The plant was recently nominated as a finalist for 

the Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure 2019 

Awards programme, which honours the work of 

Bentley software users advancing infrastructure 

design, construction, and operations throughout 

the world. 

For the 2019 awards programme, 12 independent 

jury panels of distinguished industry experts 

selected the 54 finalists from 571 nominations 

submitted by more than 440 organisations in 

more than 60 countries. WWA 



The Saras Refinery and Sarlux Power Plant needed to update their shared ultra-pure water plant, which 

produced 24,000 m³/day 

In Sarroch, on the southern coast 

of Sardinia, lies the Mediterranean’s 

largest ultra-pure water plant. Built 

by ACCIONA Agua in just six months, 

the containerised two-pass SWRO 

plant provides demineralised water 

for the steam needed to drive Sarlux 

Power Plant’s turbines and keep 

the Saras Refinery in operation. 

With Danfoss compact APP pumps, 

iSave ERDs, VFDs, and pressure 

transmitters, it enabled operators 

to save an impressive 88% in energy 

consumption as compared to the old 

distillation system. 

The Saras Refinery and Sarlux Power 

Plant needed to update their shared 

ultra-pure water plant, which produced 

24,000 m³/day. Not only did the aging 

distillation plant depend on a combination 

of SWRO and surface sources on waterstarved 

Sardinia, its energy consumption was 

massive. And while electricity might be “free” 

for a power plant, the outsized energy bill 

represented a significant opportunity cost in 

lost sales revenue — not to mention a heavy 

carbon footprint. 

LOOKING TO DANFOSS 

And so, the plant was looking to provide 

12,000 m³/day of ultra-pure water and 

reduce its energy costs — fast. In fact, 

the refinery and power plant procurement 

departments put out a clear but demanding 

request for proposals: develop an ultrapure 

SWRO solution that would provide half 

their requirement —12,000 m³/day, and 

significantly reduce energy consumption. 

And do it all fast, with minimal capital 

expenditure. 

ACCIONA Agua’s engineers were familiar with 

Danfoss technology, and quickly determined 

that Danfoss APP pumps, iSave ERDs, 

pressure transmitters, and VFDs could be 

part of a winning bid. 

The solution was a containerised, four-train 

plant, built around compact Danfoss pumps 

and ERDs, that could be installed quickly and 

without infrastructural modifications. 



Containerisation was a key element of the winning bid. Not only 

could this save time and the construction costs of a new building 

to house the plant, it also did away with the need to build new 

seawalls, which would otherwise be necessary due to the plant’s 

location right on the shore. 

But containerisation demanded compactness for all components. 

As Pietro Tota, D&C manager at ACCIONA Agua explained, “Danfoss 

high-pressure pumps enable us to create systems that are not only 

energy-efficient but also extremely compact and can be placed in a 

container. Thanks to their small size and simplified internal design, 

they can be installed even when space is limited. 

1 

Just as importantly, they require very little periodic maintenance. 

iSave ERDs devices, which drastically reduce energy consumption, 

are also extremely compact and are easily integrated with Danfoss 

high-pressure pumps.” 

DELIVERING RESULTS 

ACCIONA Agua’s winning build-and-operate bid consisted of four 

ultra-pure SWRO trains in a total of four containers. In all, the 

plant uses nine APP 86 pumps and 13 iSave 70 ERDs — as well 

as Danfoss pressure transmitters and VFDs for all high-pressure 

pumps, pretreatment pumps, and energy recovery devices. 

From idea to reality, in just six months, there was an 88% reduction 

in energy consumption, and easy maintenance. 

The new SWRO plant reduced Sarlux’s energy costs by a remarkable 

88%, from about 20 KwH m³ to 2.4. 

2 

And while this reduced energy bill and carbon footprint, which were 

projected by ACCIONA Agua’s engineers, the ease of maintaining 

such a large plant went beyond their initial expectations. 

“The extreme ease with which high-pressure pumps can be 

maintained is one of the most valuable features of Danfoss 

technology,” confirmed Tota. 

“Unlike traditional centrifugal pumps, which typically need to 

be shipped to an authorised workshop for maintenance, we can 

perform the maintenance of Danfoss volumetric high-pressure 

pumps directly in Sarroch within a couple of hours, with an obvious 

benefit in terms of plant availability.” 

“We have great confidence in the technological partners chosen 

for the construction of the Sarlux modular desalination plant, the 

largest in the Mediterranean,” Tota concluded. 

“We have come up with an innovative solution based on Danfoss’s 

advanced technologies, and this has enabled us to achieve success 

and the full satisfaction of our end customer. WWA 

All images are credited to Danfoss. 

3 

1) ACCIONA Agua’s engineers were familiar with Danfoss technology, and quickly 

determined that Danfoss APP pumps, iSave ERDs, pressure transmitters, and VFDs could 

be part of a winning bid 

2) The solution was a containerised, four-train plant, built around compact Danfoss 

pumps and ERDs, that could be installed quickly and without infrastructural modifications 

3) The new SWRO plant reduced Sarlux’s energy costs by a remarkable 88% 



Royal HaskoningDHV software 

Whether solving society’s challenges such as water scarcity, access to drinking water, protecting water 

resources, or reducing its water footprint, Royal HaskoningDHV provides technological solutions that 

meet these challenges. 

With Royal HaskoningDHV’s digital innovation, Aquasuite ® , a software built with deep domain knowledge, 

utilities and industry are able to automate their operations and gain actionable insights on their water 

infrastructure. 

Aquasuite ® is a proven smart 

water technology that monitors, 

analyses, visualises and controls 

the performance of water and wastewater 

infrastructure through predictive analytics 

and machine learning. Its AI-powered 

analytics and autopilot provide full real-time 

visibility across the complete water and 

wastewater network and treatment, and 

controls day-to-day operations. 

Aquasuite ® consists of five products, each 

addressing a different challenge in the 

drinking water and wastewater process. 

The products work separately, yet integrate 

seamlessly to create a powerful tool to 

control drinking water and wastewater 

proficiently. Aquasuite PURE, which is 

optimised for wastewater treatment, is 

“In the near future smart cities 

will have their complete water 

cycle optimised and operated 

holistically from one integrated 

solution: from source to tap 

and back again. 

” 

Michel de Koning, 

Associate Director, Aquasuite 

implemented in a pilot project with PUB, 

Singapore’s national water agency. 

HOW AQUASUITE PURE WORKS 

Aquasuite PURE collects real-time data 

on the plant’s flows and qualitative 

measurements, including those for 

ammonia, nitrates, oxygen, phosphates and 

dry solids. The system uses this information 

to build a historical database. It will then 

make use of algorithms to predict the 

plant’s wastewater flows and loads, oxygen 

needs, chemical dosing needs and other 

requirements. The system can also detect 

abnormalities in the plant’s processes and 

is capable of controlling key treatment 

processes, automatically optimising them 

in real-time based on its predictions and 

the plant’s historical performance data. 

This will result in predictive rather than 

reactive control of the plant. This leads to 

more stable and robust operations, better 

effluent quality, lower energy and chemical 

consumption and help enhance operators’ 

productivity. 

ULU PANDAN IVP: RESULTS 

In a pilot project with PUB, Singapore’s 

national water agency, Aquasuite ® PURE was 



installed at the Ulu Pandan Integrated Validation Plant (IVP), and 

preliminary results of the project have shown that Aquasuite ® is well 

capable of predicting the load entering the treatment plant, learning 

its operational performance and controlling treatment processes as 

it has successfully taken over control for the past few months. 

Prediction accuracy increases over time as the software is learning, 

now already reaching a prediction accuracy of 88%. While Aquasuite 

is controlling key treatment processes such as aeration, it learns 

how the process performs. It is automatically shifting control from 

reactive to predicted control set-points, making it less sensitive 

to e.g. measurement failure as it predicts control with a 48-hour 

horizon. This gives the operator ample time to fix an issue before it 

becomes a problem. 

Results show that Aquasuite is able to learn and predict operations 

several days ahead and it can function as autopilot, able to perform 

unattended operation. Preliminary results up till now show that a 

reduction of aeration flow with predictive compared to conventional 

control of up to 15% is achieved. This aeration flow reduction 

results in corresponding energy savings. 

AQUASUITE’S AUTOPILOT 

The solution demonstrates it can learn the process in such a way, 

that it provides two-day-ahead predictive insight while optimising 

and controlling the plant in real time. This means the self-learning 

system can act as an autopilot to the operator, increasing the 

operator’s productivity. It saves operational costs and increases 

operational resilience as it delivers a more robust system which 

is less sensitive to e.g. measurement failures. It provides timely 

insights and anomaly detection to the operator, reducing the risk 

and effect of undesirable events. 

The approach of predicting water and integrally optimising assets 

on a holistic level is key to this solution and can be applied across 

the whole water loop. 

Figure 1: Screengrab of prediction and actual load trends from the pilot project 

at PUB’s Ulu Pandan Integrated Validation Plant 

Michel de Koning, associate director of Aquasuite, said, “We 

believe that data-driven solutions can deliver an efficient, reliable 

and resilient water infrastructure. In the near future smart cities 

will have their complete water cycle optimised and operated 

holistically from one integrated solution: from source to tap and 

back again. We have built Aquasuite with that vision and are proud 

to see this demonstration project being implemented with PUB, 

one of the most forward-thinking utilities in the world.” WWA 

Figure 2: Comparison of prediction and actual load to the treatment plant 

Figure 3: Aquasuite PURE pilot trial with its controls enabled – note that red is enabled 



The Royal HaskoningDHV Aquasuite ® software was deployed earlier in March 2019 for a two-year pilot trial at PUB’s Integrated Validation Plant 

at Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant (UPWRP) 

In water-scarce Singapore, National Water Agency PUB is 

digitalising Singapore’s entire water system to improve 

operational excellence and meet future water needs. This is 

part of the continual investment in digital solutions to achieve 

smarter water quality management, network improvements and 

smarter work processes for the country. 

Royal HaskoningDHV’s Aquasuite ® software was deployed at 

PUB’s Integrated Validation Plant (IVP)* at Ulu Pandan Water 

Reclamation Plant (UPWRP) in March 2019. The software is 

currently undergoing a two-year trial to validate the reduction of 

energy consumption in water reclamation processes, chemical use 

and reliance on manpower while increasing water quality. 

The Aquasuite software was introduced to provide the operator 

and management with predictive insights while improving plant 

performance through machine learning and control. Connecting 

to the plant’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) 

system to gather data and control key processes, it sends data out 

to the Aquasuite ® cloud solution through a secure data diode. With 

the data collected near real-time in the cloud, the software is able 

to track actual performance of the on-premise solution through 

a digital replica. More advanced analytics are made available to 

the operator through the cloud, including anomaly detection, soft 

sensors, predictions and predictive simulations, while the onpremise 

part keeps optimising real-time performance. 

“PUB recognises that technology and innovation are cornerstones 

in our mission of supplying high quality water and reusing used 

water endlessly. This pilot trial demonstrates how digital solutions 

like Aquasuite can seamlessly digitise and automate our water 

reclamation operations,” said Dr Kelvin Koh, general manager of 

the Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant. WWA 

*The IVP was commissioned in 2018 to assess the feasibility of deploying 

innovative process technologies in water reclamation plants, which could be 

potentially implemented at the future Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (TWRP) 

in Singapore. 


30 FOCUS 

The combination of reverse osmosis (RO) and ion exchange (IX) processes is an uncommon one, 

and LANXESS Sales Manager Mark Seah tells Water & Wastewater Asia (WWA) how the combination 

produces optimal results. 

WWA: Could you share with us what the 

combined RO and IX process entails? 

SEAH: RO and IX are two different technologies. 

IX entails using ion-exchange resin to selectively 

remove dissolved substances in the water. The 

RO process is basically removing dissolved 

substances by particle size, so there’s no 

selectivity. The two different technologies, when 

combined together, produce the optimal result 

of both chemical process and mechanical filter 

processing. Ion exchange can be used as pretreatment 

for RO to remove hardness or organics, 

or as post-treatment to polish the RO permeate 

How does this help the wastewater treatment 

process? 

Broadly, in terms of energy consumption, 

RO has a high consumption of energy, since 

the applied pressure has to overcome the 

The LANXESS team at the IndoWater exhibition. From left: Mark Seah, Sales Manager ASEAN region, and 

Suluh L Pamungkas, Business Development Manager 

osmotic pressure of the feed solution, whereas 

ion-exchange resin has a low consumption 

of electrical energy because there’s no huge pump that’s 

valuable substances from the waste stream, like heavy metals. 

required like in RO. However, in the chemical process, chemical 

consumption wise, RO is very low and for ion-exchange resin What challenges does this aim to solve? 

there’s a high utilisation of chemicals. So, for a combination of We aim to integrate this into the zero-liquid-discharge (ZLD) cycle, 

both, it actually moderates between electrical consumption and which is what a lot of industries and governments are looking 

chemical consumption. In this way, it optimises the process, not into: recycling and reusing water. By doing this, you’re actually 

just for wastewater. RO has to overcome the osmotic pressure and removing the footprint of water treatment. 

has, therefore, a higher energy requirement. 

What are the advantages of using this process? 

In terms of energy consumption and chemical consumption 

there’s a balance of both requirements. IX as RO pre-treatment 

can remove substances which can foul the membrane. Therefore, 

it leads to a reduction of other chemicals and avoids a flux decline 

of the RO system. In addition to this, it is possible to remove 

How would using combined RO and IX processes be different 

from current wastewater treatment processes? 

Each water treatment process has its own advantage and 

disadvantage. But here at Lanxess, we have 80 years of experience 

producing ion-exchange resin, so we know how to make ionexchange 

resin that is robust to use in many different kinds of 

applications. By combining the new knowledge and initiative that 


FOCUS 31 

Comparing the differences between reverse osmosis (RO) and ion exchange (IX) processes 

we put into our RO, we are able to optimise. 

We are able to look into several industries: Power plants, food 

and beverage, wastewater treatment in textile and electroplating 

industries. These are where we have a strong advantage 

in keeping a good balance between energy and chemical 

consumption while enabling the integration of this into the ZLD 

water treatment cycle. 

What would the challenges be in implementing these processes? 

The challenge would be the balance of both energy and chemical 

consumption. It’s always a challenge if there’s a seasonal in terms 

of the feed water that we are treating. In order to have an efficient 

combined process of ion-exchange resin and RO, we need to have 

good knowledge of the kind of feed water that we are treating. 

We can then design the flexibility of the ion-exchange resin to 

accommodate these variants in terms of the feed water that is 

coming into the system. 

Although we don’t have four seasons here, there’s still the 

monsoon season for wastewater and river water. There’s a 

fluctuation of this feed water at times when you have different 

kinds of contaminants in the wastewater, which poses a challenge. 

For wastewater treatment, factory to factory, they’re all different, 

so it’s impossible for us to design one system that we can sell 

to all industries. And so, we have to work very closely with the 

customer in finding the right solution and the right combination 

of technology. Ion-exchange resin can go before or after the 

membrane; which should go first, or to have both — this is where 

we need to talk to the customer a lot to find the right solution. 

Looking forward, do you think we will see these processes grow 

in popularity? 

At this moment we see a very strong market in Asia such as 

Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. These are the 

countries that have a strong growing demand in the industries 

that I’ve mentioned earlier. These are the markets that present the 

most opportunities or are the most attractive to our products. 

Sometimes, we have a problem justifying these two technologies 

to our customers because they seemed to be in competition with 

each other! But the reason why we advocate for these combined 

processes is that there is a way to optimise them. In a lot of 

remote areas, you might not have so much access to electricity, 

or have difficulty accessing the sufficient chemicals to do the 

regeneration for ion-exchange resin. A combination of both would 

enable a lot of such systems to be implemented in these places, 

and you can actually minimise any reliance on one particular 

technology. With the combination, it gives the customers and 

industries a balance of different technologies. 

The combination of experienced product and new initiative 

product – this is what we offer to the market, and to our 

customers. WWA 


32 FOCUS 

Having spent over 20 years in the 

Industrial Automation field with 

10 years of experience in the water 

and wastewater industry, Schneider 

Electric’s segment leader, Shanmugavel 

Subramaniam, is the person to talk to 

regarding cybersecurity in the water 

sector, and what challenges the water 

industry players must navigate in their 

drive towards Industry 4.0. 

When it comes to cybersecurity, Shanmugavel Subramaniam 

is of the opinion that the level of defence afforded to the 

water industry depends on its level of consideration as a 

critical infrastructure. 

“In some countries, water is a part of a critical infrastructure – in one 

aspect you don’t want its security to be compromised resulting in 

operational disruption that may lead to losing supply of water. This 

is the case in Singapore, where the importance in supplying water 

24/7 is significant and there is no compromise in any shortage of 

water, which is deemed as a critical infrastructure. The industry here is 

trying to figure out how to implement cybersecurity at the operational 

technology (OT) level, and there’s still a lot of work to be done.” 

DEFINING INDUSTRY 4.0 

Adding on to his statement, Shan said that impact of Industry 4.0 

can be broken into three core aspects: People, Assets/Equipment 

and Operation. 

“Similarly, in the water utility this transformation takes place with 

technologies like Industrial Internet of things (IIOT) by making 

the equipment ‘talk’. Imagine a situation when a vast number of

FOCUS 33 

equipment is talking in many different ‘languages’, this creates 

‘noises of data’ that need to be managed & analysed – in other 

words, big data analytics. A single platform is required with 

the ability to consolidate, analyse & translate this data into 

meaningful operational & business information like a unified 

command centre, with one unified operational language,” he 

explained. 

Water utilities need to see the whole water cycle picture to know 

about what’s happening in their operation, but the utilities today 

don’t have this vision. As the various equipment are made to 

‘talk’, all the various departments tend to focus only on their own 

processes and work in individual silos, but they need to work 

together to have an integrated view of the whole operation. 

In the past, people relied on their own knowledge to figure out if 

the equipment is working and needed to update their colleagues 

manually. But now that machines are starting to talk, everyone 

gains better visibility on the entire process thus increasing 

transparency. This transformative shift from manually reporting 

information to machines providing insight is the essence of 

Industry 4.0. 

Shan also observed that as a concept, Worker 4.0 would have to 

reach far beyond the current generation of operators, to prepare 

for the next batch of workers: Generation Z, or Gen Z for short. 

“They’re the technology-smart generation. When they graduate 

and come out into the workforce, they expect technology to be 

helping them. That’s one key reason the acceleration (of Industry 

4.0) is faster now, because the industry needs to be ready for the 

next generation.” 

SETTING THE STANDARD FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 

However, one key issue in adapting to Industry 4.0 lies in setting 

standards – in terms of cybersecurity, how do operators know 

when a plant or operation is secure? 

Shan explained, “Cybersecurity is a continuous discussion – 

in a laptop for example, when you plug a thumb drive or new 

vulnerability is present, it immediately downloads software 

patches and updates. Imagine if that goes into an industry’s 

operation. How will the management of such security patches be 

handled? 

However, this shift towards a streamlined process is bound to 

create a new set of problems that need to be tackled head-on for 

the industry to move forward. Perhaps the most obvious problem 

would be the risk of machines completely replacing the workers 

as processes become increasingly transparent, thus requiring less 

manual oversight. 

The real question though, is if the utilities are ready for this and 

how they are adapting.” 

INTRODUCING “WORKER 4.0” 

According to Shan, much of the impact caused by the shift to 

Industry 4.0 would be in terms of operational behaviour. 

“As processes become increasingly transparent, operations will 

change, and silos will be broken down for greater integration. 

Operational behaviour will be affected, and typical feedback from 

operators becomes: ‘Will I lose my job?’. It’s a big challenge for 

water utilities. So, operators need to be trained to become what 

Singapore calls ‘Worker 4.0’ or ‘digital workers’. 

Moving towards Industry 4.0 is a big concern for any industry – 

but technology is not going to replace people. What will happen 

instead is that it will upskill talents, change job descriptions 

and working behaviours leading to a change management in 

operations,” he said. 

What are the guidelines operators need to follow if they want 

to implement talking equipment, for example? What security 

guidelines should they have? Every industry has its own needs to 

address, and the water industry is a bit different because it links 

back to the public. You cannot hack drinking water unless you 

contaminate it, but you can disrupt the operation and supply of 

water. 

In Singapore, the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) - founded in April 

2015 – helps engage with various industry segments to heighten 

cyber security awareness & guidelines as well as to ensure the 

development of Singapore’s cyber security standards. 

Critical infrastructure requires secured segment and network 

authentication but how can we enable it for OT? The IT equivalent 

is a zero-trust network, where you must authenticate all processes 

within the network as nothing is trusted. Considering the critical 

nature of our water utilities, this is most likely the type of OT 

network that they will want to implement. 

However, such a transformative paradigm shift will require 

management to come up with a plan on how to integrate these 

technologies without disrupting their core operational services.” 

WWA 


34 FOCUS 

As the most widely used raw material in the pharmaceutical manufacturing 

process, water is an essential part of the production, processing, and 

formulation of pharmaceutical products. Water & Wastewater Asia (WWA) sits 

down with Veolia’s Market Manager, Tiyo Kok Fong, to learn more about how 

water is used in this industry and how wastewater from this process is treated. 

Tiyo Kok Fong, 

Market Manager, Veolia 

WWA: What is the importance of water in manufacturing for the 

pharmaceutical industry? 

KOK: The pharmaceutical industry requires consistent high-quality 

water for manufacturing, including product addition and dilution (as 

an ingredient in a dosage form), equipment washdown and rinsing, 

even as solvent or diluent for research in laboratory processes. With 

its polarity and hydrogen bonds, water possesses many unique 

chemical properties — allowing it to dissolve, absorb, adsorb, or 

suspend many different compounds. These include contaminants 

that may represent hazards in and of themselves, or that may be 

able to react with intended product substances, resulting in hazards 

to health. 

The major compendia (USP, EP and JP) require pharma 

manufacturers to begin with drinking water and purify it further to 

specific standards — depending on the use, such as purified water 

(PW) or water for injection (WFI) — as specified in monographs, 

which provide the baseline requirements for water used in 

pharmaceutical manufacturing processes. 

Typical wastewater treatment plants are constructed to remove 

solid substances, degradable organic substances, and nutrients. 

Many endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) or potentially 

harmful substances are not biologically degradable and are hardly 

absorbable. Hence, only very little amounts are removed or are 

not removed at all. Some studies in the West had highlighted the 

negative impact of Endocrine Disruptors in the Environment. So far, 

there is no regulation overall to seize the threats from EDCs. 

However, in the Asia Pacific region, the tightening of wastewater 

discharge limits and the enforcement of environmental regulations in 

many countries has led to greater demands for more sophisticated 

and innovative treatment technologies and solutions. 

Control of water quality, in particular the microbiological quality, 

is a major concern and the pharmaceutical industry devotes 

considerable resources to the development and maintenance 

of water purification systems. Subject matter experts (SMEs) of 

pharmaceutical manufacturers work closely with the compendial 

water/steam vendors to define and review compendial water 

and steam generation systems, as well as associated process 

manufacturing controls within the system that may potentially affect 

product quality and patient safety. 

WWA: How is wastewater from manufacturing in this industry 

dealt with, and how have treatment/disposal methods evolved in 

the past five years? 

KOK: Wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry is highly charged 

with TOC, COD, BOD, suspended matter or solvents, so it is imperative 

that manufacturers treat it before discharging the effluent. 

EVALED ® evaporators are low energy consumption and low CO 2 footprint 

systems to treat industrial wastewater, with capacities from 1-200 m 3 /day 


FOCUS 35 

With sustainability being a common concern for many 

companies, Veolia aims to reduce energy needs by 

reusing water. Wastewater treatment also offers many 

opportunities to recover valuable elements. In addition, 

there is also a growing trend of single-use technologies 

in product manufacturing facilities that has reduced 

water consumption but increased the amount of plastic 

waste. 

The Orion is a sustainable solution with the potential to reduce overall 

water and energy consumption, as well as produce water that meets all the 

requirements of the new WFI Monograph 

Water is a major ingredient for most bulk waste and can be further 

treated with EVALED — a technological solution for disposal cost 

reduction and product recovery. Water can be reused for nonprocess 

purposes, and Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) or Zero 

Liquid Discharge (ZLD) may even be achieved within the ETP. For 

an effective way to remove micro-pollutants, companies may also 

choose to adopt the EXENO — Veolia’s solution for an effective 

and economically friendly biological removal of drug residues in 

wastewater that is based on the AnoxKaldnes MBBR. 

Sustainability is also a growing concern and many companies 

are looking at ways to maximise resources and develop a plan for 

sustainable growth. This often also helps companies fulfil their CSR 

commitments. Some options that companies are turning to include 

recycling wastewater for non-potable uses, turning wastewater into 

a resource through sludge treatment or biogas production, and 

dealing with the issue of drugged water and micropollutants. 

WWA: What are some of the risks associated with wastewater 

treatment in this industry, and how can companies deal with these 

risks? 

KOK: Water scarcity and tightening regulations have aggravated 

risks for the industry, particularly because of the high volume of 

water required. Unlike other raw materials, the quality of potable 

water varies significantly from one region to another, as well as from 

season to season. The quality and characteristics of the potable 

water supply have an important bearing on the purification regime 

required to produced purified water for use in the pharmaceutical 

manufacturing process. 

Changes in local regulations, such as the tightening discharge limits 

and quality of effluent discharged into the environment, have had a 

significant impact on the decisions that companies make regarding 

their water facilities, as well as water and wastewater treatment 

options. 

WWA: What are some of the challenges faced in the 

storage of water or water treatment in this industry? 

How do companies overcome these challenges? 

KOK: Storage tank and distribution systems are potential 

sources of contamination, particularly from bacteria. 

Good design and proper maintenance regimes are 

needed to minimise issues. With over 100 years of 

experience in water storage and distribution in larger 

markets such as municipal services, Veolia is able to 

adapt good design practices to help pharmaceutical companies 

reduce the risks surfacing from the storage and distribution of water 

— from the pre-treatment system to hygienic areas, such as PW and 

WFI storage and distribution. 

WWA: What technologies does Veolia have that are focused on 

water/wastewater treatment for the pharmaceutical industry? 

How does Veolia contribute? 

KOK: Veolia’s expertise enables us to offer complete solutions 

for quality water production and wastewater treatment for the 

pharmaceutical industry. From solutions for pre-treatment, PW or 

WFI, to solutions for storage, distribution or effluent treatment 

services, Veolia applies the latest technologies to improve 

production efficiency and reduce operating costs for customers — 

without compromising the safety of processes or product quality. 

For example, the Orion ® is a sustainable solution with the potential 

to reduce overall water and energy consumption, as well as produce 

water that meets all the requirements of the new WFI Monograph. 

The POLARIS can be used for distillation in the production of water 

for injection and highly purified water, while the EXENO works to 

remove COD/BOD, Endocrine Disruption Chemicals (EDCs), and 

nutrients from wastewater. 

The AQUAVISTA digital service platform is Veolia’s response 

to customer calls for data-driven optimisation in the water and 

wastewater treatment industry. Features like predictive maintenance 

and real-time optimisation taps on the latest innovation in IoT and 

artificial intelligence-based analysis — bringing about a plethora of 

benefits. These include allowing treatment plants to automatically 

adapt to various events and reduce operational expenditure. With 

this platform, customers can gain more meaningful insights and 

understanding of the water and wastewater treatment processes 

in their plant, and make informed decisions about optimising water 

consumption or the manufacturing process as a whole. WWA 


36 FOCUS 

As one of the country’s Four National Taps, desalination has been a key part of Singapore’s water 

story since the first desalination plant was opened in 2005. As Singapore seeks to add the 

Jurong Island Desalination Plant (JIDP) to its map of desalination plants, Water & Wastewater Asia 

(WWA) talks to Chen Rosenfeld, Sales & Solutions Manager for Asia-Pacific at IDE Technologies, to 

understand how the country is doing in terms of its desalination efforts and how IDE Technologies 

plays a part in the process. 

WWA: How is Singapore doing in terms of its current desalination 

efforts? 

ROSENFELD: Currently, Singapore desalinates 25% of its water 

demand and PUB, the Public Utilities Board, is set to reach the 30% 

mark by 2060 ahead of the 2061 expiration of the Water Transfer 

Agreement with Malaysia. 

On the same note, PUB plans to expand NEWater, Singapore’s brand 

name for potable-quality water produced from treated sewage, 

to meet roughly 55% of the national water demand by 2060. In 

Singapore, there are currently four large desalination plants which 

serve as part of the four main sources of water for the country. 

WWA: Please tell us more about the SWRO plant that will be 

supplied by IDE Technologies for the upcoming JIDP. 

ROSENFELD: IDE Technologies has been awarded the contract 

to deliver a reverse osmosis (RO) system for the JIDP. This plant 

will be Singapore’s fifth desalination plant and have a capacity of 

35.7 MGD (135,000 m 3 /d). This combined system will produce 

high-quality water to Singapore. As Singapore is a small city-state 

with limited water storage space, its water management policy is 

essential to its existence. 

Chen Rosenfeld, Sales & Solutions Manager 

for Asia-Pacific, IDE Technologies 

Large desalination plants are part of the four main sources 

providing water across the city, in addition to water imported from 

Malaysia, extensive rain water collection, and storage and water 

reuse facilities distributing water to potable quality. Singapore 

has set a target to have desalinated water meet up to 30% of the 

country’s future water needs by 2060. JIDP will be completed in 

June 2020. 


FOCUS 37 

overall water balance in most Asian countries and the impact of 

desalination on the ratepayer can be a challenge for local and 

state utilities and governments. 

Nevertheless, more and more acceptance of this 

drought-proof solution, and the costs associated 

with it, are being viewed as a sustainable and sociallyresponsible 

alternative to our global reliance on 

depleting freshwater sources. 

WWA: What are the challenges facing countries in Asia 

that want to adopt desalination? 

ROSENFELD: The main challenges facing countries wanting 

to adopt desalination is a regulatory framework 

that will allow for Public-Private-Partnership 

(PPPs) and long-term concessions so 

private initiatives and investments 

will provide the needed capital and 

expertise to implement desalination 

at a very competitive and affordable cost. 

Streamlined environmental permitting and other 

permitting processes also pose a challenge in Asian 

countries. In addition, the distribution networks and sewage 

treatment plants (STPs) also pose a challenge for utilities. 

SWRO train as will be operated in Jurong Island Desalination Plant, 

Singapore, Formosa Taiwan and other desalination plants in Asia 

WWA: How will IDE Technologies’ provision of RO solutions to 

the JIDP aid Singapore in its desalination efforts? 

ROSENFELD: The 135,000 m 3 /day (35.7 MGD) Sea Water Reverse 

Osmosis (SWRO) plant supplied by IDE to the Jurong Island 

desalination project is a significant addition to Singapore’s water 

security and independency. This plant will be Singapore’s fifth 

desalination plant and produce high-quality water for the country 

to help meet growing demand. 

WWA: How widely accepted is the desalination process in Asia? 

ROSENFELD: Desalination of sea water and brackish water is 

widely accepted in Asia and while Singapore is spearheading 

these efforts in the region, Taiwan, Thailand, India, China and 

Korea are also adopting this drought-proof solution to secure 

drinking water as water scarcity continues to be a growing 

problem. 

WWA: What is the impact of desalination in the Asian region? 

How has it changed? 

ROSENFELD: Desalination is still a very small portion of the 

To overcome these challenges, the government must embrace 

Public-Private Partnerships to help expedite desalination 

infrastructure so the economy can have another droughtresistant 

method for access to a continuous supply of clean 

water. Environmental permitting also needs to be streamlined so 

innovative companies can deliver desalination processes that are 

offer increased efficiency and decreased energy usage. 

WWA: Going forward, where do you think the water industry in 

Asia is headed? What trends should companies look out for? 

ROSENFELD: IDE sees tremendous potential in the emerging Asian 

water industry. In Asia, we believe that there will continue to be 

increased focus on eco-friendly water solutions. Chemicals like 

chloramine, a combination of chlorine and ammonia, can be quite 

toxic to the environment and when used as a disinfectant in water, 

chloramine can be fatal to fish and frogs. 

When used for water treatment, chloramine can cause a 

50% increase in power consumption and its by-products can 

have detrimental effects on humans. Chloramine can form 

N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), which is an organic contaminant 

suspected as carcinogenic. With eco-friendly water solutions, no 

chemicals are used in the process to clean or disinfect the water 

which protects everyone from the effects of harmful chemicals – 

and Asia is leading the way in adoption of these solutions. WWA 


38 FOCUS 

Metal finishing industries 

(automotive, electronics, 

aerospace, hardware, jewellery, 

heavy equipment, appliances, tires, and 

telecommunications) generate wastewater 

with a high concentration of contaminants 

such as heavy metals, organic substances 

and inorganic acids. When it comes to 

heavy metals – nickel, zinc, tin, silver, 

lead, copper, chromium and cadmium 

are typically present in metal finishing 

industrial effluent, and are a big concern 

due to their toxicity to human and other 

biological life. 

Currently, the metal finishing industrial 

effluents are treated with traditional 

chemical methods that include the 

precipitation of heavy metals by 

neutralisation, flocculation and settling/ 

clarifiers for discharge. The sludge will 

pass through a filter press to remove 

the solids, and the liquid will go for 

another cycle. This method requires a 

lot of chemicals and a good solid waste 

management system to handle the 

precipitated heavy metal sludge. 

In many cases, the treated water does 

not meet the discharge requirement due 

to a high amount of total dissolved solids 

(TDS). In such cases, it needs to be diluted 

with tap water to meet the discharge 

limit, or conventional evaporators and 

crystallisers need to be deployed to treat 

the salinity for discharge or reuse. Figures 

1 and 2 show the conventional metal 

finishing industrial effluent treatment 

methods with and without an evaporator 

and crystalliser. As the conventional 

method consumes a large quantity of 

chemicals and the evaporation method 

requires very high CapEx and OpEx, there 

is a growing need for a cost-effective, 

chemical-free method to handle the metal 

finishing industrial effluent treatment. 

Figure 1 and 2: Conventional metal finishing industrial effluent treatment method with evaporator and 

crystalliser 

Membrane Distillation (MD) is a fairly new 

process that is being considered worldwide 

as a low cost, energy-saving alternative to 

conventional separation processes such 

as distillation and multi-stage evaporation. 

In MD, a membrane permeable to vapour 

but impermeable to liquid water separates 

a heated water stream from the product 

stream. Water vapour from the heated 

stream passes through the membrane due 

to the gradient in the vapour pressure and 

condenses in the product stream. 


FOCUS 39 

MD is a good option to treat wastewater 

containing inorganic content, but current 

MD membranes are limited to treating 

industrial wastewater containing high 

organic content. The membranes are very 

sensitive to acid and organic solvents 

that will alter the membrane surface, 

leading to membrane wetting. If the 

membrane undergoes wetting, it allows 

the contaminant to pass through the 

membrane. 

Several methods have been explored to 

prevent membrane wetting. The current 

solution to wetting is to apply a finely 

porous hydrophobic coating which helps to 

increase hydrophobicity while maintaining 

acceptable porosity. However, it reduces 

the pore size of the membrane, which 

reduces performance. Another method to 

increase hydrophobicity is by introducing 

fluoride-containing polymers or additives 

into the dope solution. 

as a post-treatment to the IMD system 

to recover more water, helping the whole 

system achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD). 

Figures 3 and 4 show the novel methods 

for metal finishing industrial effluent 

treatment with minimum liquid discharge 

(MLD) and ZLD. 

Recently, two different case studies were 

carried out for metal finishing industries in 

Singapore. Both case studies were carried 

out without a crystalliser, and only focused 

on MLD. From the results shown, there 

is a high possibility for circular economy 

in metal finishing effluent treatment. The 

first case study was conducted based on 

the process described in figure 3. The 

pre-treated effluent was used to study the 

maximum water recovery from the TS-30 

IMD system. 

The feed water was heated up with an 

electrical boiler to 70±3 °C and supplied 

to the feed inlet of the membrane module 

by a circulation pump with a velocity of 

0.42m/s. A vacuum pressure of -0.2 bar 

Memsift Innovations Pte Ltd has developed 

STOMATE ® , a highly hydrophobic fibre 

membrane suitable for MD application 

– STOMATE ® is created with proprietary 

materials that contain 10X higher fluorine 

atoms per unit compared to current 

materials, and can overcome the wetting 

issue in MD. 

Figure 3: The novel methods for metal finishing industrial effluent treatment with MLD 

In addition to this, Memsift also has an 

Improved Membrane Distillation (IMD) 

process (TS-30) that utilises the 

temperature difference and pressure 

difference across the membrane as 

driving force. Memsift has also developed 

GRAVITY, a new generation crystalliser 

which works in the principle of centrifugal 

and gravitational force with some 

temperature differences. The newlydeveloped 

crystalliser requires one-third 

of the energy that is currently being used 

for conventional crystallisers. The IMD 

system can be operated with minimum 

pre-treatment for the metal finishing 

industry and the crystalliser can be used 

Figure 4: The novel methods for metal finishing industrial effluent treatment with ZLD 


40 FOCUS 

Table 1: water quality analysis for the feed, concentration and permeate 

Figure 8: Image of feed, permeate and concentrated effluent 

Figure 6: Permeate flux and conductivity rejection vs time 

Figure 9: Image of feed, permeate and concentrated slurry 

and the concentrate. 

From the analytical data it was found that the TS-30 IMD system 

helped to recover >90% of the water in one step and the treated 

water meets the discharge limit without further post polishing. 

The treated water can be reused with minimum post polishing. 

The permeate flux and the conductivity (rejection) were stable 

throughout the experiment. Figures 6 and 7 show the permeate 

flux and conductivity rejection vs time and conductivity increases 

and permeate flux vs time. Figure 8 shows the images of feed, 

permeate and concentrated effluent. The remaining water from the 

concentrated brine can be recovered in future using the crystalliser 

GRAVITY to make it ZLD. 

Figure 7: Conductivity increases and permeate flux vs time 

was applied in the expansion chamber/permeate side. The vapour 

was collected and condensed in the condensation chamber by 

using cooling water (temperature 30±3 °C). The condensed 

permeate was collected in the permeate tank and the volume was 

measured to calculate the permeate flux. Feed, permeate and 

the concentrated effluent samples were collected to measure the 

water quality parameter to analyse the separation efficiency of the 

system. The following table shows the quality of feed permeate 

Another case study was conducted using the same method 

described in Figure 3. All the operating conditions were kept 

the same as the first case study. In this case study, the feed 

waster contained 12% hydrochloric acid (HCl) and 22% of 

copper chloride. Hydrochloric acid (12.5%) was collected as the 

permeate and a slurry (saturated solution) of copper chloride was 

collected in the concentrate side. Here the liquid-waste become 

valuable products (hydrochloric acid and copper chloride) and 

potentially both can be reused in the process again after some 

minor purification process. This case study shows the possibility of 

making circular economy from metal finishing industrial effluent. 

Experiments are ongoing to recover the copper chloride crystals 

using the novel crystalliser GRAVITY. WWA 


VIEWPOINT 41 

1 

KSB Guard shows how it can help a 

system runs smoothly and minimise 

outlay for inspection and maintenance. 

It offers the ability to gain an overview 

of the data on all the pumps without 

having to be physically on site. 

By Bryan Orchard 

Call it Industry 4.0, digitalisation or 

digital transformation — the concept 

behind these words has been and still 

is on everybody’s lips. Frequently, however, 

it gives rise to the question how to actually 

tackle the challenge of digitalising an 

established plant, namely a brownfield plant. 

If pumps are involved, it raises the 

questions: How can pumps be made fit for 

the future? How can procedures surrounding 

pump maintenance and service be improved 

using digitalisation? How can pumps 

become smart? Is there an option of making 

a concrete start without major expense? 

Pump and valve manufacturer KSB SE & Co. 

KGaA, has addressed these questions with 

a monitor that was first introduced in late 

2018, and which is now been taken up by 

several major international manufacturers. 

The monitoring device, called KSB Guard, 

enables the transfer of existing pumps to the 

digital world, even during operation. 

COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING 

The compact device comprises a sensor 

unit housing a temperature and a vibration 

sensor. The vibration sensor has an 

accuracy of 1 kHz and measures in all 

three axes. The sensor unit is fastened to 

the pump (KSB or any other make) using 

industrial adhesive. This type of fastening 

is generally suitable for all dry-installed 

pumps and can even be fitted during pump 

operation (Figure 1). 

The second hardware component is a 

transmission and battery unit, which is 

connected to the sensor unit with a cable 

and supplies the sensors with power. This 

does away with the need to install an 

additional mains power cable to the sensors 

at the pump. The batteries have a life of up 

to five years and are easy to replace. 

Using a wireless connection, the data 

recorded are sent to a gateway, which 

is the third hardware component. The 

gateway can be used for up to 20 sensor 

units and fitted with a SIM card, it provides 

the required connection to the mobile 

phone network. This means the entire 

communication path has been defined and 

secured by KSB, minimising time and costs 

for installation and commissioning. 

To access the available information about a 

pump, the pump only needs to be assigned 

in the KSB Guard app or web portal and the 

name plate data of pump and motor need 

to be entered. If it is a KSB pump and its 

serial number is entered, the data will be 

called up from KSB databases and entered 

automatically. Even in all other cases, 

entering the data takes no longer than a 

few minutes and is as easy as filling in an 

entry screen in an online shop. There is no 

further requirement for setting any other 

parameters. The complete installation and 

commissioning process is so efficient, it 

is easy to make existing pumps in a plant 

smart and, with that, fit for the future. 

After commissioning, a multitude of 

information will be accessible in the web 

portal or app. For pumps made by KSB 

the serial number gives access, via app or 

web portal, to additional documents, such 

as the data sheet or a sectional drawing, 

so searching for pump information has 

become a thing of the past. Quickly and 

easily maintaining and calling up a history 

file for the pump is also an option. Any 

maintenance and repair work can be 

recorded with a few clicks and will then be 

visible to all those responsible (Figure 2). 

Particularly valuable are the status data 


42 VIEWPOINT 

2 3 

Figure 1: Easy installation of the sensor unit at the pump 

Figure 2: KSB Guard fitted in the system 

Figure 3: Easy access via smartphone or tablet 

of the installed pump sets. They are not 

restricted to the current temperature and 

mean vibration velocity values, but also 

show trends. Since measurements are 

conducted once an hour or more frequently 

if needed, data can be examined over time, 

which enables any changes to the pump 

status to be identified. Alarm and warning 

limit values have also been defined for this 

purpose. If the limit values are reached, 

an alarm or warning message is triggered. 

These messages can be received by e-mail 

or as a push message on a mobile phone 

or tablet — whichever is most convenient 

(Figure 3). The limit values can be 

individually adjusted for each pump using 

the app or web portal. 

Apart from information on the temperature 

and mean vibration velocity, an operating 

hours counter, the load profile and the load 

status of the pump can be displayed. The 

speed can be derived from the measured 

vibrations. Initially, this indicates whether 

the pump is running or at standstill. For 

pumps without a variable speed system, 

the speed and an algorithm patented by 

KSB provide the facility to further identify 

the load condition of the pump, overload, 

optimum, part load or extreme part load. In 

this way, KSB Guard also helps to uncover 

energy saving potentials and optimise 

plants accordingly. 

KSB Guard’s main benefit is certainly 

that of monitoring the temperature and 

vibrations and the associated warning 

and alarm messages, which help identify a 

change in pump status at an early stage. 

This allows an early response before any 

failures or major damage occurs at the 

pump. The early-warning system has been 

tried and tested in many applications. 

SEEING THE FUTURE 

For example, the imminent clogging of a 

large, dry-installed waste water pump at a 

pumping station was detected at an early 

stage, thereby avoiding a problem. As the 

pumping station in question transports raw 

waste water, clogging is a common even 

and in the past this had led to numerous 

failures and costly repairs. What made 

it more difficult was that the pumping 

station was in a remote location and not 

supervised continuously. KSB Guard proved 

to be an ideal solution, providing the 

pumping station with a monitoring system 

in a simple and cost-effective way. 

In this particular case, KSB Guard detected 

that the mean vibration velocity was rising 

continuously. Based on this knowledge, service 

personnel were sent to the pumping station to 

remedy the cause of the high vibrations and 

prevent clogging. Without KSB Guard, a failure 

and the corresponding damage at the pump 

would have most likely been the outcome. 

Another example is that of a tubular casing 

pump that had been in operation for many 

years without any maintenance because 

the plain bearings were lubricated for life. 

However, after a very long period of use, more 

than 40 years in this case, these mechanical 

components were affected by wear. To ensure 

continued maximum operating reliability, KSB 

Guard was identified as the first choice as it 

allowed the pump to be simply and quickly 

fitted with an effective monitoring system. 

As in the previous example, the vibration 

values measured had increased over time. It 

was then discovered that the pump could no 

longer be rotated by hand. As a consequence, 

the pump was dismantled to prevent a failure 

incurring very costly repairs or even the need 

to purchase new equipment. 

With KSB Guard, every pump is quickly and 

easily integrated in the “Industrial Internet of 

Things”, and an existing pumping station can 

be given a new level of transparency without 

any risks. WWA 


VIEWPOINT 43 

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning technologies offer possibilities for operation 

efficiencies in water infrastructure 

By William Yong, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Water, Black & Veatch 

Thanks to rapidly-advancing technology and 

As a key element of digital transformation, the 

innovation, AI is perceived as a key pillar 

popularity of AI stems from its adaptability in many 

of urban water treatment and Southeast 

sectors. By facilitating right-sized, data-driven 

Asian governments are now racing to establish the 

region as an AI hub. For example, Singapore has 

launched its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 

investments, digital transformation offers utilities in 

Asia the opportunity to find strategies that address 

their different needs. 

and committed over $500 million to fund activities 

related to AI under the Research, Innovation and 

Enterprise 2020 Plan. 

At the core of digital transformation is aggregating, 

mapping and analysing data for greater insight and 

Not to be outdone, Malaysia has set up a one-billiondollar 

AI park to boost research and development in 

William Yong 

actionable information. Connected sensors provide 

data that supports deeper analysis, and actionable 

learnings are then generated from the analysis. 

the country, and the Philippines is working with the Asian Institute 

of Management (AIM) Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology and 

Entrepreneurship (ASITE) to prepare a roadmap which will position 

Here, we identify and predict possible opportunities for the Asian 

water sector in the coming years. 

the country as an AI leader in Southeast Asia. 

A digital twin is a digital representation of water treatment and 

distribution infrastructure, with AI embedded into the digital 

twin. A water utility digital twin offers the prospect of optimising 

performance of existing assets and increasing the efficiency with 

which they are operated and maintained. The twin supports this 

by facilitating systems thinking — combining multiple internal and 

external data sources across the asset base with predictive analytical 

techniques served through multiple functional views. This enables 

improved insights that support better decisions, leading to better 

outcomes in the physical world. Photo credit: Black & Veatch 


44 VIEWPOINT 

Prediction #1: The Asian water sector launches numerous AI pilot projects 

Regional water leaders are assessing digital technologies to 

extend the value of existing water infrastructure while solving the 

complexities of underdeveloped or aging water infrastructure, as 

well as non-revenue water (NRW). 

Prediction #2: Leaders extend AI to various parts of the water value chain 

AI deployments will be extended to the water treatment process, 

decentralisation of water supply systems and infrastructure 

planning. Water and wastewater utilities will consider 

incorporating AI to improve the removal of nutrients by 

wastewater treatment plants, improve effluent quality and meet 

regulatory requirements. 

More pilot projects that focus on optimising distribution systems, 

treatment efficiency and asset management to deliver reliable 

and sustainable water supply and wastewater treatment will be 

launched. 

The water sector will also combine AI and machine learning 

with remote monitoring technologies to enhance efficiency from 

decentralised water supply systems. Utilities will refer to learnings 

generated from analysis to optimise risk-based strategies for assetreplacement 

investments – this will drive infrastructure planning and 

offer possibilities for urban water treatment designs. 

Prediction #3: Regional water leaders integrate predictive maintenance into their strategies 

Regional utilities will pilot more predictive analytics projects, such 

as predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance uses machine 

learning, pattern recognition and advanced analytics to optimise, 

manage and deliver interventions. These interventions will give 

water utilities in Asia the opportunity to prioritise mission-critical 

investments through identifying equipment and processes that 

could result in the highest cost of failure. 

As water utilities seek to improve customer service and meet quality 

and environmental regulatory targets, predictive maintenance 

will be recognised by water leaders as a critical pillar of digital 

transformation. One result from predictive maintenance is minimising 

loss from NRW through leak detection and replacing fewer pipes. 

Prediction #4: Regional water leaders refine processes for systemic data integration 

To optimise the distribution system, some regional utilities 

are relying on sensors for flood prediction while others have 

implemented hydraulic modelling to manage stormwater runoff. 

Several utilities are adopting remote sensors to integrate geospatial 

data with pipe condition analysis to minimise NRW. 

While utilities are making steady progress, data is likely to reside in 

Prediction #5: The rise of digital twins in Asia 

There will be a higher level of urgency in the region as it assesses 

opportunities to address water sustainability and security to meet 

the needs of rapidly growing populations and economies. 

One opportunity it will assess is the creation of digital twins, 

Prediction #6: AI reframes industry roles 

Water professionals will see the potential of AI for changing rather 

than losing roles. AI relies on data, but without the insight of people 

who are intimate with how assets have been designed and built, and 

how they will behave, the data is meaningless and the AI unfit for 

purpose. Expertise from a variety of disciplines across the utility will 

be necessary to provide insight into data patterns, and teach the AI 

how to recognise failures and what optimum performance looks like. 

The opportunity is in water industry professionals thinking of AI as 

information silos. Digital water — through next-generation collection 

devices and predictive analytics — can funnel disparate data into 

a single, meaningful snapshot of the entire water ecosystem. This 

allows users to gain insight on the connectivity and synergies within 

a system to drive operational efficiency and optimise workforce 

needs. Data has the power to understand, manage and guide us to 

reliability and optimisation. 

which enable predictive capabilities and intuitive decision support 

and intervention. The twin is in constant dialogue with its physical 

counterpart, enabling utilities to simulate and scenario-test options 

before putting them into action in the real world. 

another component of the water industry workforce. It can learn, but 

it needs to be taught; and then the AI needs to gain experience while 

operating under close supervision from those who know the assets well. 

The result will be a blended workforce of artificial and human 

intelligence – Engineer 2.0. The need for asset experts to be closely 

involved in the planning, implementation, training and operation of the 

AI will help the experts develop trust in the system. 

The future of AI holds much potential. Invariably, the path to 

digital transformation success starts with an open mind and 

leadership that values connectivity, innovation and automation, 

and is realised by a workforce that understands shared, real-time 

common data is the way forward and empowers them to further 

develop themselves, participating in the digital disruption. WWA 


HOTSEAT 45 

Pani Energy CEO Devesh Bhadradwaj speaking at the recent H 2 O Asia Demo Day 

Pani Energy came from humble beginnings 

(it first started through research at 

the University of Victoria in Western 

Canada), and has now made a name for itself 

through the development of new technologies 

and its focus on improving efficiencies in 

the desalination and industrial wastewater 

treatment industries. 

The move past digital transformation’s initial novelty is 

a disappointing one, as users find previously industrychanging 

technologies may not deliver on everything they 

promised to. Pani Energy’s CEO, Devesh Bhadradwaj, takes 

us through how the company makes the most of artificial 

intelligence (AI) and machine learning to assist plant 

operators beyond cursory data monitoring. 

Said Pani Energy CEO Devesh Bhadradwaj, 

“We found that the water industry has been 

underserved by digital technologies, and there 

are many reasons for that – but the bottom-line 

is, this has created inefficiencies in operations. 

The price of desalination and wastewater is 

also much higher than normal freshwater 

treatment, and there’s a huge need to reduce 

these costs and improve efficiencies.” 

To do this, Pani Energy worked on harnessing 

AI, machine learning and deep domain 

knowledge in process modelling to improve 

plant efficiency at a low cost. With the creation 


46 HOTSEAT 

of Pani Digital TM – the industry’s first Digital 

Operator Coach – Pani Energy now had 

an artificially intelligent expert looking at 

plant operational data in real-time, showing 

operators what they could do to optimise the 

plant they’re running. 

Explained Bhadradwaj, “Our technology 

doesn’t just visualise data, it can tell the 

operators to change a specific set-point, 

indicate when sensors have gone adrift, 

or recommend the optimal time to clean a 

membrane. We looked at this industry and 

we realised why digital technologies and 

AI haven’t been adopted at this wide scale: 

there’s a lot of buzz, a lot of people talk, 

but in general they’re just showing data. In 

the end, the operator does all the work to 

understand it, interpret it, then take action. 

It’s not realistic to expect them to comb 

through all the data, interpret graphs, 

analyse, then diagnose, then take a solution. 

So, we do that for them, we diagnose, 

interpret, and tell the operator exactly what 

they need to do.” 

DIGGING THROUGH THE DATA 

What sets Pani Digital TM apart from the rest, 

according to Bhadradwaj, is how it goes 

beyond mere visualisation by drawing upon 

deep domain expertise and decades of 

industry experience, reducing the risk of 

plant operations being disrupted and 

lessening the amount of work operators 

need to do. 

For example, Bhadradwaj shares, Pani Digital TM 

is working with a 6.6 million-litre-per-day 

(MLD) industrial desalination plant in Asia to 

streamline data collection and analysis. 

“This plant provides water to large assets, 

and was having issues with data – think pen 

and paper logs, hidden excel sheets – and 

they were all isolated. There was a lack of 

historical data available to help take them 

from where they were to where they should 

be. It was a good challenge for us to see 

how we could bring a plant which was quite 

archaic in their data approaches to something 

that can use AI.” 

He further explained, “The challenges for 

the plant were high OPEX, plant complexity, 

and plant upgrades with undetermined 

setpoints; the demand was lower than what 

they resupplied so they had to excessively 

shut down the plant, which caused problems 

with the pump and membranes. In general, 

the plant was facing a lack of good 

instrumentation, among other issues.” 

Since their involvement in the plant’s 

operations, the plant has improved its 

performance, and with continued use of 

Pani’s technology is projected to lower 

chemical costs by 11-15%, energy costs 

and consumption by 7-10%, and increase 

water recovery by 3-4% in reverse osmosis 

optimisation, as well as allow for longer 

equipment life and reduced risk of membrane 

fouling or failure. 

Bhadradwaj elaborated, “As far as overall 

operations went, we detected sensor errors 

leading the plant to think that they were 

producing more fresh water than they really 

were, and that other sensors had reached 

saturated conductivity, posing a risk in 

regulatory reports. Solving these problems 

meant major savings in time, on top of 

cost savings and better use of resources 

for the owners. All in all, this also reduced 

headaches and hassle for the operators.” 

Perhaps it is testament to Pani 

Digital TM ’s work and innovations that the 

company received a grant for $100,000 

(S$103,276.74) from the Sustainable 

Development Technology Canada (SDTC) in 

late 2019 – Bhadradwaj is visibly delighted 

when asked about this achievement. 

“We’re really humbled and grateful for the 

SDTC to believe in us, and that they chose 

us to be one of the five game-changing 

innovators, giving us this seed grant to grow. 

It’s great that another Canadian organisation 

– this organisation, the largest clean-tech 

fund—saw this potential in us and in the 

market. 

For Pani, this means that the company can 

take on more challenges and subsidise costs 

to adopt new customers. This has already 

shown great results. Apart from this, we 

have received other funding and resource 

injections which means general growth, and 

based on that we have already doubled our 

team size over the last few months, moved to a 

new location, and are seeing solid traction from 

our customers – we’re very happily surprised 

by the pull we’re getting from the market!” 

SO, WHAT’S NEXT? 

Besides the grant given by the SDTC, Pani 

Energy was also recently selected as the winner 

of Imagine H 2 O Asia’s demo days, an event that 

was sponsored by Enterprise Singapore, SUEZ, 

and Moya. Pitted against several of the world’s 

top water technology start-ups, Pani Energy 

prevailed to win the H 2 O Deployment Award and 

a $25,000 deployment grant. 

Bhadradwaj shares that even with these 

successes, the company is always looking 

towards bigger, better things. “We’re in our 

commercialisation stage right now, and 

the traction we’re getting and interest from 

customers and geographies much wider than 

what we initially planned for is a good sign for 

us. We’re expanding our team and customer 

base, and what’s next for us is what’s next for 

the industry. 

Over the next decade, the world bank predicts 

a significant gap in supply and demand of 

freshwater, and current research hints that 

a majority of this demand will be met by 

non-traditional treatment processes, such as 

desalination and wastewater re-use. We are 

also seeing growth in the adoption of Zero 

Liquid Discharge (ZLD), especially around 

Asia. I personally feel better knowing there are 

technologies out there that allow these plants 

to do more with less. 

Looking at climate from a holistic perspective, 

one of our lowest risk solutions in helping 

address climate change is increasing 

efficiencies of existing infrastructures. For the 

plants we are targeting, there is tremendous 

opportunity to increase efficiencies, and a 

software-as-a-service (SaaS) optimisation 

model, in comparison to large retrofits, presents 

low adoption barriers. With these plants being 

present at global scale with industries and 

municipalities, efficiency improvements directly 

benefit the Sustainable Development Goals for 

both clean water access and climate change. 

It’s a bright future for Pani, and a bright future 

for the industry as a whole.” WWA 


41 st SINGAPORE WATER INDUSTRY NITE 

14 th November 2019, PUB Waterhub Auditorium 

NEWSLETTER 

OF THE 

SINGAPORE 

WATER 

ASSOCIATION 

BRINGING 

A NEW VIBRANCY 

TO SINGAPORE’S 

GROWING 

WATER INDUSTRY 

The 41 st SWIN was evenul — with a special face-changing 

opening performance sponsored by China Harbour 

(Singapore) Engineering Pte Ltd. 

The event was well aended by 180 guests with China 

Harbour giving an overview of its local and overseas 

projects; SWA updates on 2020 acvies and events; PUB 

update on TWRP Contracts and Introducon of IH2O new 

cohorts. 

Special guests include First and Third Secretary of China 

Embassy, Mr Lee Pak Sing (ED of Enterprise Singapore) 

Regional Trade Officer of Canadian High Commission and 

Dr Andrew Benedek (Chairman of Anaergia, First Lee Kuan 

Yew Prize Award Winner).

EMERGING TRENDS IN THE WATER INDUSTRY 

10 th October 2019, CleanTech Park Seminar Room 

NEWRI, World Bank and several water industry stakeholders shared interesng and evenul sessions at the 

inaugural “Emerging Trends in the Water Industry” seminar on 10 October 2019. 

SWA Vice-President (Administraon), Mr Dinesh Sharma, delivered his welcome address to more than 70 

parcipants while NEWRI Execuve Director, Prof Shane, made his opening address by giving an overview of 

water problems in South East Asia. 

Other sessions include World Bank advising on the Challenges and Opportunies: Water and Wastewater; Tech 

Soluons to Emerging Water Problems; Innovave Sensors & Real-me Simulaons and Best Management 

Pracces in Water Industry. 

The event ended with a NEWRI and START Lab Tour. 

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY WITH PRODUCTIVITY SOLUTIONS GRANT 

24 th October 2019, PUB Waterhub Auditorium 

It was an interesng seminar where members of different industries and business porolios networked and 

shared experiences at PUB Waterhub on 24 October 2019. 

Special thanks to PUB as the venue sponsor; Asia Hawk, Advanced Micro Control and Axiom for the sponsorship 

of refreshments; and Microso as guest speaker to share on possible Product Soluons Grants and Intelligence 

soware to maximise producvity with advancing IT developments.

TECHNICAL SITE VISIT TO WYETH NUTRITIONALS 

15 th October 2019, Wyeth Tuas Plant 

Boustead Salcon Water Soluons Pte Ltd arranged and hosted a site visit to the Wyeth Nutrionals Plant, where 

30 parcipants had the chance to see the plant and understand its effluent water processing systems. 

UPCOMING SWA ACTIVITIES 

TRAINING COURSES IN 2020 

Courses Days 2020 

1 Design of Industrial and Municipal Waste Water Recycling Plants (NEW) 2 10-11 Feb 

2 Design of Used Water Treatment Plant & Processes 3 25-27 Mar 

3 Design & Operate Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Plants 3 27-29 Apr 

4 Project Contracts & Management for Water Professionals (NEW) 2 11-12 May 

5 Internet of Things & Data Analycs for the Industry 2 28-29 May 

6 Membrane Technology (MF/UF/RO/MBR) 3 27-30 Jul 

7 Operaon& Maintenance of SWRO Plants 3 26-28 Aug 

8 Design, Engineer & Operate Fresh Water Treatment Plants 2 28-29 Sep 

9 Energy Efficiency of Waste Water Treatment Plants (NEW) 3 21-23 Oct 

10 Desalinaon – Dynamics & Operaons (NEW) 3 28-30 Oct 

11 Sustainability for Water Business (Non-Revenue Water) (NEW) 2 9-10 Nov 

12 Sustainability for Water Business (Pumping Staon) (NEW) 2 16-17 Nov 

For more informaon on the above courses, please contact SWA office: Ms Cecilia Tan via 

email: cecilia@swa.org.sg or tel: (65) 6515 0812.

SINGAPORE PAVILIONS AT OVERSEAS TRADE SHOWS FOR 2020 

S/N 

Singapore Pavilions Days Dates 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

Asiawater 2020, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (IMAP Approved) 

OzWater 2020, Adelaide, Australia – Pending Approval 

Singapore Internaonal Water Week 2020 (IMAP Approved) 

Lankawater 2020, Colombo, Sri Lanka (IMAP Approved) 

IFAT 2020, Mumbai, India – Pending Approval 

MyanmarWater 2020, Yangon, Myanmar – Pending Approval 

VietWater 2020, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam – Pending Approval 

3 31 March - 

2 April 

3 5 - 7 

May 

4 6 - 9 

July 

3 6 - 8 

August 

3 16 - 18 

October 

3 21 - 23 

October 

3 11 - 13 

November 

SWA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS 

(joined from September to November 2019) 

ORDINARY MEMBERS 

• Alfa Laval Singapore Pte Ltd 

• Mectron Engineering Pte Ltd 

• Water Management Internaonal Pte Ltd 

• Watch Water (S) Pte Ltd 

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERS 

• SG MEM, Singapore’s Membrane Consorum 

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS 

• Celli Asia Pte Ltd 

• Chemical Industries (Far East) Limited 

• DataKrew Pte Ltd 

• Golden Rock Investments Pte Ltd 

• Imagine H2O Asia (Limited) 

• Memsi Innovaons Pte Ltd 

• Phaidon Internaonal Singapore Pte Ltd 

• United Business Media (M) Sdn Bhd 

• WinWatec Pte Ltd 

PUBLISH YOUR 

ANNOUNCEMENTS OR 

ADVERTISEMENT 

Members, who have any press releases or corporate 

announcements to share with the public, kindly contact 

the SWA secretariat at enquiry@swa.org.sg. 

SWA reserves the right to edit the submied text. 

INTERESTED TO JOIN SWA? 

We welcome all organisaons who are acvely involved 

and interested in the water and wastewater industry to join 

Singapore Water Associaon as either Ordinary, Associate, 

Instuonal or Individual member. 

Sign up at hps://www.swa.org.sg/membership/sign-up-online

ON OUR RADAR 51 

Freshwater is becoming scarcer and more expensive, and seawater is an increasingly viable 

alternative to meet such demands – but for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants, 

biofouling remains the biggest challenge. 

In response to this, DuPont has launched the FILMTEC SW30XFR-400/34, a fouling-resistant 

SWRO element. The element was first unveiled at the International Desalination Association’s 

(IDA) World Congress, which took place from 20-24 October in Dubai. 

FILMTEC elements take system performance to higher levels by combining premium membrane 

performance with automated precision fabrication, and the FILMTEC SW30XFR-400/34 is 

designed specifically to handle biofouling in seawater desalination plants. These elements are 

equipped with advanced fouling-resistant and cleanability features, helping plants reduce the 

number of chemical cleanings required while maintaining high rejection and low energy. 

Biofouling occurs when bacteria present in feed water settles on the membrane surface – this 

creates a biofilm, which triggers frequent Clean-in-Place. In challenging water, biofouling is more 

prevalent and the need for frequent cleaning shortens membrane life, resulting in increased cost 

for the plant. 

Compared to the standard SW30HRLE-400, the FILMTEC SW30XFR-400/34 offers up to a 

40% lower pressure drop with improved performance that normalises permeate flow and salt 

rejection. It also offers over 33% reduction in annual chemical Clean-in-Place frequency, which 

translates to less downtime, more productivity and increased savings for users. 

“Picture a 100,000 m³/d desalination plant – the improved capabilities of FILMTEC 

SW30XFR-400/34 translate to total savings of $490,000 (S$661,549) annually, as well as 

a 5.5% decrease in water cost during the RO stage,” said Gary Gu, global technology leader, 

DuPont Water Solutions. 

Other benefits of using the FILMTEC SW30XFR-400/34 include: 

• Fouling-resistant design, reducing the number of required chemical cleanings by over 33% 

• Durable membrane chemistry, maintaining stable and high rejection despite repeated chemical 

cleanings 

• Low element differential pressure, improving system hydraulic balance 

• More effective and efficient cleaning of biofilm, organic compounds and scale, achieved through 

the widest pH range in cleaning (pH 1-13) 

“DuPont’s membranes are taking desalination to the next level for our customers and the 

industry,” remarked H.P. Nanda, global vice president and general manager of DuPont Water 

Solutions. “We’re proud to share them with others in the industry who are committed to meeting 

the United Nations’ Sustainability Goal 6: ensuring the availability and sustainable management 

of water and sanitation for all.” WWA 


52 ON OUR RADAR 

AquaNERVA uses data analytics and machine learning techniques to perform condition monitoring, 

predictive diagnostics and prognostics – we find out how it’s being used at the Ulu Pandan Water 

Reclamation Plant (UPWRP) to boost water security and quality. 

Singapore is constantly driven by its 

vision of being a smart nation, and the 

country is unafraid of encouraging digital 

innovation aimed at transforming the way its 

people live, work and play – this is the same 

when it comes to Singapore’s water supply. 

As an urban city that is scarce in natural water 

resources, water reuse through digitalisation 

could be a critical step in ensuring water 

sustainability for the future. 

The marine sector of local engineering group 

ST Engineering is aiding the Public Utilities 

Board (PUB) in digitalising the operations and 

management of Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation 

Plant (UPWRP) by using the AquaNERVA 

system. 

For the UPWRP project, AquaNERVA is 

a monitoring system that will receive 

data from the equipment performing 

wastewater treatment and apply the data 

analytics algorithm and machine-learning 

techniques to help improve the plant’s 

operational efficiency.” 

AquaNERVA is currently deployed at 

UPWRP to collect and analyse realtime 

data from key equipment. The 

smart system will be able to evaluate 

the equipment’s condition and detect 

anomalies, alert operators to potential 

problems that could lead to failures, as 

well as recommend actions for repair and 

maintenance. Through machine-learning 

techniques, AquaNERVA will also learn from 

past equipment failures and predict future 

ones more effectively. 

UPWRP is the first such facility in Singapore 

to use this solution – AquaNERVA has been 

tested extensively, and proven successful 

An in-house innovation of ST Engineering, 

AquaNERVA effectively incorporates data 

analytics and machine-learning techniques to 

perform condition-based monitoring, predictive 

diagnostics and prognostics. 

According to Sim Chee Chong, assistant 

director of Marine Technology & Solutions, Ship 

Management & Sensemaking Systems, Marine, 

at ST Engineering, this can greatly improve 

operational efficiency. 

AquaNERVA equipment monitoring and control 

“Firstly, it prolongs the maintenance intervals 

due to the implementation of the conditionbased 

monitoring. Maintenance is performed 

based on condition of the equipment as 

opposed to a fixed maintenance schedule. This 

improves uptime and extends the lifespan of 

equipment, hence generating cost-savings. 

Secondly, it prevents unplanned downtime 

through predictive diagnostics, which is 

essential to any plant operations. This 

changes the nature of maintenance from 

reactive to preventive. 

AquaNERVA prognostics 



to be applied at water reclamation plants, 

reducing equipment downtime and lifecycle 

cost through effective predictive 

maintenance. 

Explained Sim, “At this moment, we are 

still at the implementation phase of the 

AquaNERVA for UPWRP. However, we did 

apply similar data analytics and machinelearning 

techniques in the Marine industry, 

which we called the Sensemaking system. 

We have seen positive results during 

implementation where the system was able 

to successfully predict imminent failures.” 

Challenges faced in the implementation of 

AquaNERVA for UPWRP included the lack of 

quality data. 

AquaNERVA feature - maintenance e-log 

“This is very common for implementing 

data analytics and machine learning,” said 

Sim. “Massive amounts of good quality 

data are needed to train the machinelearning 

model, so that we can ensure the 

model is intelligent enough to perform 

its tasks. We overcame these challenges 

by working closely with UPWRP, so that 

we would identify which are the areas for 

improvement in terms of data management, 

and provide advice and suggestions. This 

will also help them build a more robust data 

management centre.” WWA 

AquaNERVA feature - Trending 



AQUALABO’s STAC2 is an on-line UV-Vis alert analyser for on-line water chemical quality 

monitoring of BOD / COD / TOC / TSS and Nitrates. 

Developed by Secomam, under 

AQUALABO, the STAC2 is the 

successor to the STAC1, a compact 

alarm system that measures the sample 

absorbance in specified areas of the UV 

spectrum and records the spectral profile of 

the sample as a true numerical picture of the 

water’s quality. 

The STAC2 analyser measures the 

absorbance of UV light over a broad range 

of wavelengths, providing an indication of 

the organic concentration in the sample. 

AQUALABO took the chance to introduce 

the STAC2 at the INDOWATER exhibition 

in August, where Joep Appels, manager 

analyser (business unit) at AQUALABO 

explained, “The heart of the technology is 

that we use light, light detection technology, 

but in different ways. The STAC2 uses UV 

light technology that go through the sample, 

and without any reagents or moving parts 

can give a result in COD and BOD where you 

would normally use chemical reagents to 

determine.” 

The STAC2 has the flexibility to use four 

different streams and combine this with up 

to 10 different models per sample stream. 

By scanning and measuring the entire 

absorption spectrum, the STAC2 can create 

a unique fingerprint from the sample 

analysed. 

The STAC2 is also able to connect to an 

Ethernet or WiFi network – human interface 

is based on an embedded webpage which 

users can access via the network, and 

allows the user to manage the configuration, 

status and results of the STAC2. 

According to Appels, challenges faced in 

implementing the STAC2 included a lack 

of legislation. “You have to work with the 

government, to prove that you have a more 

advanced and better technique, together very 

often with customer long-term testing so that 

over a period of a year or so you can show 

the data. But it needs time, so you cannot 

immediately start with selling, you need defined 

preferences, you need to work with research 

universities or institutes for that.” 

The STAC2 is suitable for use in various 

applications, including: 

• Wastewater treatment plants, as a follow-up 

for purification performance, input, 

discharge etc 

• Drinking water plants, for pumping station 

and tank management 

• Natural water sources 

• Processed water 

• River monitoring 

• Aquaculture 

AQUALABO is currently seeking to bring 

the STAC2 to the Asian market, and Appels 

elaborated that the STAC2 would be very useful 

to many integrators in the market. “I think we 

see a lot of opportunities, the challenges in Asia 

are big – Asia is looking for new technologies to 

help improve the environment. 

If I look to India and China, these are already 

the biggest markets in the world, but the 

Philippines and Indonesia are also looking at 

a tremendous challenge: The economy and 

industry are growing, which puts more pressure 

on the environment, but tourism is also growing 

and tourists will come if they have a nice beach, 

clean environment, and access to clean water. 

If the government is supporting this, they have 

a better environment for their own people and 

create a clean industry, and industries are 

capable of treating the wastewater.” WWA 



To curtail blockages, spills, maintenance 

and associated occupational health 

& safety (OH&S) issues in public 

works’ wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) 

applications, CST Wastewater Solutions 

introduces the advanced wastewater fine 

screening technology to Southeast Asia. 

even in the presence of fibrous products, 

and include screen and screening washing. 

Lifting and screenings handling can also 

be conducted outside the channel, which 

increases options for additional washing 

and dewatering, according to individual 

applications, said Bambridge. 

The robustly engineered horizontal in-channel 

rotary drum screening technology is designed 

to simplify fine screening processes, and save 

installation and operational costs, said CST 

Wastewater Solutions’ Managing Director 

Michael Bambridge. 

The low-maintenance high-quality stainlesssteel 

design features in-channel technology for 

low fluid head loss at peak flows to increase 

solids removal efficiency as compared with 

typical screening at the diverse wastewater 

treatment plants in the region. 

“Advantages of this technology when dealing 

with fine screening of larger flows (5mm or 

finer screening on flows up to 2000 l/sec flow) 

include mechanical simplicity, self-cleaning 

and high efficiency screening for reduced 

maintenance and cheaper whole-of-life costs 

compared with other types of screens, such 

as band and inclined drum screen designs, for 

example,” said Bambridge. 

“These are very important considerations 

when dealing with plants that may be remote 

from immediate technical support where 

ongoing reliability and simplicity of cleaning 

are important from engineering and 

environmental perspectives,” said 

Bambridge, whose international and 

regional experience includes both 

municipal and industrial WWTP 

engineering and green energy 

initiatives in partnership with local 

suppliers. CST Wastewater Solutions 

has a number of successful screening 

applications in service in SE Asia, including 

food and beverage and paper industry 

applications, for which the in-channel rotary 

CST Wastewater Solutions introduces the 

advanced wastewater fine screening technology 

to Southeast Asia 

drum technology is also particularly 

suitable. 

THE WORKINGS 

Key to this functionality is the configuration 

of the design, in which the screening drum 

is installed horizontally semi-submerged 

in line with the incoming wastewater. The 

plate at the back of the drum directs flow 

radially through the mesh to optimise solids 

separation and self-cleaning. 

The rotary drum is manufactured from 

either self-cleaning wedge wire for primary 

screening, or perforated plate for fine premembrane 

bioreactor (pre-MBR) screening. 

It is washed by a system of spray nozzles at 

a moderate pressure. 

An internal hopper collects the screenings, 

which are flumed out to the integral lifting 

and dewatering screw, to efficiently dewater 

and reduce screenings volume. The lifting 

screw is shaftless to avoid any blockages, 

Functional layout of CST 

Wastewater Solutions’ In-Channel 

Rotary Drum technology 

“Screening and the solids lifting and 

dewatering are separate operations, using 

high efficiency screening technology to 

convert the high-flow, low-solids wastewater 

to low-flow, high-solids dewatering. Separate 

screening and lifting equipment make access 

simpler for more cost-effective housekeeping 

and maintenance for lower whole-of-life 

costs,” he explained. WWA 

ADVANTAGES OF HORIZONTAL DRUM 

DESIGN 

• Lowers operating depth and range 

to reduce average screen velocities for 

higher removal efficiencies, and easier 

cleaning than alternative screens. 

• Increases available open area for equivalent 

operating depth, which enhances 

functionality. 

• Robust construction tailored to local 

conditions. The one-piece, closed drum is 

fully assembled in a frame for installation into 

a channel. It incorporates a simple, long-life, 

robust inlet seal that can be replaced without 

removing all equipment from the channel. 

• All parts subject to routine maintenance are 

located above the sewage flow, 

again simplifying maintenance and 

reducing OH&S issues. 

• Screening and lifting screw equipment 

are proven, simple and robust technologies. 

No bearings or other high maintenance 

moving parts are located in the wastewater. 

Housekeeping and servicing are conducted 

from above the flow channel. No mechanical 

devices are used inside the screen drum. 

• Open entry for clean collection of solids 

— no rag wrapping, reducing maintenance 

and OH&S issues. The screen zone of the 

lifting screw incorporates a washing 

system to reduce the contents of faecal 

matter in the screenings. 



The VEGAPULS 31 for non-contact level 

measurement in simple applications 

VEGA has extended its VEGAPULS 

family with a new instrument series for 

continuous level measurement – this 

new series is based on 80-GHz technology, 

and features a specially-developed radarlevel 

microchip. 

Its suitable applications include the water 

and wastewater sector or in auxiliary process 

loops in process automation. 

COMPACT RADAR SENSORS 

DELIVER RELIABLE LEVEL VALUES 

INDEPENDENTLY OF PROCESS AND 

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES 

Due to their physical measuring principle, 

ultrasonic sensors are easily affected by 

ambient conditions. For example, strong 

wind, rain, or fog can all dampen sound 

waves, and restrict measuring range, 

affecting measurement accuracy. Radar 

sensors, however, are not affected by 

temperature or pressure fluctuations, 

vapours, gases or vacuum and can deliver 

accurate readings under all conditions. 

In the water and wastewater sector, level 

measuring systems are regularly exposed 

to the adversities of nature. One example is 

flow rate measurement in the main sewers 

leading to the sewage treatment plant. 

Compared to ultrasonics, the new radar 

sensors have a higher accuracy and are 

independent of environmental influences. 

This enables precise measurement and thus 

a more reliable calculation of wastewater 

flows. 

The new compact radar sensor can also 

be used for trustworthy monitoring of river 

and flood levels. Its measured values are 

an important prerequisite for being able to 

react quickly and correctly in the event of 

flooding. Radar sensors can monitor river 

levels without being affected by temperature 

fluctuations, such as those caused by 

strong solar radiation. Even at a distance of 

30 metres from the water surface, a radar 

transmitter delivers level readings accurate 

to the millimetre. 

NEW COMPACT RADAR 

INSTRUMENT SERIES DEFIES 

BUILD-UP IN CONTINUOUS LEVEL 

MEASUREMENT 

Sensors constantly struggle with the 

problem of build-up at many level measuring 

sites. In the case of ultrasonic sensors, 

for example, contamination on the sensor 

face greatly affects the reliability of the 

measurement signal and enlarges the dead 

zone. The situation is different with radar 

technology. Optimised signal processing 

enables radar sensors to suppress 

interference caused by build-up on their 

antenna system. On top of that, radar 

technology is generally more immune to the 

effects of dirt and build-up and does not 

have to be cleaned. 



The VEGAPULS C21, a wired radar sensor for 

continuous level measurement 

STRONG FOCUSING ENSURES 

MORE PRECISE VALUES 

IN CONTINUOUS LEVEL 

MEASUREMENT 

Thanks to 80-GHz technology, the radar 

beam can be aimed at the measured 

medium with pinpoint accuracy. As a result, 

narrow shafts or deposits on vessel walls 

or internals such as pipes or pumps cannot 

generate interfering signals. So in contrast 

to ultrasonic, radar needs no false signal 

suppression. Even condensation and dirt do 

not bother the new VEGAPULS. 

Compact radar sensors without dead zone 

deliver reliable level values in small vessels 

These new sensors have no dead zone, and 

thus it is possible to measure right up to 

the top of the container. Typical areas of 

application are therefore emergency power 

generators or storage and buffer tanks, 

among others. 

Emergency power generators are an 

important precautionary measure to keep 

complex systems operating during a power 

failure. The fuel for generators is often 

stored in a main tank and in day tanks. 

To ensure that there is always enough 

fuel on hand, the levels in the tanks are 

continuously monitored. The new compact 

sensor delivers accurate measuring results, 

even in small tanks and media with poor 

reflective properties. 

Storage and buffer tanks guarantee 

the supply of raw materials for ongoing 

processes. The new radar sensors can 

exploit their strengths here, as they can 

be installed in very confined spaces and 

small process fittings. Even if the medium 

generates gases, the sensors remain 

unaffected and deliver reliable measuring 

results. In addition, they have an Ex 

approval for flammable media. So it makes 

them highly versatile for use in a wide range 

of applications. 

The new instrument series is available in 

two versions: as a compact model with 

cable connection housing and as a standard 

model with fixed cable connection (IP68). 

The sensors can be easily and safely 

adjusted via Bluetooth with a smartphone 

or tablet – ideal for harsh environments or 

hazardous areas. WWA 

In the wastewater industry, sewage 

treatment plants are one of the main 

application areas, for example in mechanical 

screening, where floating matter is 

removed. Measurement of the water level 

difference between each side of the screen 

or sieve is used to determine the degree 

of contamination and control the cleaning 

cycles. In such outdoor applications, 

whether in rain or intense sunlight, the 

new radar sensors perform with high 

accuracy. 

Another example is silo level measurement 

of lime, which is used to stabilise the 

effluent pH value. The radar sensors 

measure reliably, with no effect from the 

huge amounts of dust generated during 

the filling process. Thanks to strong signal 

focusing, build-up and deposits on the 

container wall or on the sensor itself are no 

problem. 

The VEGAMET 842 controller and display instrument for level sensors 



How China 

combats water 

shortage 

As the Yellow River conveys large quantities of 

sand, the pumps will be provided with a special 

abrasion-resistant coating. 

According to the United Nations’ 

latest estimates, the earth will 

have a population of 9.8 billion by 

2050. And today there are already some 

2.7 billion people who are confronted 

with water scarcity for at least a month 

of the year. The World Resource Institute 

anticipates that, as a result of the economic 

and population development as well as 

various climate change scenarios, a total 

of 33 countries over all continents will 

face a shortage of water by 2040. With 14 

countries on this list, Asia is the continent 

that is most severely affected. As the Asian 

country with the largest land area and 

largest population, China has already been 

working on sustainably optimising its water 

supply for several years now. 

China is facing the difficult situation of 

having to provide for 20% of the world’s 

population with only just over 7% of the 

global water resources. This situation is 

aggravated by the fact that 80% of Chinese 

water sources are in the southern part of 

the country, but 64% of the agricultural 

land is in the northern part, where 

more than 50% of the population live. 

Additionally, 85% of China’s coal reserves 

are hidden in the arid northern provinces 

and mining this coal requires large 

quantities of water. 

FROM SOUTH TO NORTH 

In order to solve this problem, China started 

a huge water supply project in 2002. The 

South-North Water Transfer Project is to 

transport 44.8 billion cubic metres of water 

from the wet south to the dry north of the 

country every year from 2050. The essential 

basis for this is provided by the three main 

routes — eastern, central, and western — 

that are to ensure a sustainable water supply 

in northern China in the future. 

In addition to the country’s longest river, 

the Yangtze, which divides China into a 

northern and southern part, the Yellow River, 

which is the country’s second longest river, 

plays a significant role in feeding these 

canals. Its name derives from the yellow 

mud and sediments that it picks up in the 

Shaanxi Loess plateau. Due to the 

high concentration of sludge and 

sediment in its bed, the river tends 

to burst its banks. And yet, the 

“River of Sorrow”, as it is also 

called because of the damaging 

effects of its floods, is a lifeline 

for northern China. It 

supplies water to 

155 million people — 12% of the Chinese 

population — and irrigates 18 million 

hectares or 15% of the agricultural land in 

China. 

MORE THAN JUST A 

HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION 

The Xiaolangdi hydropower station on the 

Yellow River was completed in year 2000. 

It is the country’s second largest multifunctional 

plant after the Three Gorges 

Dam on the Yangtze River. Comprising of 

ANDRITZ is to manufacture and supply four 

two-stage vertical volute pumps for the Shanxi 

Xiaolangdi Yellow River Diversion Project. 

Photo credit: ANDRITZ 



underground power plants, sludge discharge 

channels, and a dam that is 1,317 metres 

long and 154 metres high, it performs 

several tasks, such as flood protection, 

industrial and urban water supply, and 

electric power generation of 5.1 billion kWh 

per year. 

With a capacity of 12.8 cubic kilometres, the 

dam — known as the Xiaolangdi Reservoir 

— has served as a water supply source for 

the dry north of the country ever since the 

plant was completed. In order to expand 

this source of irrigation, the water can now 

be taken directly from the reservoir fed 

by water from the Yellow River, which was 

used to irrigate the dry, northerly regions 

of Taiyuan, Pingsuo, and Datong in the past. 

This is a sub-project of the central route in 

the South-North Water Transfer Project. 

The Shanxi Xiaolangdi Yellow River Diversion 

Project is based on two reservoirs, several 

tunnels, subsurface channels, pumping 

stations, pipelines, and aqueducts and is 

designed to divert 247 million cubic metres 

of water annually. Irrigation will account 

for 116 million cubic metres, industrial 

and urban water demand for another 116 

million cubic metres, and 15 million cubic 

metres will be used for ecological purposes. 

For this, water from the Yellow River will 

be transported to a subsurface pumping 

station through a six-kilometre-long tunnel. 

The pumping station is equipped with four 

hydraulic machines that pump the water 

over a distance of roughly 60 kilometres to 

an artificial lake in the northwestern part of 

Shanxi Province. 

THE INFRASTRUCTURE EXPERTS 

As the best candidate in the call-for-tenders 

assessment process concerning project 

requirements and detailed proof thereof, 

ANDRITZ was awarded the order to deliver 

the four pumps for the subsurface station of 

the Shanxi Xiaolangdi Yellow River Diversion 

Project. The international technology group 

is by no means a newcomer in China. 

ANDRITZ ventured its first steps in this 

country more than 20 years ago. The 

subsidiary, ANDRITZ (China) Ltd., which 

was established in 2002, has a total of 

over 1,600 employees based in Beijing, 

Shanghai, Chengdu, and Wuxi, as well as 

in the production facilities in Foshan and 

Chengdu. Besides executing various orders 

for pulp and paper mills or the recent award 

of an order to supply pump turbines, motor 

generators, and auxiliary equipment for the 

ZhenAn pumped storage power station, 

ANDRITZ also provided assistance in other 

sub-projects of the South-North Water 

Transfer Project in the past. At the Hui Nan 

Zhuang station, eight ANDRITZ horizontal, 

double-suction split-case pumps supply 

drinking water to the Chinese capital of 

Beijing, 60 kilometres away. Another 11 

ANDRITZ pumps of the same type are 

installed in two stations pumping 200,000 

cubic metres of water from the Yellow River 

to the city of Hohhot, the capital of the 

Inner Mongolia autonomous region. 

ANDRITZ is to manufacture and supply four 

two-stage vertical volute pumps for the 

Shanxi Xiaolangdi Yellow River Diversion 

Project. These pumps will be customised to 

meet the respective project requirements 

and will thus be the ideal water transport 

pumps for irrigation and drainage as well 

as for the supply of drinking and industrial 

water, each of them achieving a flow rate of 

five cubic meters per second over a head of 

236 metres at an output of 13 megawatts. 

Their appeal especially lies in the efficiency 

of more than 91%. As the Yellow River 

conveys large quantities of sand, the pumps 

will be provided with a special abrasionresistant 

coating. 

The hydraulic dimensioning and design of 

the volute casing depends on the specific 

output characteristics. Optimum flow in 

the volute is achieved due to its individual 

shaping, which also guarantees a high level 

of efficiency. By varying the trailing edge, 

high-precision adjustments can be made to 

the desired duty points. The volute casing is 

designed as a metal volute. This is a welded 

structure consisting of several segments, 

At the Hui Nan Zhuang station, eight ANDRITZ horizontal, 

double-suction split-case pumps supply drinking water to 

the Chinese capital of Beijing, 60 kilometers away. 

Photo credit: ANDRITZ 

which optionally can be embedded in concrete. 

A solution without concrete lends itself to the 

Shanxi Xiaolangdi Yellow River Diversion Project 

because higher delivery heads are necessary, 

which, due to the strength requirements, 

cannot be handled with a concrete volute. 

The guide vane mechanism is opened and 

closed in a continuous process. The guide 

vanes are individually connected to the 

operating ring by means of articulated 

levers. This ring is actuated via hydraulic 

cylinders and rotates the guide vanes into the 

desired position. A guide vane mechanism 

is an emergency closing element in case of 

difficulties with the electric power supply, but 

it can also be closed to keep the power input 

to a minimum if synchronous motors are used 

during start-up. By closing the guide vane 

mechanism it is as well possible to start up 

the pump when the pressure pipe is full. This 

guarantees a short start-up time with minimum 

power input. 

Delivery, installation, and start-up of the 

ANDRITZ pumps are scheduled to take place in 

about two years. This will be another successful 

step for China towards obtaining a sustainable 

water supply in the north of the country. WWA 


60 SNEAK PEEK 

The 11 th edition of ASIAWATER Expo 

& Forum, the leading water and 

wastewater event for developing Asia, 

will take place at Kuala Lumpur Convention 

Centre from 31 March - 2 April 2020. 

With more than 90% of booth space booked, 

ASIAWATER 2020 is the leading water and 

wastewater event in the region focusing on 

ASEAN water needs, including water supply, 

water resources, sanitation and purification. 

This is an unparalleled opportunity for 

companies to display their latest technologies 

and solutions to a top-level audience. 

With the central theme of “Embracing Change, 

Pursuing Excellence”, ASIAWATER 2020 has 

the support of the Malaysian Government 

in the efforts to transform and improve the 

country’s water supply and resources. 

“To protect our water resources, more 

advanced management skills and innovative 

technologies are required, and ASIAWATER 

2020 plays an important role and acts as 

a platform for all water industry players in 

providing a unique opportunity to explore, 

share and showcase the latest solutions 

and technologies,” said Malaysia’s Prime 

Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. 

There will be three key themes for the 

11 th edition of ASIAWATER’s free-to-attend 

conference and seminars, which includes 

Policy & Governance, Financial & Technical 

Sustainability, and Water Resource 

Management. 

Dato’ Teo Yen Hua, Advisor of ASEAN Water 

Series said, “I believe with the impressive 

lineup of international and regional speakers 

sharing and presenting, it will certainly 

benefit not just the private sector but also 

the Federal and State Governments of Asia”. 

ASIAWATER 2020 will be the best platform for 

open and constructive dialogues for players 

from within ASEAN and the rest of the world 

focusing solely on water and wastewater issues 

within the region. 

“The Philippine Water Works Association 

(PWWA) hopes to work with other 

organisations in the region to stimulate the 

growth of the water industry and sharing best 

practices and solutions to water-related crisis 

throughout ASEAN, and I believe ASIAWATER 

2020 is the platform for this,” said the 

President of PWWA, ATTY. Vicente M. Joyas. 

Mrs. Eliane van Doorn, Regional Director 

Business Development – ASEAN, Informa 

Markets commented: “ASIAWATER has always 

been updating its content from year to year as 

the 11 th edition will be seeing fresh and new 

content. Besides the usual conference and 

seminars, ASIAWATER 2020 will have the new 

WATER TALKS where thought leaders in the field 

can find inspiration, share big or small ideas.” 

ASIAWATER 2020 is anticipated to host more 

than 1,200 exhibitors from 32 countries and 

will have 11 major international and regional 

pavilions including Austria, Bavaria, China, 

EU, Germany, Illinois, Korea, Singapore, 

Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands and The 

United States of America. 

The list of confirmed exhibiting companies 

includes Ebara Pumps Malaysia, Ranhill Water 

Divisions, George Kent Malaysia, TECHKEM 

Group, Endress Hauser, Molecor (SEA), Salcon 

Engineering, and many more. WWA 


ASIAWATER 2020 will focus on the theme of “Embracing Change, Pursuing Excellence”

SNEAK PEEK 61 

The MENA Water Summit will be held 

under the patronage of the ‘Ministry 

of Electricity and Water – Kuwait’, 

which will focus on developing effective plans 

to establish advanced water management 

techniques. This is to cope with Kuwait’s 

2035 vision and current water situation in the 

MENA region while ensuring water security 

and sustainability for all. With an increasing 

demand for water owing to growing 

population and incessant urbanisation, water 

authorities and utility companies will need 

to augment their supply sources; discuss 

regulatory frameworks; innovate financing 

models and water treatment options as well 

as manage water demand with advanced 

technologies so as to address water security 

challenges of the 21 st century. 

Kuwait is shifting to innovative water 

treatment and renewable desalination 

technology as more than 95% of its potable 

water comes from desalination — an energyintensive 

technology burning fuels for 

drinking water and treatment of wastewater 

for domestic and irrigation purposes. 

discussions on policies and actionable 

ideas, which utilities can adapt to meet 

their commitment towards fostering 

innovative solutions and sustainable water 

management. It will also provide the 

opportunity to share success stories and 

explore ways to collectively respond to 

challenges. 

The Summit will bring together water 

and municipal authorities, regulators, 

sustainability leaders, international NGOs, 

water consultants, water and wastewater 

construction companies, academia, 

water management experts and solution 

providers who will discuss various strategies 

to encourage sustainability of water 

management and implementation of water 

stewardship standards. The Summit will 

offer unparalleled opportunities to network 

with peers and explore new products, 

technologies, and services. 

The Summit will be inaugurated by 

Mohammed Boshhari, Under Secretary - 

Ministry of Electricity & Water. WWA 

Key Highlights of the MENA Water 

Summit: 

• Bridging the ‘Water Gap’ with 

innovations and Urban Water System 

• Meeting targets for the SDGs with 

Water Management Strategies 

• Reflecting on policies and practical 

cases applied to Water Governance 

• Exploring opportunities in Multi- 

Purpose Water Infrastructure 

• Rethinking design and delivery of 

Urban Water Systems 

• Upgrading to Energy Efficient 

Desalination process 

• Exploring Sustainable Solutions in 

Wastewater Treatment and Recycling 

• Next-gen Water Management with 

Artificial Intelligence, Internet of 

Things and more 

• Leveraging science and technology to 

meet Water Stewardship Standards 

The MENA Water Summit features interactive 


62 RECAP 

The International Water Industry 

Exhibition in Myanmar recently 

staged its 6 th successful trade show in 

Yangon. Held at the Myanmar Expo Hall, from 

28 to 30 November 2019, the Expo attracted 

trade visitors from all over the country, 

making this event the focal gathering point 

for Myanmar’s entire water and wastewater 

industry. 

Co-located with MYANBUILD and 

MYANENERGY 2019, the International 

Exhibition featured the latest products and 

solutions designed to improve Myanmar’s 

production, supply and treatment of its 

The Expo included Pavilions representing Singapore, Taiwan, 

China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Malaysia and Italy 

water and wastewater industries. The Expo 

included Pavilions representing Singapore, 

Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, 

Malaysia and Italy. 

Companies and brands that participated in 

the show included MW Aqua Solution Co., 

Ltd, Mitsubishi Chemical Aqua Solution Co., 

Ltd, Wa Min Water Co., Ltd, Kuaray Asia 

Pacific Pte Ltd, Pipe Line Process & System 

Pte Ltd, Torishima Service Solutions Asia Pte 

Ltd, and Aqua Nishihara Corporation Limited. 

MYANWATER provided exhibitors and visitors 

with the ideal platform to find emerging 

water and wastewater treatment solutions, 

the latest technologies and instruments for 

the water management industry, source 

for new suppliers and distributors, build 

strategic business partnerships, network 

with major decision makers and industry 

peers, explore new business opportunities, 

and get updated on the latest trends and 

developments shaping the sector. 

Myanmar has grown by leaps and 

bounds over the past few years. Since its 

liberalisation in 2011, the Government 

has shifted from an authoritarian military 

rule to a democratic system, improving the 

country’s political and economic scenario. 

Aiming to create new growth and investment 

opportunities for the country’s main 

industries, significant efforts have been made 

to improve Myanmar’s business environment, 

in terms of dealing with permits, starting a 

business and enforcing contracts. 

Furthermore, with Yangon’s population 

estimated to grow by three million within 

the next 10 years, major improvements 

need to be made to ensure the management 

and treatment of Myanmar’s water and 

wastewater industries are carried out 

effectively and sustainably. This is sure 

to open up opportunities for local and 

foreign companies to capitalise on. Demand 

for products and services related to 

microfiltration, ultrafiltration, water softening, 

pumps, valves, chlorinators for water/ 

wastewater systems and many more sub 

sectors of the industry are set to increase 

over the years as Myanmar works to improve 

its treatment standards and management 

strategies. 

The trade show is set to return in 2020 to 

host its 7 th edition, from 19 to 21 November, 

at the Myanmar Expo Hall in Yangon, 

Myanmar. WWA 


YEAR 

2020 

JANUARY 

MAY 

SEPTEMBER 

13 to 16 

WFES Water 2020 

Abu Dhabi, UAE 

5 to 7 

Ozwater 2020 

Adelaide, Australia 

22 to 24 

Asian Utility Week 2020 

Jakarta, Indonesia 

20 to 31 

InterAqua Tokyo 2020 

Tokyo, Japan 

JUNE 

3 to 5 Aquatech China 2020 

Shanghai, China 

24 to 26 

Taiwan International Water 

Week 2020 

Taipei, Taiwan 

FEBRUARY 

25 to 26 

MARCH 

31 Mar 

to 

2 Apr 

APRIL 

1 to 3 

21 to 23 

World Water-Tech Innovation 

Summit 2020 

London, United Kingdom 

Asia Water 2020 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 

WQA Convention and 

Exposition 2020 

Orlando, USA 

IE Expo 2020 

Shanghai, China 

4 to 8 

9 to 11 

11 to 13 

JULY 

5 to 9 

29 to 31 

AUGUST 

6 to 8 

IFAT Munich 2020 

Munich, Germany 

Indo Water Expo & 

Forum 2020 

Surabaya, Indonesia 

Pumps & Valves Asia 2020 

Bangkok, Thailand 

Singapore International 

Water Week 2020 

Singapore 

17 th EverythingAboutWater 

Expo 

New Delhi, India 

LANKAWATER 

Colombo, Sri Lanka 

OCTOBER 

3 to 7 

21 to 23 

18 to 23 

NOVEMBER 

11 to 13 

19 to 21 

WEFTEC 2020 

New Orleans, USA 

Myanmar Water 2020 

21 to 23 October 

Yangon, Myanmar 

IWA World Water Congress 

& Exhibition 2020 

Copenhagen, Denmark 

VietWater (Ho Chi Minh) 2020 

Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam 

MyanWater 2020 

Yangon, Myanmar 


Advertisers Page Advertisers Page 

AsiaWater 2020 5 

MENA Water Summit 9 

China Lesso Group Holdings Ltd 

IBC 

Singapore International Water Week 2020 (SIWW) 1 

DuPont 

IFC 

Singapore Water Exchange (PUB) 17 

Harbin Firstline Environment Technology Co., Ltd. 63 

VEGA 

OBC 

Indo Water Expo & Forum 2020 3 

Water & Wastewater Asia - Social Media 53 

IE expo China 7

Water & Wastewater Asia January/February 2020

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