News
UUA Joint Venture to Provide Recycled Water to a Major Sydney Oil Refinery
28th June 2006
UUA in partnership with worldwide engineering consultants Worley Parsons has been awarded a high profile £3m contract to supply and operate an advanced water recycling facility that will provide process water to Sydney’s largest oil refinery, substantially reducing its daily intake of potable water.
Drawing treated effluent extracted from nearby Sydney Water facilities, the plant will provide up to six million litres of recycled water a day in two grades. Sole users of this water will be the Caltex refinery at Kurnell and its industrial neighbour Continental Carbon Australia. Caltex has announced it will use up to 4.5 million litres of recycled water in its industrial processes reducing its dependency on Sydney’s potable supply by that amount. An ultra high quality boiler feed water supply will be produced for both customers.
Tenders for the water recycling facility were called following the completion of a feasibility study in 2005. This was jointly commissioned by both companies together with the Sydney Water Corporation and facilitated by the New South Wales Department of Energy, Utilities and Sustainability. The winning tenderer was announced in May and it is anticipated that, subject to planning approvals, the facility will be commissioned by mid 2007.
The Caltex Kurnell refinery is one of Sydney Water’s largest customers. It currently used around 6.2 million litres of water a day primarily to generate steam used for heating and to drive rotating equipment such as pumps and compressors. The refinery also requires large quantities of water for its cooling towers and for use in the oil refining process.
With Sydney’s potable water supplies coming under sustained pressure because of prolonged drought, this scheme is being acclaimed as an excellent example of business and government working together to provide innovative and sustainable answers to the city’s water crisis.
Using recycled water will provide Caltex with cost savings which the company will initially use to partially fund infrastructure connecting the refinery to the water recycling plant. The remaining funding for the infrastructure will be provided through a grant from the New South Wales Government’s Water Savings Fund.
Caltex is Australia’s largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products and supplies around 60% of the New South Wales fuels market. Its oil refinery at Kurnell currently has a throughput of 124,000 barrels a day.
Following construction, the UUA – Worley Parsons partnership will operate the facility for 10 years.
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