Qatargas has announced the completion of a wastewater treatment plant using membrane bio-reactor (MBR) technology at its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Ras Laffan
The facility, set up at the Qatargas 1 (QG 1) plant has a capacity to treat nearly 1,300 cu/m of wastewater per day and is a first for the LNG industry in the region. The design, procurement and construction of the project were implemented by a multi-disciplinary team at Qatargas, which included members of the departments of environmental affairs, engineering and ventures of the company.
The project was designed in response to an internally identified gap in the QG1 process wastewater treatment facility. The facility treats waste water and generates irrigation grade water that could be reused in line with the Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MoME) regulations.
This plant is built on an innovative solution, the ‘membrane bio-reactor’, which uses a combination of bacterial bio-reactors to consume and breakdown pollutants. The downstream of this bio-reactor’s man-made membranes are used to screen out larger particles, bacterial-biomass and other compounds.
Qatargas CEO (engineering and ventures) Sheikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Thani said, “The project is a very important accomplishment for Qatargas which has set a precedent in the LNG industry in the region to reuse waste water at the QG 1 plant.”
The MBR now operates at the expected design efficiencies obtaining removal rates of more than 95 per cent for key parameters including chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen compounds.
