SAO PAULO, Feb. 22, 2008 (Press Release) - According to the United Nations, 1.2 billion people (35% of the global population) do not have access to treated water. This situation is more serious in the non developed countries due to social inequality and non sustainable use of natural resources.
As a consequence, initiatives such as Veracel’s become reference to the global industry. The Veracel mill has one of the more modern effluent treatment systems in the world. The innovative system launches the effluents in the river one kilometer before the area where the mill gets the water.
“This system assures that what returns to the river does not pollute it. This is the big differential. The Veracel mill is the unique in the world to adopt this system. In other industries, effluents are launched after the place where the water is captivated,” Ari Medeiros, Veracel’s recovery and utilities manager, explained.
The water used in the Veracel mill, located in the municipalities of Eunápolis and Belmonte (in the south of Bahia), comes from the Jequitinhonha River, which is six kilometers far from the mill.
The water is caught and sent to the mill where it receives a physical chemical treatment in order to adequate the water to industrial and human consumption.
Veracel has modern equipment and closed circuits, achieving one of the lowest indexes of water consumption in pulp production.
“Normally, a pulp mill consumes 40-50 cubic meters of water per tonne of pulp. Veracel uses only 25 cubic meters per tonne of pulp,” said Medeiros.
After used in the mill’s productive process and consumed by the company’s employees, the water goes to a second and primary effluent treatment station which also includes biological treatment.
This way, the effluent returns to nature with the best chemical conditions. “We have a very modern system. All controls are made by computer and there is no human contact with the fluids,” explains Medeiros. Veracel’s system treats 3,000 cubic meters per hour (or 70 million liters per day).
