GE To Build World's Largest EDR Water Treatment Plant

Project Will Supply 20% of Barcelona's Drinking Water Supply

Trevose, PA — GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Company, has announced plans to upgrade Aigües Ter-Llobregat's (ATLL) existing water treatment facility in Abrera, Spain with GE electrodialysis reversal (EDR) technology. GE's water treatment technology will assist ATLL in supplying a trustworthy drinking water source for approximately 20% (200,000 m3 per day) of Barcelona, Spain's metropolitan region. When completed, the facility will be the world's largest EDR plant at nearly four times the size of its predecessors.

"GE technology will help provide a consistent source of safe drinking water for the people of Barcelona," said Jeff Garwood, president and CEO of GE Water & Process Technologies. "By providing an efficient, dependable, contaminant-free water supply, GE works to empower industries and communities like Barcelona with the right technologies and solutions to resolve their water quality, scarcity, and regulatory concerns."

For the past two years, GE and ATLL piloted the project with a focus on increasing Barcelona's supply of quality drinking water. GE's EDR technology uses an electrochemical separation process to remove potentially harmful contaminants found in many source waters, like Barcelona's Llobregap River. While improving the overall availability of quality drinking water, the technology will also allow the facility to: operate at the exceptionally high water recovery rate - 90%; strategically deal with a dynamic water source; as well as, resist damaging fouling that can decrease a plant's operating performance or even shorten the overall lifespan of a plant. GE's technology will also help the plant improve overall efficiency and productivity.

Under the agreement terms, GE will operate and maintain the ATLL project, with upgrades estimated at the USD $25 million, for a two-year term.

SOURCE: GE Water & Process Technologies