Krüger/Veolia - Putting Systems Together To Solve Problems

Brian Frewerd, VP of strategic planning for Krüger, which is part of Veolia Water Technologies, sat down with Water Online Radio for this live interview from the show floor at WEFTEC 2011 in Los Angeles. Stressing the company’s forward-looking approach, Frewerd discusses energy-producing plants, the recovery of resources from the waste stream, and the effects of the current economy. Listen or read on to learn more.

Todd Schnick: And we are back, broadcasting live from the Los Angeles Convention Center and the tradeshow floor of WEFTEC. I am Todd Schnick, joined by my co-host, Todd Youngblood. Todd, we’re kicking off hour two.

Todd Youngblood: Hour two already?

Schnick: Hour two already.

Youngblood: I can’t believe the time is just flying by. I am learning too much. My brain is going to hurt – every one of these guests coming up with the kind of information they’re throwing at us.

Schnick: Yeah, we’re having a good time so far. Kicking off hour two is Brian Frewerd, who is the VP of strategic planning for Krüger. Welcome to Water Online Radio.

Brian: Thank you for having me. Good morning.

Schnick: Well, before we get into it, take a few minutes and tell us about yourself and about Krüger.

Brian: Krüger is a division of Veolia Water Technologies, focused primarily on the U.S. municipal water and wastewater treatment markets. I’ve been with Krüger now for about 12 years, focusing on product development and strategic planning and marketing.

Schnick: Outstanding. Well, walk us through a little bit about some of the products that the Krüger empire and Veolia – what are they out there doing for folks?

Brian: For the most part, we focus on unique solutions in processes and technologies, not just equipment, pipes, pumps, or valves. We put systems together to solve problems. We oftentimes challenge ourselves by trying to find a solution that nobody else has accomplished and applying technologies to accomplish that.

Schnick: What do you see as the emerging trends and issues in water/wastewater going into 2012?

Brian: There are actually two different things that I see moving forward and going into the future. One of those is surrounding energy and the ability to create a wastewater treatment plant that does not consume energy, but rather produces it. The other is being able to recover resources from what used to be considered a waste stream.

Youngblood: How about money? When I think of municipalities these days, I don’t think of organizations awash in cash and capital. I mean, how is that affecting your business?

Brian: Well, for the most part, it’s made us refocus on what we can offer to a municipality, in terms of: can we save them energy and help them – by saving energy – use that money to invest into capital, so that they don’t have to raise capital funds to begin with.

Schnick: You mention these wastewater treatment plants and instead of consuming energy, producing it. Is that future possible now?

Brian: It is possible now. What we have to do is take some of our existing technologies – for example, a filtration process that has traditionally been a tertiary process – and apply it to a primary treatment.

But, more importantly, some of our new technologies, such as EXELYS, which is a thermal hydrolysis technology, maximizes the amount of biogas that can be generated from an aerobic digestion process. In that light, EXELYS allows a wastewater treatment plant to produce more biogas and then convert that to electricity.

Schnick: Walk us through…have you already got some interesting projects showing this and demonstrating this to the market?

Brian: Well, I think, in terms of being able to put together a process solution to produce energy or to have an energy-neutral wastewater treatment plant, we have designed those.

In terms of recovering resources, one very interesting development that we have recently demonstrated in Europe is the development of bioplastics by being able to recover carbon and convert that into plastic intermediate.

Youngblood: Brian, what kind of things did you bring to the show here? What can we see?

Brian: Well, in our booth, we have a number of models. We actually do have a model of the EXELYS process that I mentioned; a number of other technologies that are, again, focused on energy-producing and minimizing energy consumption.

Schnick: We’ll speak more about WEFTEC. You guys exhibiting here? Yeah, you are. What are you guys hoping to achieve here? Is this about lead generation, launching new products, market education, identifying new partners? What are your goals here?

Brian: Well, there are a number of goals. One is, obviously, to inform people about what we are doing and what we have to offer. To get to see people that we don’t always get the chance to see. Inform people of what we are doing.

Also, finding other technologies that may be out there. That could be a small company that is looking for a partner, that we can help take things to market with them and complement our own offering.

Youngblood: Brian, the pace of change of technologies is getting faster, relentlessly. How do you, number one, keep up with all of that? And number two, how do you help your customers keep track of the technology for energy savings, money savings, etc.?

Brian: It’s actually quite a task to do that. We have – traditionally, as Veolia – we invested a lot into developing technologies ourselves. But instead, more recently, we’ve focused our efforts on identifying, very proactively, finding other companies that may be developing technologies that we never have thought of, and give them an opportunity to work with us so that we can co-develop and bring out new products to the world.

Schnick: How has the economy impacted Krüger and Veolia, as well as the water/wastewater industry?

Brian: Well, I think, by and large the economy has probably ended with fewer projects actually happening, and it’s made us have to be more creative. But, because of the diverse technology offerings that we have, we’ve been able to sustain very good growth over the last few years in spite of the economy.

Youngblood: I would figure that an operation that has the opportunity to actually produce energy may be something that people are yearning for in this market.

Brian: I agree, totally, and when you look at changing what a wastewater treatment plant is by using some of the technologies that we have to produce energy, it redefines what the wastewater treatment plant is to begin with.

Youngblood: Brian, a little bit ago, you talked about co-development. How important is it to reach outside your own areas of expertise, your own technologies, and work with what might be competitors at times? How important is all that collaboration?

Brian: For long-term, sustained growth and new product development, it is very important. We cannot think that we are the only ones with good ideas. And in fact, there are a number of companies out there that we’ll see at the show over the course of the next few days that we’ll likely end up engaging in further discussions after the show, depending how we see a good fit.

Schnick: So then you’re in a competitive market. How do you stand out from your competitors?

Brian: We differentiate ourselves with unique technologies that can accomplish process performances that other technologies don’t. We have proprietary technology such as the EXELYS process that I mentioned, which can achieve more biogas production than pretty much any other technology out there for sludge pretreatment.

Schnick: We’re about out of time. Before we let you go, share with the audience how they can get in touch with your organization and learn more about the work that you’re doing.

Brian: You’re more than welcome to come by our booth; its 2525 in the South Hall. You can visit our website at krugerusa.com and also at veoliawater.com.

Schnick: Outstanding. Brian, it was a real pleasure having you. Thanks for joining us.

Brian: Alright, thank you.

Youngblood: Thanks, Brian.

Schnick: Alright, that wraps this segment. On behalf of Todd Youngblood, I’m Todd Schnick. Water Online Radio will be right back in a few minutes.