Federated Co-Operatives Ltd.’s refinery in Regina SK will become the first in North America to recycle all of its wastewater for steam production, which is used for heating, hydrogen production, to power equipment and for cooling towers. To do this, the company will install advanced water recycling technology from GE.

After expanding its operations from 100,000 barrels per day (BPD) to 130,000 BPD several years ago and faced with restrictions on water use, the refinery had to find a new source of water. GE offered a solution the Federated Co-Op was looking for.

It combines ZeeWeed membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and a high-efficiency reverse osmosis (HERO) system to recycle and reuse 2 million gallons of wastewater a day. In addition to the water reuse solution, GE provides the refinery with wastewater specialty chemicals and monitoring solutions to provide system optimization.

After commissioning, the refinery will reduce its use of freshwater by 28%, which is the equivalent of approximately 3,100 households in Regina, on an annual basis. By recycling 100% of its wastewater on-site, the Co-op Refinery Complex will significantly decrease volatile organic compound emissions from its wastewater ponds and reduce the associated nuisance odors. The wastewater improvement project is expected to be fully operational by the fall of 2016.