GE Water & Process Technologies (www.gewater.com) announced a plan 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 drinking water to approximately 20 percent (200,000 m3 per day) of Barcelona. When completed, GE says the facility will be four times larger than the world’s current largest EDR plant.
GE and ATLL have been working on an EDT pilot project for the past two years with the aim of 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.
Under terms of the agreement, GE will operate and maintain the ATLL project, with upgrades estimated at the USD $25 million, for a two-year term. Construction began at the end of September.