Nitreat® Ion Exchange Nitrate Removal

ACWA's Nitreat® Ion Exchange Nitrate Removal Technology is an industry proven process with over 38 plants installed and in operation in the UK ranging from 3MLD up to 92MLD.

Why do we need to reduce nitrates in water?

Whilst nitrates occur naturally in the environment, when levels become too high, it can pose a risk to animal and plant life. According to the Environment Agency, some of the main concerns with high concentrations of nitrate in water are:

The risks to human health from drinking water after abstraction from ground or surface water
Eutrophication of lowland surface waters (leading to potential depletion of oxygen in the water)
Nutrient enrichment in sensitive habitates (such as run off from farmers fields)

How can ACWA's Nitreat® Technology help?

ACWA’s approach to a Nitrate Removal Plant (NRP) utilises continuous counter current which optimises both the nitrate absorption process and softened / flushing water usage by having multiple vessels passing in series through the regeneration stages, ultimately reducing the total wastewater produced.

ACWA now has over 38 Nitreat® Plants installed / in operation with the UK ranging from 3MLD up to 92MLD.

Key Features

ACWA’s Nitreat® solution has been developed to deliver the following features:

Optimised Softened Water Production & Recovery
Minimum Waste Production/Disposal Costs
Automated Dynamic Inlet/ Bypass control
Nitrate, Hardness & Conductivity Monitoring & Control
Automated Softened Water & Brine Systems
Automated Dynamic Blended Discharge Control
Long Term Standby / Mothballing
Design and Build (digital delivery and off-site manufacture)
Commissioning
Project Management
No ‘slug’ waste discharges when discharging to sewer
Service and Maintenance can be provided

In ﬁnding the best solutions we look at innovative ideas and turn them into reality producing some of the most sustainable technological solutions on the market.

OPEX Savings

In addition to the OPEX Saving in Tanker costs for offsite disposal of the wastewaters produced through the regeneration phase, other potential savings would be:

Softened Water Production is a continuous direct feed to the Nitreat® Skid/s removing the need for bulk Backwash Storage and Transfer Pumps needed within the Conventional system
With greater volumes of Softened Water required to regenerate Conventional Columns, the softener system will require greater volumes of brine for softener Regeneration ultimately increasing Salt Consumption for the Conventional process
Discharging Directly to Sewer - The Nitreat® waste ﬂow does NOT require buffering prior to discharge as the ﬂow and load is a continuous stream. The Conventional system (4-6 Regen cycles /day) will require waste buffering prior to discharge to prevent instantaneous ‘slug’ discharges of brine waste which may affect local treatment facilities if not diluted sufﬁciently

Nitreat® References

Since 2005, ACWA’s Nitreat® Technology has been adopted by most Water Companies providing network resilience with the potential to process up to 228MLD Raw Feed Water removing up to 13,818kg/NO3 (Nitrate) every day.

Affinity Water
Anglian Water
Cambridge Water
Southern Water
South East Water
South Staffordshire Water
Severn Trent Water
Thames Water
Yorkshire Water

ACWA’s reliable bespoke Nitreat® Design can be conﬁgured to meet any/all of your network requirements utilising ACWA’s Standard Skid Arrangement and Instrument Board Monitoring which are assembled in our workshop utilising DfMA (design for manufacture and assembly) techniques.