Houston, Texas, July 24, 2008 - SAPREF (Shell and BP South African Petroleum Refineries (Pty) Ltd), South Africa’s largest crude oil refinery sought a faster, more cost-effective and ecologically friendly solution to its waste water treatment at its fuel storage facility in the Durban harbor area. Learning about BPC’s unique, innovative bio-remediation technology, it opted for an ad hoc one-time treatment that would solve its immediate challenges and allow it to experience BPC’s solution first-hand.
Background
In Durban, South Africa, SAPREF decided to first try a new solution on contaminated water stored in a 5,000 cubic meter tank. Due to its high level of contamination, in particular by Phenol, the waste water could not be discharged to any municipal outlet.
SAPREF was determined to deploy the most comprehensive, environmentally friendly solution available.
The BPC solution
BPC’s team applied its bio treatment process inside the tank; the tank itself then filled the function of a bio-reactor. The benefits were considerable reductions in cost and time. In fact, the process took only two weeks. It should be emphasized that some 5000 cubic meters were not only purified during a relatively short space of time, the process cost was considerably lower than other solutions.
The results
SAPREF is the first African company to use a BPC solution. The company reports that it was pleased that it was able to discharge the purified waste, as it met the strictest local standards. “The waste water had gathered untreated for some months, because we were determined to identify the most environmentally responsible, cost-effective solution. This determination paid off when we discovered BPC. Now in significantly less time and at a significantly lower cost than we expected the problem was resolved, said SAPREF’s Ronnie Muruven.
According to David Amir, CEO of BPC, “our success at SAPREF has had positive repercussions, and has already led to additional orders and opportunities. We believe our one-time ad hoc solution is unique in cost and timing, with the added advantage of being exceptionally ‘green’”. It’s all about ‘nature treating nature the natural way! Furthermore, our full scale permanent Active Chemostat Technology (ACT) can be the natural follow-up to a one-time project.”
According to Mr. Amir, ACT delivers a simplified water purification process and avoids sludge handling. The very measurable reduction in process stages and time leads to as much as 30-50% savings. Total automation and small footprint also result in reduced manpower and real estate requirements.
The scientific concepts behind ACT are the application of an appropriate bacterial cocktail for a given type of polluted water, and an innovative chemostat. The process is maintained in a balanced state of bacterial growth and organic compound degradation.
About SAPREF
SAPREF is a 50/50 joint venture between energy multinationals, Shell SA Energy and BP Southern Africa. SAPREF is southern Africa's largest crude oil refinery, with 35 percent of the country's refining capacity, which equates to 180 000 barrels of crude oil per day or 8.5 million tons per year. SAPREF's facilities comprise a single buoy mooring, a storage facility at the Durban harbor, joint bunkering services and the refinery itself, which is located in Prospection, about 16 kilometers south of Durban. There are seven underground fuel transfer lines running about 12 kilometers between the refinery and the Island View harbor facility.
About BPC
BPC directly addresses the challenges facing various industries and installations today: waste water treatment. Led by a world-respected scientist in biological treatments, BPC has developed a breakthrough balanced bio-process (ACT) that, for the first time, results in a virtually pure output that can be directly returned to nature. With several of its key technologies and elements patented, the BPC process transforms water treatment into a significantly more efficient, economical and ecologically friendly process. It can be applied across a wide range of sites: from oil refineries and oil storage farms to drilling sites, marine ports, side streams water, reservoirs and similar locations.
For further information please visit our website at
www.biopetroclean.com Contact:
David Baram PH.D
Account Manager
BPC – Bio Petro Clean
Email:
davidb@biopetroclean.comOfer Segali
MarkeTouch, Marketing Communications Solutions
Tel: +972 9 950 9500
Mobile: +972 54 5402067
Email:
ofer@marketouch.co.il
