Recycled waste water driving the future of iron and steel

The Western Australian Water Corporation and Rio Tinto Iron Ore's HIsmelt® facility have created a solution to meet industry's water needs for years to come without dipping into local river and groundwater supplies.

Picture a world with an endless supply of clean, pure, quality water and no need to worry about it ever running out. We're not quite there, but the Western Australian Water Corporation and Rio Tinto Iron Ore's HIsmelt® facility have created an innovative solution to meet industry's water needs for years to come without dipping into our local river and groundwater supplies.

A new Kwinana Water Recycling Plant is turning waste water, which would otherwise be pumped into the ocean, into high quality water for industrial use.

As HIsmelt Environmental Adviser Todd Simms explains, the idea for the water recycling plant came about several years ago when Rio Tinto and the Water Corporation recognised common goals.

"When the HIsmelt plant was first proposed, we knew large volumes of water would be needed to keep it running. But it wasn't practical to use drinking water and there was limited groundwater available," says Todd.

"The Water Corporation were keen to build a water recycling facility in the area and HIsmelt's requirements provided the perfect the opportunity. So, the plant was built and we became the sole customer."

The recycling plant taps into the waste water outflow from the Perth metropolitan area, which runs down to Rockingham and is discharged off Point Peron.

Water is drawn from the outflow pipeline, filtered and put through a reverse osmosis process. The end product is piped directly to HIsmelt and used in the plant's water circuit.

HIsmelt buys the recycled water from the Water Corporation at a price that's slightly higher than drinking water, but Todd says the extra expense is worthwhile.

"We're a big water user in Kwinana, so using recycled water means we don't impact on the community's needs and we're looking after the environment. It's more sustainable as the water would only be discharged in the ocean otherwise," he says.

"It also gives us security as we're guaranteed a consistent supply into the future and the water has been performing really well in running the plant."

Initially, HIsmelt was the only organisation to buy treated water, but recently other Kwinana industries have investigated a recycled option.

HIsmelt uses up to 78 per cent recycled water using this process with a target for recycled water to make up 100 per cent of water usage in the near future.