VANCOUVER, BC – TheNewswire – February 2, 2022 – BQE Water Inc. (TSXV:BQE), a leader in industrial wastewater treatment, has successfully completed the commissioning and start-up and has now entered the operations phase for a water treatment plant utilizing its patented and award winning Selen-IX™ process technology for selenium removal to remediate a coal ash pond in the Eastern US for a major American power utility.
The Selen-IX™ plant has a treatment capacity of 1,500 US gallons per minute and is designed to remove selenium down to below 7.7 parts per billion. During commissioning, treated water from the plant achieved selenium concentrations below the 1 part per billion detection limit of the local analytical laboratory. At the site, the plant will operate downstream of a treatment system to remove suspended solids and metals designed by WesTech Engineering, a US based supplier of equipment and water treatment systems for municipal and industrial applications.
BQE Water will operate the Selen-IX™ plant under contract to WesTech who manages overall site operations. Project requirements call for the plant to operate 50 hours per week from Monday to Friday and be able to match weather dependent water inflows. With the ability to start up and shut down operations as needed and ramp up and down to adjust for the volume of water to be treated, Selen-IX™ as a non-biological technology, is the only commercially viable solution to tackle these requirements.
“Very early on, we recognized the benefits of BQE Water’s Selen-IX™ technology for ash pond remediation and are extremely happy that Selen-IX™ performs to and exceeds expectations. We are also excited to combine our core strengths and expertise with those of BQE Water in providing the power generation industry with a non-biological selenium treatment option that produces superior effluent water quality, allows for operational flexibility unheard of with competing biological systems, and reduces treatment risks and costs,” stated Philip Lake, EVP Services at WesTech.
David Kratochvil, President & CEO of BQE Water, added, “It is exciting to see the growing awareness and adoption of Selen-IX™ as a game-changing technology for the power generation industry. As part of their ESG initiatives, we are seeing the power sector proactively address environmental legacies. With industry searching for better solutions than what biological systems can offer, we are pleased that Selen-IX™ can fill that gap. The partnership with WesTech and the opportunity to operate the Selen-IX™ plant for one of the leading US utilities provides us with a solid base from which we can grow in this geography and market.”
About Selen-IX™
Selen-IX™ is a patented, award winning process technology that is currently the only commercially available non-biological treatment system that has been applied on a large scale to remove the selenate form of selenium from wastewater. Selen-IX™ removes selenium to below detection limits, has zero risk of acute and chronic effluent toxicity and the by-product of treatment is a stable solid residue with offtake potential. Selenium removal and its management is an environmental issue of concern in mining, metallurgical processing and power generation where process water comes into contact with selenium bearing compounds contained in mineral deposits and fossil fuels. In recognition of its disruptive nature, Selen-IX™ is the recipient of the 2021 Environmental Award from Engineers & Geoscientists British Columbia, a 2021 Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Honor Award from Chemical Engineering Magazine and a 2022 Top Project Award from Canada’s Clean50.
About Coal Ash Ponds
Coal ash is the waste by-product of electricity generation by coal fired power plants and has historically been stored in permitted ash ponds. The ash often contain metals, including selenium, requiring removal. Currently there are over 300 coal powered facilities operating across the US with coal ash ponds. Although the rate of coal ash generation is expected to decrease with clean energy initiatives, a large inventory of coal ash ponds exist across the country. Several large utilities in the US have committed to closing down and remediating existing ash ponds.
About BQE Water
BQE Water is a service provider specializing in water treatment and management for metals mining, smelting and refining. We are helping to transform the way industry thinks about water in the context of natural resource projects by offering services and expertise which enables more sustainable water management practices and improved overall project performance at reduced risks. BQE Water invests in innovation and has developed unique intellectual property through the commercialization of several technologies at mine sites around the world for organizations including Glencore, Jiangxi Copper, Freeport-McMoRan and the US EPA. BQE Water is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BQE. Visit www.bqewater.com for more information.
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For further information please contact:
BQE Water Inc.
Suite 250 – 900 Howe Street
Vancouver BC Canada V6Z 2M4
David Kratochvil, President & CEO
Heman Wong, CFO
604-685-1243 or 1-800-537-3073
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