Water is becoming increasingly scarce worldwide, commodity prices are rising, and industries are facing increased legal and regulatory requirements.
As Sweden introduced tougher legislation and requirements on industrial pollution early, many Swedish companies have developed robust solutions that meet today’s challenges. One of these companies is Vilokan Recycling Tech AB, whose system solutions have reached over 27 countries, saving over a billion litres of water.
– We are noticing that North America and Europe in particular, are demanding solutions that can reduce water consumption, recycle raw materials and reduce CO2 emissions, says Karl Henrik Jönsson, Technical Manager at Vilokan.
Vilokan destilator at the Arlanda plant
One area where water pollution occurs is airports where glycol is used for de-icing. Through a combination of different cutting-edge technologies, up to 99% of the glycol-contaminated water can be purified and with new technology, even very low levels of glycol can now be recovered and reused. 1 kg of recovered glycol is equivalent to about 4.5 kg of CO2 equivalents, thus substantially impacting the environmental footprint of airports.
– We have recently installed the world’s largest de-icing fluid (ADF) recovery and water treatment facility for our partner Aeromag at Syracuse Airport, New York,’ says Karl Henrik Jönsson.
The plant can treat 72 000 m3 of water per year, producing 2 500 tonnes of glycol and reducing Co2 emissions by 11 250 tonnes (equivalent to the annual emissions of 5 380 cars).
Vilokan Recycling Tech AB foresees a continued strong international market. In addition to investments at airports, global Swedish companies continue to invest in the systems for their international ventures.
