Reuse of Effluents

Summary

The effluent from the Asnæs Power station is going to a recycling reservoir which is mixed with the run-off water from the surrounding fields and surplus water from a local lake (Tissø) in the winter period. The recycling reservoir has a capacity of 220,000 cubic metres of water, which are reused in the power station processes (Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis 2004).

A biochemical (Novozymes) and pharmaceutical (Novo Nordisk) plant use their symbiotic relationship in treating wastewater. The biochemical plant treats all wastewater from the pharmaceutical company up to a level corresponding to the wastewater of an ordinary household. The effluent is then pumped to the Kalundborg Municipality water treatment plant for final treatment. The wastewater from the biochemical company is of a relatively high temperature making it easier for the municipal plant to treat its wastewater. Wastewater from Asnæs Power Station is also discharged into the treatment plant of Kalundborg Municipality (Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis 2004).

Industry

Industry Sector	Specific Industry
pharmaceutical	Novo Nordisk
enzyme production	Novozymes
energy utility	Asnæs power station
government	Kalundborg Municipality

Region

Kalundborg, Denmark

Applied Technologies

• none specified

Triple Bottom Line Aspects (direct at operational level)

Economic	not known
Environment	25% reduction in water consumption through recycling and circulation between the companies. A total of 1.9 gigaliters of groundwater and 1 gigaliters of surface water are saved on a yearly basis. reduction of discharge of nitrogen into Jammerland Bugt (local waterway)
Social	maintain water security

Additional Comments

None.

References

• Kalundborg Centre for Industrial Symbiosis (2004) "Industrial Symbiosis", Retrieved from: http://www.symbiosis.dk/

Last Update

9 August 2006