Terneuzen Plant

Terneuzen Plant Collaborates to Conserve Water, Energy with Award-Winning Technology

Since February 2007, Dow’s Dutch facility in Terneuzen has been reusing municipal household wastewater. Dow accepts 10,000 m³ of water every 24 hours and purifies more than 70 percent of it to generate steam and feed manufacturing plants. This results in reduced energy use, which is the equivalent of lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 5,000 tons per year.

At the site, Dow’s second largest manufacturing site globally, Dow partnered with the government in Terneuzen and a local provider to turn community wastewater into energy. By taking the local community’s treated wastewater, which is discharged directly into the river, and reusing it twice – first in manufacturing plans and then again in cooling towers – every liter of water is used three times instead of once. This process reduces the energy use for water purification by 65 percent. The project is a unique cooperation among Dow, water company Evides and the regional water board “Waterschap Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.”

Dow has won four awards for this project, including the Most Innovative Corporate Social Responsibility Project in the 2008 International Conference on Information Systems Innovation Awards as well as a 2008 IChemE “Highly Commended” award.

This kind of innovative thinking and collaboration elevates Dow’s conservation efforts, saving water and energy.