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Sydney Water trial at Cascade Water Filtration Plant reduces PFAS levels

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06 Feb, 2025

This post was originally published on Sustainability Matters

Sydney Water’s newly commissioned mobile PFAS treatment unit at Cascade Water Filtration Plant (WFP) has started to reduce the levels of PFAS during the first month of a new treatment trial.

Recent testing indicated that water processed through the mobile PFAS treatment has reduced PFAS levels below the proposed Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG).

Sydney Water Managing Director Roch Cheroux said this swift result affirms Sydney Water’s commitment to continue delivering safe and high-quality drinking water across the network.

“Our teams worked around the clock to deliver this important work at Cascade WFP, and to see the results start to shift is a testament to their efforts,” Cheroux said.

The $3.4 million mobile PFAS treatment plant, which treats four megalitres (ML) of water per day, will remain in use for up to three years as part of a strategy to treat water in the Blue Mountains catchment.

Using granular activated carbon (GAC) filters and ion exchange technology, the mobile PFAS treatment plant harnesses the latest technology to remove PFAS from the water.

Prior to the installation of the mobile PFAS treatment plant, the water produced at the Cascade WFP was compliant with the current ADWG. The mobile PFAS treatment plant will ensure compliance with the proposed ADWG.

“We have been testing the treated water from Cascade weekly and publishing the results on our website for the public to view,” Cheroux said.

The mobile PFAS treatment unit at Cascade Water Filtration Plant.

“With the mobile PFAS treatment plant online, the results have shown a continued decline in PFAS concentrations and Sydney Water is confident the concentration of the PFAS in the water produced at the Cascade WFP will soon be consistently below the proposed guidelines.

“We will continue testing the treated water at Cascade to provide the Blue Mountains community with confidence in the quality of their drinking water, and to demonstrate Sydney Water’s commitment to delivering water that meets the highest standards,” Cheroux said.

Member for the Blue Mountains Trish Doyle said she is excited to see the mobile PFAS treatment unit in operation.

“I welcome this positive news and the tireless efforts by Sydney Water to assure the Blue Mountains community every effort is being made to deliver safe drinking water of the highest quality,” Doyle said.

The treatment trial is part of Sydney Water’s Long Term Capital and Operational Plan (LTCOP) — an adaptive roadmap designed to deliver essential upgrades and new infrastructure across the network through to 2050.

The LTCOP proposes an investment of more than $30 billion over the next decade to ensure Sydney Water can continue providing safe, sustainable and reliable water services to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding city.

“Our LTCOP prioritises public health, environmental sustainability and economic efficiency to allow us to maintain the highest level of service that our customers expect,” Cheroux said.

The final PFAS guidelines will be published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in April 2025. Once released, Sydney Water will work closely with NSW Health to implement the guidelines and ensure compliance to any updated regulatory requirements.

Top image caption: Sydney Water’s Water Quality Manager, Corinna Doolan, at Cascade Water Filtration Plant, next to the mobile PFAS treatment unit.

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Boral secures grant for cement kiln carbon reduction

Boral secures grant for cement kiln carbon reduction

Boral Limited has announced that it has secured $24.5 million in federal government funding for a new cement kiln infrastructure project, which will enable it to significantly reduce its CO2 emissions arising from cement manufacturing by up to 100,000 tonnes per annum, based on predicted production rates.

The company says the kiln feed optimisation project at Berrima Cement Works plays a key role in Boral’s broader decarbonisation pathway by reducing process emissions — the largest and most-difficult-to-abate emissions source in cement manufacturing.

The funding announcement was made by Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen at Berrima Cement Works in NSW’s Southern Highlands — a site responsible for supplying up to 40% of cement in NSW and the ACT. The grant is from the federal government’s Powering the Regions Fund, aimed at supporting projects that will enable the decarbonisation of existing industries and contribute to Australia’s emission reduction targets.

The funding will supplement Boral’s capital investment into a new specialised grinding circuit and supporting infrastructure at the Berrima Cement Works. Clinker, formed by heating limestone and other materials at extremely high temperatures in a kiln, is the key ingredient in cement and is highly energy-intensive to produce. It is globally recognised as a difficult to abate manufacturing process, while also being key to all modern construction methods.

The integration of the specialised grinding circuit will enable Boral to substantially increase the proportion of alternative raw materials (ARMs) in kiln feed to up to 23% — up from its current 9% capability — and subsequently lower the amount of limestone used. The key benefit of utilising ARMs over limestone, is that limestone when heated during the clinker manufacturing process will natively release CO2 as the limestone is converted into clinker through calcination. Approximately 55% of the CO2 emissions of the Australia cement and concrete sector originate from this calcination of limestone and are commonly referred to as ‘process emissions’.

As an additional benefit, ARMs also require lower heating temperatures compared with limestone and, therefore, lower energy intensity.

Boral plans to use ARMs derived from a range of by-products from the steel manufacturing process and industrial waste rejections, including granulated blast furnace slag, steel slag, cement fibre board, fly ash and fine aggregates from recycled concrete.

The funding will enable the company to progress to the next phase of detailed process designs for front-end engineering, followed by procurement, construction, installation and commissioning. It is expected to be fully operational in 2028.

“At Boral, we have clearly set out the range of measures we intend to implement to meet the challenge set for us on reducing carbon emissions,” Boral CEO Vik Bansal said. “This is just one investment we have made at Berrima, building on our previous innovations around use of alternative fuels.

“As a result, Boral is on track to remain below the baseline safeguard mechanism requirements. We are also very pleased to be investing in a crucial and historic part of Australia’s manufacturing and construction sector.”

Image caption: Boral-Bowen federal government announcement. Image supplied by Boral.

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