In Sweden the Port of Gothenburg is using SOLVOCARB® water treatment system to neutralize alkaline water during construction of a new freight terminal using clay dredged from the seabed.
The Port of Gothenburg has decided to build a new freight terminal using clay spoils from Göta Älv. Due to the presence of contaminants in the mud, including TBT (tributyltin), the residual water needs to be pH-neutralized and purified.
For the first time in the Nordic region, Linde installed its SOLVOCARB mobile, a convenient drop-in equipment for efficient dissolving of gaseous carbon dioxide (CO2). When dissolved in water, carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid and reduces the pH value to the appropriate level.
“By maintaining the pH of the displaced water at a neutral level and by purifying the water through subsequent sedimentation and filters, we ensure that the TBT remains safely bound up, thereby making it inaccessible to the aquatic organisms in the water,” explains Kristina Bernstén, environmental project manager at the Port of Gothenburg.
“Using CO2 for pH adjustment comes with two major advantages: Firstly, we can avoid potentially reducing the pH in the water so much that it becomes too acidic. Secondly, it is far safer from a working environment perspective, since handling acids can always be a risky business,” she explains.
Carbon dioxide can be used for pH control across a variety of industries from food to textile, pulp and paper, chemical and petroleum. In addition to wastewater treatment, it can be used to pH control process water and for increasing the alkalinity and remineralization of drinking water.
Facts
The new freight terminal at the Port of Gothenburg, which is being built on an area measuring some 220,000 square meters, is scheduled to be operational in 2024-2025.
The Port of Gothenburg is strategically located on the west coast of Sweden. Approximately 70% of Sweden’s total population and industrial capability is located within a 500-km radius of the port, which currently manages close to 30 per cent of Swedish foreign trade and operates more than 130 direct services to destinations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America.