Activated Lignite (HOK) for Clean Drinking Water in Ruhr Region

    COLOGNE, Germany, October 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Activated lignite (HOK)
 from the Rhineland is being used to ensure clean drinking water in the Ruhr
 region, where RWW Rheinisch-Westfalische Wasserwerksgesellschaft mbH
 operates six waterworks that process some 70 million cubic meters of
 surface water per year to make high-quality drinking water.
     RWW deploys a specially treated activated carbon developed and supplied
 by Rheinkalk Akdolit GmbH & Co. KG under the name "Hydro-Anthrasit H". The
 company's range covers products for water and waste water treatment, which
 are marketed world-wide.
     HOK has been used ever since the late 1970s in the "Mulheim process", a
 river water treatment technology developed by RWW. In this process, the
 customary treatment steps of flocculation, sedimentation, ozoning and
 filtration of river water are supplemented by further chemico-biological
 processes. HOK has established itself in this technology as a highly
 efficient filtration medium with a catalyst function.
     The "Mulheim process" uses HOK as a high-quality filter material
     In the Mulheim process, the treated HOK performs various functions.
 Besides the actual filtration, it eliminates substances on the grain
 surface such as iron and manganese which have oxidized after ozone
 treatment as well as the ozone itself, which is introduced for disinfection
 and oxidation. In addition, the highly porous activated carbon-in
 conjunction with the underlying sand layers-allows the settlement of
 micro-organisms that is desired for subsequent biological cleaning.
     "Owing to its special characteristics, HOK is excellently suited for
 use in multi-layer filters and as a basis for biological fixed-bed
 filters", explains Volker Niechciol, head of the Waterworks engineering and
 operations department at RWW. "One particular reason for using
 Hydro-Anthrasit H is its porous surface, which helps achieve very good
 results in deferrization, manganese removal and ozone elimination."
     HOK: an attractively priced adsorbent for environmental protection
 world-wide
     Rheinkalk Akdolit purchases the HOK required for the production of
 their activated carbon filters from Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH, the member
 of the RWE Group responsible for the global marketing of upgraded lignite
 products. HOK is produced on a raw lignite basis in the rotary hearth
 furnace and used as adsorbent and filtering material in waste gas cleaning
 and waste water purification. With an annual capacity of 200,000 tons, RWE
 AG is the world's largest producer of activated lignite.
     Further information is available on the Internet at http://www.hok.de,
 http://www.rww.de and http://www.akdolit.de.
     Contact:
 
     Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH
     Jurgen Wirling
     Senior manager, Waste Gas and Water Cleaning
     Ludwigstrasse
     D-50226 Frechen
     Tel: +49-(0)-221/480-22520
     Fax: +49-(0)-221/480-1369
 
 

SOURCE Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH