SUEZ has been awarded a three-year contract by PUB – Singapore's national water agency – to clean its water supply pipelines. It will be the first operational project in Asia using the Group’s patented Ice Pigging technology.

 

With an optional one-year extension, the contract was inked following the success of the Ice Pigging pilot project in 2016 in the island city-state. 

 

Using 50 per cent less water than traditional cleaning techniques, SUEZ’s Ice Pigging technology is a much more efficient technology than conventional pipe-cleaning processes. It has already been used to great success in the UK, the Netherlands and Australia, and the technology won the 2016 World Food Innovation Award in the ‘Best Manufacturing/Processing Technology’ category.

 

Ice slurry injection

 

Tap water contains minerals that settle down over time in the pipelines. Ice Pigging cleans the internal surface of the pipes with an injection of ice slurry to remove such mineral sediments, as well as biofilm and other deposits that accumulate in the conduits over time. It is a non-intrusive, fast, effective and economical technology – one that consumes just a few litres of ice in industrial situations that normally require hundreds of litres of water.

 

SUEZ’s proprietary Ice Pigging technology is applicable to municipalities as well as a vast range of industries – including oil & gas, food & beverage, and cosmetics – where companies wish to limit the environmental impact of cleaning pipes by avoiding the use of chemicals or large quantities of water.

 

The new contract marks an important step in the development of SUEZ in Singapore, where its Business Unit Water Technologies & Solutions has been supporting the PUB and industries in the pharmaceutical, oil and IT sectors in water resources management through the deployment of high-performance technologies. The Group also partners with PUB on Smart Water projects, desalination and energy-efficient wastewater treatment technologies. 

 

Singapore is the Group’s business hub in South East Asia, where SUEZ draws upon an Innovation Center and a Water Technology Center – composed of around 50 research scientists and engineers who support, through innovation, projects development in the region.