Veolia Water Technologies has recently supplied a new ORION unit for Parker Hannifin’s Bioscience Filtration Facility in Birtley. Building on a successful existing relationship, the new 20,000 L/hr unit replaced an older, custom-built ORION and has enabled the customer to increase production, reduce risk, be more sustainable and ultimately increase profitability.
The Parker Bioscience Filtration Facility in Birtley County Durham – part of Parker Hannifin, produces a range of filtration and separation products used in pharmaceutical and high purity critical applications. Purified Water plays an important role in production as all manufactured products must be thoroughly flushed, cleaned and validated before they can be sent to customers. As a result, the facility requires large volumes of water that consistently complies to US Pharmacopeia’s (USP) water for injection (WFI) specification.
“Veolia Water Technologies was a logical choice because we already have a solid and well-established relationship with them and we know the technology delivers,” commented Nathan Ryder, Facilities & Maintenance Manager at Parker Hannifin. “What’s more, we were impressed by the technology and its efficient use of resources. This enables us to better serve our customers by increasing production, whilst reducing our water and energy consumption.”
Veolia Water Technologies’ ORION system is a purified water technology that combines softening, reverse osmosis (RO), continuous electrodeionisation (CEDI) and ultrafiltration in one package. Capable of delivering large volumes of treated water suitable for a range of processes, the technology boasts a high water recovery rate and low energy consumption, which suits costumers conscious of their environmental impact.
Furthermore, the new ORION installed at Birtley reliably delivers cold WFI at a rate of 20,000 L/hr. This allows Parker Hannifin to meet its ambition of increased production, flexibly adapting output to demand.
“The project was a big undertaking,” added Nathan. “It required the construction of a new building to house the ORION™ as well as new control panels for our four ring mains that feed the factory.”
Veolia Water Technologies had to closely coordinate its work onsite in order to replace the old control system that had managed the facility’s four water storage and distribution ring mains. To achieve this without the need for downtime, the team focused on upgrading one of the original ring mains first as this was not capable of being sanitised with Ozone. At the same time, the original central control system had to be upgraded due to obsolescence of critical components, and to incorporate major changes to the functionality of Parker Hannifin’s storage and distribution systems. All of this work was carried out whilst ensuring Parker Hannifin’s operations were not impeded.
Stefan Sadnani, Business Development Manager at Veolia Water Technologies, commented:
“It was great to be able to work closely with Nathan and the team to make this project a success. The existing service contract on the old ORION unit has meant that we have built up a great understanding of the site and its needs over the years and this put us in a great position to deliver the expanded capacity that Parker Hannifin requires.”
