A successful start-up for a new water & wastewater treatment plant at Bangladesh’s largest fertilizer facility
Cannon Artes has successfully completed a comprehensive water & wastewater treatment plant in Bangladesh for the country’s largest fertilizer facility. This state-of-the-art plant utilizes locally produced natural gas and has the capacity to produce 1,600 tons of ammonia and 2,800 tons of urea daily. Bangladesh’s booming demand for fertilizers, driven by rapid economic growth, will make this facility vital to boosting the country’s agricultural output.
The project was contracted by a global leader in engineering, procurement and construction known for delivering innovative and integrated solutions. Cannon Artes was responsible for the complete process, including detailed equipment design, procurement, shop fabrication, testing, delivery, supervision of erection, commissioning, start-up, and training for the client’s personnel.
The scope of supply was divided into five key sections. The large-scale raw water treatment plant (RWT), designed to treat river water for all industrial uses, has a capacity of nearly 40,000 m³/day and includes rough filtration, coagulation, flocculation, gravity settling, and fine filtration. The treated water is primarily used to feed the cooling water circuit, with a significant portion directed to the demineralization section for further purification.
The demineralization process, whose capacity is close to 6,000 m³/day, in combination with a 3,500 m³/day condensate polishing unit, utilizes a series of cationic, anionic, and mixed bed exchangers to ensure high-purity water suitable for feeding a high-pressure steam generator.
A battery of side-stream pressurized media filters was supplied to quantitatively remove suspended solids from a portion (a side stream) of the cooling water flow. Filtration avoids the buildup of solids brought into the cooling water circuit by dust and sand present in the air.
The supply also included an integrated wastewater treatment system designed to remove free oil through coalescing plate interception, suspended solids by means of a chemical-physical process, and a specific neutralization unit targeted at adjusting pH.
The integrated water & wastewater treatment plant was successfully started up in 2023 by the Cannon Artes commissioning team. Through their fully multi-disciplinary approach — and in spite of tough environmental conditions — they managed all process, mechanical, electrical, and instrumentation topics typical of such a complex, articulated project.
