As the United Arab Emirates prepares to celebrate World Water Day on March 22, guests at the luxury Park Hyatt Dubai hotel are being kept cool thanks to a unique water recycling project, which has to date saved enough potable water to fill as many as 62 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
At the heart of this recycling project is DOW™ membranes technology from Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit within the Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW). Dow’s membranes filter and process 148,300 cubic meters of water annually for the Hotel that is later used to supply its HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) towers which, in turn, help cool the resort’s 225 luxury rooms and suites. The overall system – designed and built by Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies – has helped the Hotel save as much as 154,880 cubic meters of potable water since it was launched in 2010.
As a global luxury hospitality brand Park Hyatt recognizes the environmental impact associated with their hotels and as a result, the hotel is focused on implementing sustainable practices, such as this water reuse project. The solution is an excellent example of sustainability at work and is evidence that what is good for the environment can also be good for business with a proven return on investment of less than a year. The system has not only helped the hotel to reduce consumption of potable water, which is such as scarce resource in the region, but also to improve the efficiency of the cooling system.
"On the occasion of World Water Day, we want to applaud this unique and innovative initiative by the Park Hyatt Dubai to evolve to a more sustainable approach of reusing water, while setting a new standard for sustainability in the process," said Dr. Ilham Kadri, Commercial Director, Dow Water & Process Solutions, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "At Dow, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do and it is always gratifying to see our solutions being used to drive change. Water is a precious resource in the Middle East and it’s important to recognize that wastewater will evolve into the next big source of water along with desalination."
Waste water effluent from the resort is pretreated using DOW™ Ultrafiltration membrane technology and is further purified using FILMTEC™ Reverse Osmosis membrane technology from Dow. The process results in high quality water that is low in Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and not only has an impact on the resort’s environmental footprint but also on the efficiency and cost of the HVAC towers operation.
Dow Water & Process Solutions, through Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, is supplying the ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis components that are processing the wastewater at the resort. Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies was chosen by Park Hyatt Dubai as the contractor for the water recycling project. The Company is recognized as a global leader in water reuse and specializes in turning wastewater into a resource. Working in partnership with Dow Water & Process Solutions, Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies helps its customers improve performance, save money and better respond to stakeholder expectations.
"The success of this project demonstrates the viability of water reuse and recycling solutions in a region where water scarcity leads the agenda," said Emmanuel Gayan Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies Middle-East CEO. "The system is an excellent example of how we collaborate with Dow in the value chain to integrate technologies and deliver effective solutions that are not only sustainable but also cost effective with a fast return on investment. I truly believe that this model can and should be replicated in order to help conserve water and improve efficiencies."
Improving global access to clean water is one of Dow’s strategic corporate objectives. In 2009, Dow announced that initial research at the planned Dow Middle East and Africa R&D Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology would focus on water treatment technologies. The Center aims to deliver innovations with immediate commercial application for the Saudi Arabian and surrounding GCC markets. In July 2011, the Company also announced plans to invest in a best-in-class manufacturing facility for DOW FILMTEC™ reverse osmosis (RO) elements in the Kingdom.