April 30, 2012 - Ravensdown’s Hornby fertiliser manufacturing facility has been awarded the prestigious ‘Return on Environment (ROE)’ award by GE Corporation (Water and Process) for making significant improvements to the cooling water quality at its sulphuric acid plant over the past three years.  The farmer-owned co-operative makes sulphuric acid on the 14 ha site. This acid is needed by farmers to make phosphate rock ready to spread on their soil for plants and clover to use.  “Turning sulphur into acid generates a lot of heat and steam which can be used for electricity generation,” explains Peter Hay, Works Manager at Hornby. “We use water to cool the acid plant and the turbine steam. But wherever there is water and warmth, there is a risk of bacteria. So we work with GE to ensure our bacterial control is the best it can be and this award is an acknowledgement of that commitment,” said Peter.  “Three years ago we invested in new cooling towers which, being made of PVC and fibreglass, are more resistant to bacteria and easier to clean. This meant less costly interruption to the plant and that we could use chlorination products like those used in swimming pools, but at a higher level, to control bacteria. We work in partnership with GE on best practice and some automation tools that scan for chlorine residuals. Clear colour-coded daily testing is carried out by plant operators and GE’s own expert visits each month.”  “The cooling tower water is a virtually-closed system. We use our own well but the pipe is 30 metres from the plant and we chlorinate the water before it even goes into the cooling system,” added Peter.  Ivan Rodrigues from GE said, “Established in 1992, the GE ROE Award recognises a select group of customers whose environmental and health and safety achievements, along with cost reductions while balancing industrial demands, clearly demonstrate that environmental responsibility and improved profitability are perfectly compatible goals. The Proof not Promise award is only given to companies who have documented how their system works.”  “We’re very proud of this award as it is the culmination of a huge amount of teamwork and investment in terms of time and money. Special mention should be made of the teams at our other acid plant in Awatoto near Napier who also put in a huge amount of effort into their bacteria control,” concluded Peter Hay.