In September, Celulose Irani received the Brazilian Environmental Benchmarking Program Award for the Modernization of the Wastewater Treatment Station – Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Project.
The Brazilian Environmental Benchmarking Program is promoted by ‘Mais Projetos’ and it endeavors to recognize and share social environmental knowledge applied to Brazilian Companies and Institutions that contribute to building sustainable societies.
The winning IRANI case; the Wastewater Treatment Station modernization was carried out in order to replace the anaerobic degradation by the aerobic degradation of organic matter, thereby avoiding the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas (GHG) that causes global warming. The treatment system was modernized, which involved an aerobic system called secondary treatment that uses activated sludge with extended aeration. This process avoids the mud being deposited on the bottom of ponds, generating methane gas.
With this initiative, IRANI became the first Latin American company to register in the UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for the treatment of industrial effluents. Approved by the CDM Executive Board in January 2008, the facility also became the first in the world to be fully aerobic.
