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Keppel secures contract for first biosolids thermal drying facility in Australia

SINGAPORE, 08 October 2007 - Keppel Seghers, the environmental technology division of Keppel Group, has secured a contract to provide its technology and services to the Plenary Environment consortium constructing a AU$76 million biosolids thermal drying facility for Barwon Water, one of the largest water corporations in the State of Victoria.

The new thermal drying facility will process the region’s 54,000 tonnes of biosolids produced each year, providing a sustainable biosolids management solution for Barwon Water. The biosolids will be processed to “T1” grade to maximise the potential for sustainable beneficial use, as a fossil fuel replacement or fertiliser.

Keppel Seghers will provide a two-line thermal drying/pelletizing installation to the plant. Each line consists of a coater, a hardpelletizer, a pellets recirculation system, and a pellets cooling unit.

The thermal drying facility is to be located next to Barwon Water’s Black Rock water reclamation plant between Torquay and Breamlea and will be completed in 2009.

The facility is part of Barwon Water's ‘zero waste’ water recycling philosophy with 100% recycling of biosolids. Barwon Water conducted a rigorous investigation of seven years before implementing this project.

Mr Chua Chee Wui, Chief Executive Officer of Keppel Integrated Engineering, said “Sustainable biosolids treatment solutions are receiving increasing attention from municipalities worldwide due to declining availability of traditional disposal methods, as well as better technology to safely harness the nutrient and energy value of biosolids.

“Keppel Seghers’ thermal treatment technologies have been successfully applied in Europe and North America. We are proud that our proven treatment technology will now be applied towards the sustainable management of biosolids in the State of Victoria. ”

Keppel Seghers’ drying/pelletising technology is based on the PEARL PROCESSTM which creates dry pellets from biosolids that are pathogen-free, easily handled, shipped and can be stored for longer periods.

Keppel Seghers carried out tests in a pilot thermal drying plant at the Black Rock treatment plant for a six-week period that yielded very positive results, providing strong evidence of Keppel Seghers’ sound technical expertise.

Keppel Seghers is part of the KIE Group. KIE, via its wholly owned subsidiary Keppel Prince Engineering has been operating in the State of Victoria for over 30 years.

The aforementioned contract is not expected to have any significant impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the financial year ending 31 December 2007.


Background information

Keppel Integrated Engineering (KIE)
KIE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Keppel Corporation.

Keppel Seghers, a subsidiary of KIE, is a leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions ranging from consultancy, design and engineering, technology and construction to operations and maintenance of facilities. Its advanced technology solutions address a wide spectrum of environmental issues such as solid waste, wastewater, drinking & process water, biosolids & sludge. In addition, Keppel Seghers offers a full range of environmentally-friendly industry applications for the removal of organic substances from metal parts and tools.

To date, KIE has executed water, wastewater projects and waste-to-energy projects in more than 25 countries worldwide. KIE continues to actively pursue thermal waste treatment, water and wastewater treatment projects globally.

Thermal drying/pelletizing installation

Coater
In the coater, semi-finished pellets (coming back via the pellets recirculation system) are mixed again with wet sludge. The fresh sludge forms another layer around the small pellet which is further transported to the HARDPELLETISER unit where the fresh layer is dried during residence time in the hardpelletizer unit.

HARDPELLETISER
This is a cylindrical, heated unit with a vertical series of rotating plates, slowly transporting the pellets downwards while gradually drying the fresh layer of sludge.

Pellets recirculation system
The recirculation system circulates the pellets through the system, allowing the coater to add another layer upon each cycle, until the pellet is large enough to be stored for final use.

Pellets cooling system
Cools the finished pellets before storage in the pellet silo.

For further information, please contact

Teo Chang Ching
Manager
Group Corporate Communications
Tel: (65) 6413 6426
Email: changching.teo@kepcorp.com