Veolia's advanced technologies pave the way for Rhodia to achieve 94% water reuse at textile production site in Brazil

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• Veolia's technologies at Rhodia (part of the Solvay Group) advance the company’s industrial water reuse strategy, at its Santo Andre unit which now achieves 94% water reuse — saving the equivalent of 133 olympic swimming pools each year. 
   
• One year of successful operation following decades of strategic investments, continuous improvements, and innovative solutions implemented over time, transforming the existing effluent treatment plant into a modern water reuse production facility. 
   
• Veolia's comprehensive technology-as-a-service model capitalizes on existing treatment infrastructure to implement state-of-the-art technologies, transforming effluents into a source of exceptional high-quality water for reuse through flexible investment agreements that deliver faster deployment. 
   
• Significant environmental and operational benefits, including enhanced water resilience, improved environmental compliance and increased operational efficiency for Rhodia’s industrial process, in complete alignment with Veolia’s GreenUp strategic program.

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Veolia, global champion in water treatment technologies, implemented an innovative water reuse solution to transform the existing effluent treatment plant into a water reuse production facility at Rhodia's textile unit in Santo Andre, São Paulo State, Brazil. 

Veolia's project contributed to Rhodia's sustainability journey, achieving 94% of water reuse at this production site — the result of a comprehensive set of projects, actions and investments carried out by the company over the years. The reused water primarily supports Rhodia's textile chemical industrial processes, with the main application being to feed the cooling systems.

The facility has been successfully operating for over one year under Veolia's 10-year operations contract, marking a significant milestone in the partnership's achievements. 

This achievement is particularly significant given that the region faces severe water stress and recurring drought conditions, making the reduction in groundwater extraction crucial for local water resource conservation and sustainable industrial operations.

Through its technology-as-a-service model, Veolia’s solution capitalized on the existing treatment infrastructure. By integrating complementary effluent homogenization systems and a state-of-the-art ZeeWeed™ MBR membrane bioreactor, the company transformed the wastewater treatment plant into a modern water reuse production station. This approach enabled faster implementation and enhanced water resilience without requiring extensive new infrastructure investment. The solution allows treated effluents to be transformed and regenerated infinitely into a source of exceptional high-quality water to meet industrial process demands.

Veolia also adopted a sustainable approach by reusing existing equipment at the plant, avoiding the need for new infrastructure and reinforcing its commitment to the circular economy.

Ronia Oisiovici, Senior Sustainability, Research and Innovation Manager at Rhodia, stated: “The project in partnership with Veolia contributed to the Santo Andre site reaching the milestone of 94% water reuse, an impressive achievement. In addition, it brought significant improvement in water quality, which can now be used in other applications. The solution is fully aligned with the principles of the circular economy and with Rhodia sustainability program.”

Mauro Cruz, Executive Vice President and Head of Veolia’s water technologies activities in Latin America, commented: “This project reflects Veolia’s ability to integrate high-performance engineering with a robust, results-oriented operational model. It exemplifies our GreenUp strategic program, where water technologies are a booster and serve as a catalyst for ecological transformation. We are proud to accompany clients such as Rhodia to transform their environmental goals into concrete, scalable solutions by placing ecology at the heart of industrial processes, demonstrating that performance and sustainability can — and must — go hand in hand.”

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ABOUT SOLVAY
Solvay, a pioneering chemical company with a legacy rooted in  founder Ernest Solvay’s pivotal innovations in the soda ash process, is dedicated to globally providing essential solutions through its workforce of over  9,000 employees. Since 1863, Solvay has harnessed the power of chemistry to create innovative and sustainable solutions that answer the world's most essential needs, such as purifying the air we breathe and the water we use, preserving our food supplies, protecting our health and well-being, creating eco-friendly clothing, making tires of our cars more sustainable and cleaning and protecting our homes. Solvay’s unwavering commitment drives the transition to a carbon-neutral future by 2050, underscoring its dedication to sustainability and a fair and just transition. As a world-leading company with €4.7 billion in net sales in 2024, Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels and Paris (SOLB). For more information about Solvay, please visit solvay.com or follow Solvay on Linkedin.

ABOUT VEOLIA
Veolia group aims to become the benchmark company for ecological transformation. Present on five continents with 215,000 employees, the Group designs and deploys useful, practical solutions for the management of water, waste and energy that are contributing to a radical turnaround of the current situation. Through its three complementary activities, Veolia helps to develop access to resources, to preserve available resources and to renew them. In 2024, the Veolia group provided 111 million inhabitants with drinking water and 98 million with sanitation, produced 42 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 65 million tonnes of waste. Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE) achieved consolidated revenue of 44.7 billion euros in 2024. 

www.veolia.com

As the world leader in water technologies and services, Veolia relies on its 17,500 water technology experts to deliver innovative solutions that drive both performance and sustainability, without compromise. With over 4,400 technology patents and serving more than 14,000 customers worldwide, Veolia’s water technology activities generated 4.97 billion euros in revenue in 2024. These solutions are central to Veolia’s GreenUp strategic plan, accelerating the ecological transformation of cities and industries while safeguarding resources for the future. 

www.watertechnologies.com