Improving water quality for life

Sustainable process automation solutions

Challenges in the water industry

Industrial process challenges

Industrial production processes release large quantities of wastewater that the companies cannot discharge easily; the water needs first to be treated. Therefore, reusing, reclaiming, and recycling water costs money. Improving wastewater treatment and making the most of all water sources is the key to solving this issue.

Energy efficiency challenge

Another big challenge for the water industry is energy consumption. Energy prices are rising worldwide, and there is a growing call for low-energy production. Wastewater treatment is estimated to consume 1 - 3% of a country’s total electric energy output. The largest proportion of energy used in municipal wastewater treatment is in biological treatment, generally 50 - 60% of plant usage. High-efficiency technologies could reduce electricity-related greenhouse gas emissions from the global wastewater sector by up to 50%. The use of low-energy membrane technology for the aeration process and direct treatment of high concentration return streams is also an option.

Operating expenditure challenge

In addition to regulatory and environmental considerations, reducing operating costs remains a top concern for wastewater managers. Energy consumption occurs at every stage, from the primary treatment to the digestion of sludge products, and energy costs often represent the largest portion of operating expenditures in a wastewater treatment plant. With world energy consumption expected to increase by 28% between 2015 and 2040, demand for high-efficiency, intelligent wastewater technologies grows. Additionally, the shift in focus from the energy efficiency of single components or products to optimizing efficiency throughout an entire system with the correct combination of technologies results in reduced carbon emissions and lower lifecycle costs.

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Sustainable Solutions for Process Automation

Your partner for improving water quality

At GF Piping Systems, we offer deep application knowledge of the entire water treatment process. Including guaranteeing high water quality and system availability, providing reliable measurements, fulfilling stringent regulations, and helping customers build the first time right.

One community, one purpose

How we’re already helping to improve water quality globally

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Ekopak, Belgium

  • Ekopak uses the process automation offering from GF Piping Systems to outfit its containers sold as “water as a service” to provide sustainable water to customers. There is a high fluctuation of quality at the inlet of the system, meaning Ekopak needs to constantly monitor water quality at both the inlet and outlet of the system, as well as in between to regulate the process.
  • The Belgian company considers monitoring and process automation as the key to operating and delivering consistent quality to customers. GF Piping Systems solves the issues of Ekopak throughout their entire process, working closely with a sustainably minded company for a more sustainable future.
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Pure Life Carbon, Canada

  • The innovative green agricultural tech company Pure Life Carbon is blazing new trails in the food production industry and needed a partner with reliable, sustainable solutions. The Canadian company provides a carbon negative alternative grow media to peat moss for growing crops and with GF Piping Systems found a process automation solution that ensures their production runs smoothly while staying low maintenance.
  • They use GF’s technology extensively in their treatment tanks, measuring flow, temperature, PH levels and pressure. Pure Life Carbon prefer to use GF components as their operating environment is primarily water with a proprietary chemistry added to it. The durability of the GF products and their sustainability and resistance to breakdown are key to longevity and the partnership.
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Water Innovations, USA

  • As water grows more scarce, water quality gets increasingly loaded with dissolved solids over time – Water Innovations specializes in ion exchange and water recycling to produce deionized water. They allow customers such as printed circuit board manufacturers or aerospace engineering customers to closed-loop recycle their own water to meet their water quality requirements.
  • GF is a long-term, strategic partner of Water Innovations, supplying a wide variety of process automation products. Reliability, support and assistance from GF Piping Systems meant that Water Innovations resorted to using the whole family of products to help their customers recycle hundreds of millions of liters of water.

OMZ, China

  • Qinggang County is often referred to as the “Land of Chinese Corn”. It is also the place where Tianjin OMZ and GF Piping Systems realized a super project improving the production of L-lactic acid. This powerful compound serves as a key raw material for biodegradable products like polylactic acid (PLA), which is used in the production of biodegradable plastic bags, straws and other eco-friendly products. The 5,000 m2 facility primarily engages in the production of L-lactic acid through corn starch fermentation, with an annual output of 50,000 tons.
  • For this project, GF has delivered 5,000 pneumatic diaphragm and ball valves, as well as a significant number of manual valves. Thanks to the innovative flow channel design of GF solutions, it was possible to use smaller valve sizes for equivalent flow capacity. The implemented Process Automation solutions by GF ensure the flawless operation of the system.
By 2030, water demand will exceed supply by 40 percent

GF Piping Systems can help counteract these challenges by reducing non-revenue water and shortening cycle loops.

Growing rehabilitation costs

As water is a dwindling resource, the world will need to spend $1’785 billion for water system rehabilitation by 2030.

Distributed water treatment network construction

With 68% of the world’s population living in cities by 2050, building decentralizing treatment facilities inclusive of intensified processes to support the expanding urban population will be 2.7x cheaper to construct than rebuilding the same infrastructure, just larger.

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Sustainability at GF Piping Systems

GF Piping Systems is committed to enabling the safe and sustainable transport of water, gas and chemicals. Only by considering the needs of all key stakeholders can the company, the planet, and society at large thrive in the long term.

The first industrial butterfly valve with an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

What is less impactful on the environment – metal or plastic? The leading flow solutions provider worldwide has commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment for the plastic Butterfly Valve 565 by an independent party. In addition, a comparative LCA study was conducted with a comparable metal valve. The result: The impact on climate change of the plastic valve is over 25 % lower than that of the metal valve.

More success stories

Water Treatment can be a very challenging market. Vulnerabilities can lay everywhere, and problems can occur without you even knowing them. Starting at the beginning of the planning phase, the selection of the single components, the installation, operation, and maintenance of the plant, GF Piping Systems has supported many projects to be successful.

Flow to the future

Learn about the latest developments in the water treatment industry, and get to know the latest innovations by GF Piping Systems. Watch the many panel sessions from GF and Industry heavy-hitters. It's time to flow to the future.

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Process automation solutions

We are committed to supporting our customers success with innovative solutions

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Water Treatment

The water treatment market is faced with several critical issues, with increasing urbanization and global warming resulting in one of the biggest concerns, namely water scarcity. Also, regulation on water discharge is getting stricter and commodity prices are rising, while infrastructure is aging in the developed world. Furthermore, providers are under pressure to keep up with digitization, aiming to have a competitive advantage in the industry of the future.

  • Improving the quality of water in order to reduce its impact on processes and the environment is always a challenge. GF Piping Systems steps up to these challenges with a comprehensive system offering of pipes, fittings, valves and the ideal jointing technology as well as an optimally adapted selection of components for automation technology.

Process Automation

We use our know-how and experience of the complete control loop to solve the entire process challenge. With you at every step of the process, enabling the design, selection, and installation of Process Automation systems. With Process Automation, GF Piping Systems can supply every customer not just with the highest quality parts but with an interoperable all-in-one solution.

  • Together as one: We make Process Automation easy
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Design and Pre-fabrication Solutions

There are many challenges to the successful completion of construction projects in today's accelerating business world, including shortages of skilled labor, time constraints, cost overruns, quality concerns, and physical space limitations on job sites. Engineering design assistance and Offsite Prefabrication from GF Piping Systems can help you meet these challenges, no matter where in the world your construction project happens to be.

  • Design and Pre-fabrication solutions from GF Piping Systems can help yu meet these challenges, no matter where in the world your construction prject happens to be. 

Specialized Solutions

With Specialized Solutions, GF Piping Systems supports the design and installation of state of the art plastic piping systems, so that owners and planners can concentrate on their daily business without interruption. GF Piping Systems is present every step of the way, from providing planning support on new projects to testing the condition of old systems.

  • GF Piping Systems and its Specialized Solutions cover every aspect of a project’s process, from the design phase all the way through to installation and maintenance.
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Planning Fundamentals Industry

Our engineering manuals contain detailed information on materials, dimensioning, application techniques, approvals and standards and provide access to a storehouse of additional knowledge.

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Digital Libraries

The libraries cover three key areas for the design, creation, and maintenance of a project: Building Information Modeling, the Plant Design Software, and the CAD Library, helping you reduce costs and construction times.

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Online Tools

GF Piping Systems' diverse online tools facilitate configuration and calculation for almost all your applications. By entering material and product selection as well as design and dimensions, you can calculate the decisive factors for your application easily and quickly.