Circle Wastewater Services B.V. (Circle), as permit holder, is pleased with the recent ruling by the Limburg District Court in connection with the lawsuit against decisions by the Limburg Water Board. The lawsuit had been filed because of some unworkable regulations in the permit granted by the Limburg Water Board.
The Limburg Water Board had required in the permit that two plants at the Chemelot site completely stop using cooling water chemicals from Jan. 1, 2026. At present, however, it is not clear whether suitable techniques are available to meet this requirement. In its ruling, the Limburg District Court recognized that this requirement was unworkable and decided to remove it from the permit. However, the obligation to investigate opportunities to reduce the use of cooling water chemicals remains.
In addition, the court ruled on the rules regarding special discharges under foreseeable operating conditions, such as the decommissioning and flushing of a plant for major maintenance. The Limburg Water Board demanded that Circle assess all these discharges according to a certain method and that all these discharges then had to be approved by the Limburg Water Board before they were allowed to take place.
The court ruled that Waterschap Limburg should not have prescribed this. Circle will, of course, continue to assess discharges according to the frameworks that exist for this purpose.
Chemelot’s discharge to the Meuse has been increasingly strictly standardized and regulated by the Limburg Water Board in recent years. Discharge standards were tightened and various research and reduction obligations were imposed on Chemelot. The license is leading the way with this, in the Netherlands and beyond. Chemelot takes its obligations under the permit very seriously and continuously monitors the quality of the discharge and its acceptability.
This ruling is important for Chemelot because Chemelot depends on water to operate the plants on the site. For example, water – in the form of steam – is used to heat processes and water provides cooling through its ability to dissipate heat. In addition, water is used as a solvent and transport medium. The Integrated Wastewater Treatment Plant (IAZI) treats all used water on the Chemelot site. The IAZI is a biological wastewater treatment plant that breaks down and extracts substances in wastewater. The treated water is then discharged into the Ur tributary. The IAZI has high treatment efficiencies, in part because the microorganisms in the IAZI adapt to the Chemelot site’s substances.
Circle is looking to the future. It works with the companies on the Chemelot site on optimization projects and studies with knowledge institutions. Circle is exploring both opportunities to reduce water and chemical consumption and further improve wastewater treatment. Of course, Circle is also looking at “zero-emission designs” of new plants and improvements at existing plants whenever possible. All this is to ultimately minimize the use of conditioning agents and make Chemelot as environmentally friendly as possible.