Chemicals are a crucial part of the process in the production of high-quality drinking water and in wastewater treatment. Wibax delivers products to municipal water and wastewater treatment plants, amongst many others – a public service fundamental to building communities that are sustainable in the long term.
Wibax works every day, round the clock, to provide customers throughout the Nordic countries with products. Our tankers transport chemicals that are used for water purification, pharmaceuticals and cellulose refinement in the paper pulp industry, amongst many other things. Along all of Sweden’s coastline, Wibax has storage facilities of its own, with a total capacity of 465,000 cubic metres for liquid goods. This amount of control ensures a unique supply chain, offering a high quality of service and security of supply.
“The total solution approach, encompassing the entire supply chain for chemicals, makes us unique in the business”, explains Frank Ljungstedt, Sales Manager Bulk Chemicals, Wibax.
Water purification products
One of Wibax’ many functions, important to society, is our role in delivering chemicals for water and wastewater purification. This requires a mix of bulk and specialty chemicals, such as a flocculant that helps filter dirt and particles out of the untreated water. Additionally, chemicals are required to keep the water at the right pH level, to prevent bacterial contamination.
“It’s a matter of minor but important additives required to produce high quality drinking water”, explains Urban Haugen, Operations Manager Specialty Chemicals.
Waste water treatment is a similar but slightly more advanced process. Waste water contains many oxygen depleting substances and particles than drinking water, which makes purification a more difficult process.
“Chemicals need to be added for a number of reasons, one being the flocculation and sedimentation into waste products, such as debris that is removed and incinerated, and sludge. The water that passes through these stages must also be processed in stages of bio-purification, to produce waste water with a suitably low content of oxygen depleting substances”, explains Haugen.
Global collaboration
In spite of current global uncertainties, Wibax has not had any disruptions in the chemicals supply chain. As the pandemic broke out in China, we immediately started drafting backup plans to cover any event whereby certain deliveries might become unavailable. Luckily, however, no such issues have occurred thus far.
“An important part of the plan is that our maritime shipping providers have good contingency plans for various situations and can act quickly to ensure uninterrupted deliveries. Another crucial element is the fact that all European borders have remained open to goods transportation by road”, explains Ljungstedt.
Every now and then, global shortages of particular chemicals do occur. One year, it was formic acid, important in the fishing industry, and last year there was a shortage of the flocculant chemical, aluminium sulphate.
“It’s not uncommon for global events to affect the availability of certain raw materials, and it is a scenario we are accustomed to working with. Thanks to our collaboration with a number of suppliers all over the world, we can quickly make alternative arrangements if the need arises”, says Ljungstedt.
