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94% water reuse rate secures operations in drought-prone Santo André region, saving 133 olympic pools worth of fresh water annually.
Solvay, operating as Rhodia in Brazil, and Veolia announced a groundbreaking achievement in water resilience. The Santo André industrial plant now recycles 94% of the water it consumes, saving 133 olympic swimming pools worth of fresh water every year. This achievement directly addresses the severe drought risk in the São Paulo region, effectively de-risking the plant operations and driving it toward near-total water independence.
The partnership leveraged Veolia's expertise in water technologies to transform the existing wastewater facility into a high-quality recovery system. Instead of building new infrastructure, Veolia integrated its advanced ZeeWeed™MBR membrane technology into the current one. This smart upgrade created a closed-loop system, continuously converting effluent into high-quality water for the plant industrial processes.
This achievement is the direct result of years of strategic investments and continuous improvements of Solvay’s processes. The successful partnership with Veolia, now operating for over a year under a 10-year contract, sets a reliable standard for how industry can secure its future by managing water responsibly.
“The significant improvement in water recovery now allows us to use it reliably across more applications”, stated Ronia Oisiovici, Rhodia’s Sustainability & R&I Manager. “It is a fundamental shift toward the circular economy that is fully aligned with Solvay’s commitment to reduce freshwater withdrawal in water-stressed locations globally.”
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 how we work with our 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.”
The Santo André plant is Solvay's near-century-old hub for textile innovation in Brazil. Since 1929, it has driven market revolutions, first with "artificial silk" and later with synthetic fibers. Today, it is a critical producer of advanced, sustainable polymers - like Emana®, Amni®, and Rhodianyl® - that shape the global textile and engineering plastics industries.
Contacts
| Solvay | Veolia |
|---|---|
| Peter Boelaert External Communication Director +32 479 30 91 59 | Manon Painchaud Global Media Relations Water Tech Tel.+1 418 573 2735 |
| Laetitia Van Minnenbruggen Media Relations Manager +32 484 65 30 47 | Diego Fuentes Head of Marketing & Communications Water Tech LATAM Tel.+55 (11) 971 36 57 52 |
Solvay, a pioneering chemical company with a legacy rooted in founder Ernest Solvay's pivotal innovations in the soda ash process, is dedicated to delivering essential solutions globally through its workforce of over 9,000 employees. Since 1863, Solvay harnesses the power of chemistry to create innovative, sustainable solutions that answer the world’s most essential needs such as purifying the air we breathe and the water we drink, preserving our food supplies, protecting our health and well-being, creating eco-friendly clothing, making the 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.
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 Environment (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