Meanwhile, the firm is collaborating with an expert from GE on
sustainability. This has led to assessments particularly aimed
at reducing water consumption at a number of Air Products'
facilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia. A number of best
practices and improvement opportunities for better controlling
water use have emerged from these assessments. Among the options
to reduce fresh water consumption being evaluated are use of
gray water (used water that contains a variety of contaminants)
and increased water recycling. During 2010, Air Products
recycled or reclaimed 2.1 billion gallons of water. Some
examples of successful water reclamation and recycling include:
1.5 billion gallons of water from recycled process condensate
from global hydrogen production; 37 million gal/year of boiler
feed water from removing oil and minerals from an Illinois
refinery's wastewater; and 565 million gal/year of process
feedwater from local recycled industrial and sanitary grey water
in Edmonton, Alta., preserving the water i