FAIRMOUNT SANTROL’S FRESH WATER REDUCTION EFFORTS IN INDUSTRIAL SAND PRODUCTION

Fairmount Santrol is an industry leader in the area of Sustainable Development. Our business model focuses on what we identify as the three pillars of sustainable development—People, Planet, and Prosperity. Environmental stewardship is a fundamental element of the way we operate, not only because it is critical to our prosperity, but because we strongly believe it is simply the right thing to do. Water is critical to Fairmount Santrol’s operations, and we proactively identify ways to reduce our water footprint by working to measure water inputs, outputs, and use. We work to reduce overall consumption and recycle water through a closed-loop process.

Initial efforts in fresh water reductions for the processing of industrial sand took place in Fairmount Santrol’s Northern Region, mainly in Wisconsin. The best practices we identified in this region have been shared and implemented throughout all of our Fairmount Santrol facilities. In 2009, Fairmount Santrol tracked fresh water usage from all wells on site at each location and compared fresh water usage to tons of sand washed/produced at their facilities. Total water usage is tracked on a gallons per ton basis for both fresh and recycled water. Through process improvements and new implemented technologies Fairmount Santrol was able to reduce fresh water usage by over 90% at one Wisconsin facility, 75% at another, and nearly 50% at our newest Wisconsin facility since operations began at that site. All Northern facilities now recycle nearly 95% of their process water.

Implementation of various technologies and improved process controls such as water clarifiers, improved chemistries, pumping, sand filtration, drain tiles under stockpiles, and other technologies for water recovery have greatly enhanced the recovery efforts of clean water recycled throughout the wash process. These best practices have not only reduced the amount of fresh water required per ton in the wash process, but also improved the quality of the final products.

Fairmount Santrol continues to review water practices, usage, and environmental impacts through its Clean Water Sustainable Development Team as well as through continuous improvement at its individual facilities.