With the completion of the Wynnum Water Reclamation Plant upgrade, a micro filtration reserve osmosis (MFRO) plant is now being installed to supply the refinery with high quality recycled water.

When the MFRO plant is built in early 2008, the Lytton refinery will save up to 4.5 million litres of potable water a day by using recycled water for about 85% of its total water needs.

The refinery currently uses water to operate its cooling towers and to generate steam, and for the oil refining process.

Work has commenced on the MFRO plant and, over the coming months, infrastructure costing $5.5 million will be built, including delivery pipes, control and chemical dosing systems.

Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government provided the majority of funds for the water reclamation and MFRO plants, but $4 million came from Caltex's own coffers.

With the completion of the Wynnum Water Reclamation Plant upgrade, a micro filtration reserve osmosis (MFRO) plant is now being installed to supply the refinery with high quality recycled water.

The opening of the $28 million Wynnum Water reclamation plant upgrade also means the amount of nitrogen discharged into Moreton Bay will be reduced from 75 tonnes per year to just 11 tonnes per year - a reduction of 85%.

As part of the upgrade, old treatment equipment was replaced with a Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) system. In the BNR process, bacteria is used to convert nitrogen in the liquid to nitrogen gas which escapes into the atmosphere rather than going into Brisbane's waterways.

The chemical disinfection of wastewater has also been replaced with a more environmentally friendly and safer ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection, which further eliminates chemicals treated in wastewater.

The project also slightly increased the capacity of the Wynnum plant from 8.5 to nine megalitres per day to help cater for the region's growing population.