Minimizing Liquid Wastes = Water Conservation

We define Pretreatment as something you can do with the Liquid before you have to dispose of it. Something you can do before you have to send it through a formal waste treatment process or waste treatment plant at your facility. Pretreatment can help minimize liquid wastes. Perhaps by utilizing a Pretreatment Approach you can minimize what you send down the drain.

Water Treatment Testing - Expensive & Complicated

• The proper authorities can help you determine which tests are appropriate
• As a firm we will not do the testing ourselves because the regulations determine a lot of times which tests are appropriate and must be done on a scheduled basis to prove compliance.
• Most Important: Make sure the tests you employ to prove a filtration or pretreatment system are the same tests you will be required to have to monitor compliance in the future.
• Different Tests for Different Contaminants.
• Different Tests for the Same Contaminant.
• Copper & Zinc have been hot items for a while now. Are the Copper & Zinc that you have in your water above limits on Suspended and/or Dissolved? It makes a big difference on how they can be removed.
• TPH & Fats, Oil & Greases(FOG) can be tested in a number of ways and the types of tests for compliance are mandated. You have to determine which tests are mandated in your area and design your Pretreatment around the results of those specific mandated tests.
• When our clients work with us, we make sure that our equipment selections are piloted and verified in accordance with the specific mandated tests.

Types of Contaminants

• Suspended - Particles
• Free Oil
• Emulsions - Oils - TPH - Fats & Greases
• Dissolved - Ionic
• Organics & Solvents

Dead Ended Filtration

The simplest and most common type of filtration. The liquid with the contaminant flows into a housing under pressure. Clean liquid is forced through the “Filter Element” in the housing with the contaminants left behind on the element. You ultimately have to dispose of the element with the contaminants.

• Bag Filters
• Cartridge Filters
• Pressure Filters
• Moving Bed Filters

Cross Flow Filtration

These are concentration processes. The liquid with the contaminant flows into a housing under pressure. Clean liquid is forced through the “Filter Element” in the housing with a waste stream containing all of the contaminants. You can concentrate up to several cycles - down to often 5 to 10 % of the original waste volume but then you have to dispose of the now contaminant concentrated Liquid in an approved manner.

• Ultrafiltration
• Microfiltration
• Reverse Osmosis

Tank or Container Based Removal

These processes have you pass a contaminant through a container full of material. The contaminant is left behind in the material. You then have to dispose of the material in an approved fashion.

• Carbon
• Adsorbants
• Ion Exchange

Types of Processes

• Metalworking Coolants
• Process Particle Removal
• Spent Coolants - Volume Reduction Before Disposal

Washing & Rinsing

Wash Waters - Kept Clean - For cleaning of oil based contaminants and preparation for finishing. Types of Contaminants - Suspended Particles and Oil.
Detergents - Kept Clean - For cleaning of oil based contaminants and preparation for finishing. Newer Detergents which I think you are going to hear about here in this seminar can greatly minimize disposal by “Splitting Out” the Oil Contaminant.Types of Contaminants - Suspended Particles and Oil.

Etchants - For preparing metalworking parts for finishing

Rinses - Kept Clean for Longer Runs. Remove the residue from the washes and etchants from the part as final preparation for finishing. Almost always these are contaminated with Total Dissolved Solids(TDS) as well as the other contaminants. To reuse rinses, you must remove the TDS. The only way to remove the TDS is with Ion Exchange.

Dragout - Minimize

Gray Area - Never Have To Clean a Detergent Because There’s so much Dragout that all the concentrated Detergent Gets Carried into the Rinses. This Prematurely Saturates the Rinses. Sometimes you can simply add a pre-rinse tank and make-up back to the detergent tank from it.

Cooling Tower Water

Filter (Remove Solids) & Use UV for increasing "Cycles of Concentration". This also saves energy by simply keeping the tubes cleaner. This of vcourse results in more efficient heat transfer.

Removal of Contaminants

To Remove Suspended Particles

• Bag Filters
• Cartridge Filters & Other Pressure Type Filters
• Moving Bed Type Filters
• Sand Filters
• Sidestream Filtration

To Remove Free Oil

• Skimmers
• Oil Wheels
• Emulsions - Oils - TPH - Fats & Greases

Ultrafiltration to Minimize Waste Volume of Spent Emulsions

• Simple Filtration to Maintain Solutions
• Dissolved - Ionic - For Rinses
• Ion Exchange
• Selective Ion Exchange
• Reverse Osmosis

Organics & Solvent Contaminated Solutions

Skimmers for "Free Oil" Oil Sheen
Use Tank Based Adsorbants - Such as Carbon and/or Organo-clays Remove
Carbon Filters - Tank Based - Often the simplest and easiest to use.