Organoclay Sacks Sack Use, Bags Bucks

Pollution Online in Jan. 2000 carried the article, "Organoclay Keeps Activated Carbon Working." (Click here to reference the article.)

The POL article described the basic premise for the use of organoclay. The study that follows describes an actual situation where organoclay was beneficially applied to improve a messy situation.

Problem
A metal-plating company uses rust preventive in a cleaning bath. The process produces a wastewater that contains suspended solids, 10- to 20-ppm oil, heavy metals, and calcium and magnesium. The system runs at 36 GPM.

The treatment train for the water cleanup comprises a sand filter, bag filters, an ion-exchange-resin tank with both cationic and anionic resins, and an RO system for removing salts and soaps.

Every day of operation cost the facility U.S.$60 for bags. Also each week, the resin required regenerating and both the resin tanks and RO membranes had to be cleaned. The cost of resin regeneration was as much as to $10/cu ft. Plus, each cleanup caused associate disruptions.

Solution
The sand in the sand filter was replaced with organoclay, reducing the oil content of the water to less than 1 ppm and, hence, the load on the filtration and ion-exchange systems.

Result
The facility is now saving $50 a day on bags. Cleanup of the RO membranes and ion-exchange tanks plus regeneration of resins now is done every two to three weeks, reducing cleanup and regeneration costs by 1/2 to 1/3.

Contact: Biomin, Inc., George Alther, Ferndale, MI. Tel: 248-544-2552; Fax: 249-544-3733; E-mail: biomin@aol.com.

Edited by Paul Hersch