How a Wastewater Treatment Chemicals Plant Saved Over $40,000 a Year

The Texas site of an international chemical manufacturer wanted to improve its wastewater process and reduce filtering costs at the same time. After careful onsite testing and study, Ronningen-Petter developed and fabricated a special MAX-LOAD 740 Series filter cartridge for the removal of suspended nickel particles from reactor clean-out wastewater. The new filter cartridges are providing high quality filtering, as well as significant savings in wastewater filtering costs.

(PRWEB) September 10, 2005 -- Situation

Nickel, sand, dirt, and insulation must be removed from the chemical plant wastewater before it is delivered to an offsite public waste-treatment facility. The raney nickel catalyst that remains suspended in the clean-out water used to hydro blast the reactors must be reduced by at least 50% prior to wastewater dumping. Through sampling and reporting, the chemical company is required to show the local environmental agencies that they have successfully reduced the wastewater nickel content to at least the maximum allowable downstream limit of 29 pounds (13 kg) of nickel per day. A typical five-day cleaning of the reactors can produce from 30 to 80 pounds (13-36 kg) of nickel daily, at flow rates from 180 gpm (680 l/min) down to 50 gpm (190 l/min) at terminal differential pressure. Filter life is also an important consideration in the wastewater process. The plant requires a filter life of at least eight hours to provide continuous filtering during an eight-hour shift.

Ronningen-Petter Solution

During a five-day plant review, Ronningen-Petter conducted testing to determine which filtering media would best remove nickel at the desired efficiencies and, at the same time, offers the greatest dirt holding capacity. The solution was a filter cartridge specifically developed for this chemical plant by Ronningen-Petter to address both the regulatory requirements and internal requirements of the facility. The specially configured MAX-LOAD 740 Series High Efficiency Filter Cartridge is a 15-micron, all polypropylene, absolute filter cartridge rated BETA 5000, with efficiencies of 99.98%. It was developed, fabricated, tested, approved, and adopted as the filter of choice for the removal of suspended nickel particles from reactor clean-out wastewater at the chemical plant. The engineer in charge of the chemical plant's wastewater treatment process was most impressed by Ronningen-Petter's consultative approach and testing procedure. Rather than

simply "throwing filters" at the application and hoping for success, Ronningen-Petter brought laboratory test equipment and media samples into the chemical company's own laboratory and established test procedures and protocols with the company's laboratory personnel.

Results

Careful testing by Ronningen-Petter provided plant engineers with the solid data they needed to make the best filtering choice. With the installation of Ronningen-Petter MAX-LOAD 740 Series High Efficiency Filters in the wastewater process, the chemical manufacturer is able to maintain high quality filtering of wastewater, and at the same time, reduce reactor clean-out costs by as much as 24%. MAX-LOAD cartridges have a higher loading capacity, which means they run longer between change-outs and require fewer total change-outs. This translates into lower waste disposal costs, reduced operator labor, and fewer process shutdowns. At the chemical plant, with ten scheduled reactor clean-outs each year, these cost reductions have added up to real annual

savings of $40,000 to $52,000 USD.

Statistics

Increased dirt loading capacity = reduced waste.

Lower waste disposal = reduced costs, friendlier to the environment.

Reduced operator labor = reduced labor costs, increased efficiency.

Estimated cost savings = $40,000 to $52,000 annually.

by Ask Filter Man

For questions about industrial filtration, please visit the Ask Filter Man at http://www.ronningen-petter.com/Ask-Filter-Man-Blog.asp

If you would like to discuss this filtration solution with one of Ronningen-Petter's highly-trained Applications Specialists, please contact us at http://www.ronningen-petter.com/ContactUs/Contact-Us.asp

www.Ronningen-Petter.com

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