Reduce Rinse Water Use

Most of the hazardous waste in surface finishing comes from wastewater that is generated by rinse water. Due to the substantial amount of this waste, within this $155 billion dollar industry, companies are taking quick action to mitigate the environmental risk associated with dumping, and consumption. One of the major steps is though pollution prevention planning and water conservation.

Pollution Prevention Planning

These plans must be communicated through the entire company, so that the people responsible can become aware of the issues and take appropriate actions to help with the solution. Steps for this process include:

1. Initiating and communicating the plan.
2. Identifying all of the waste streams.
3. Setting priorities, and responsibilities of action.
4. Establishing the root cause of the waste (in this case it is the consumption of rinse water).
5. Identifying and implementing changes.
6. Measuring the results.

Reducing Consumption

When it comes to consumption, reducing the high amount of rinse water usage can be a challenge.
The Application of equipment and line placement must be maximized in a way that also conserves water.

Some techniques for reducing rinse water consumption include:

• A drag-out following treatment which lowers contamination in other tanks.
• Adding the number of rinses from 1 to 2, or from 2 to 3.
• Using spray nozzles for quick removal of surface films.
• Using fog nozzles geared towards rack operations.
• Rinse tank controllers to control the volume of water.
• Flow restrictors and aerators to reduce water flow and increase agitation.

Treatment Systems

In addition to the above, adding a wastewater treatment system will be crucial to eliminating virtually all of the wastewater for disposal, or haul-away. Systems used for treating process water include: Reverse Osmosis, Ultrafiltration, Vacuum Evaporators, Ultraviolet, and Ozone treatment.

PRAB has divisions for metal chip processing, fluid filtration, conveyors, and industrial wastewater treatment product lines. If you wish to speak to, or make an appointment with one of our product specialists for any of these divisions, please contact PRAB at (269) 665-1085.