What are the specific characteristics of the wastewater?
Be careful what you use to neutralize. Remember heat of mixing. Avoid strong acids; consider weak acids.
piolom, Carbon dioxide is a good choice for certain types of alkaline neutraization dependent on the chemical causing the alkalinity as well as its concentration. As for acids, they too are dependent of the chemical causing the alklinity, as well as the type of neutrlizaton salts that will be generated. Without specific data on the waste stream including the mass flow, this is as detailed as I can get.
piolom, The basic acid/base neutralization reaction follows teh following form:
HX (acid)+BOH (base)>>>BX (salt)+H2O
CO2 may be an effective reactant in your case. Although the amount required for 50,000 gpd flow may be a little high. You'll need to run a titration on the waste water/co2 reactant to see what the curve looks like and the required quantities. In fact, if you check with Carbonic at the following site they will work up the curves for you, do a feasibility study, and design a system for you. That site is:
For neutralizing an alkaline stream containing this much Ca, consider using hydrochloric acid. This avoids precipitation of solids. CaCl[sub]2[/sub] is highly soluble whereas carbonates, sulfates, etc. are not.
It would be best to do a titration to determine total alkalinity, but a neutralization calculation based upon pH is quite simple:
For pH 12, [OH[sup]-[/sup]] = 10[sup]-2[/sup] = 0.01 moles/L
Hence, neutralization will require [H[sup]+[/sup]] = 10[sup]-2[/sup] = 0.01 moles/L:
OH[sup]-[/sup] + H[sup]+[/sup] = H[sub]2[/sub]O
As the source for H[sup]+[/sup], can use technical grade hydrochloric acid (37 wt%, SG 1.19).
Since HCl has FW of 36.46, the hydrochloric acid contains [HCl] = [H[sup]+[/sup]] = 12 moles/L.
Hence, to supply 0.01 mole H[sup]+[/sup] requires 0.01/12 = 0.000833 L of hydrochloric acid.
To neutralize 1 m[sup]3[/sup] of alkaline solution would require 0.833 L of hydrochloric acid of this concentration. In order to greatly reduce the HCl(g) pressure, I would use hydrochloric acid of lower concentration, e.g., 30 wt%, if available. For 30 wt% HCl, 1.03 L would be required for neutralization of 1 m[sup]3[/sup] of alkaline solution.
BTW, it is suggested that you retain someone with experience in this area as there are various hazards that can be remediated somewhat through proper design.
While CO2 seems to be somewhat non-hazardous, you should note that
1. It is a toxic gas being handled at a hazardous pressure.
2. As you add CO2, it will be generating solid waste (sludge). The CO2 reacts with the calcium in the water to form CaCO3.
3. You will need equipment for CO2 dilution and mixing. Probably more expensive than using acid.
The most commonly used acid used for neutralizing for this application is H2SO4.
A few questions for you? Why are you running this through a limestone filter? I don't believe that a limestone filter is capable of putting out a pH of 11-12. Limestone filters are usually called neutralizing filters for a reason.