Difficult Wastewater Constituents 1

[luck3356]

I am trying to provide a solution for a domestic wastewater treatment problem that has unique constituents that are very difficult to get rid of. I believe that I can handle all the organics including TSS, BOD and nitrate levels with an Upflow Sludge Blanket Filtration (USBF) system, but I have no idea what to do with the other constituents that are present. Perhaps membrane filtration or reverse osmosis are options but I'm not even sure who to contact for that.

Please take a look at the following list of constituents and suggest a treatment solution. The first two numbers in the data set are successive readings the last number is the regulatory criteria.

Volatile Organics
Chloroform g/L 43.4 4.1 1.1
Dichlorobromomethane g/L 2.30 0.1 0.56
Inorganics
Aluminum g/L 104 162 87
Chromium (hexavalent) g/L NA 4 0.2
Copper g/L 9.5 10.1 3.8

Other Constituents
Chloride mg/L 111 32 106
Nitrate (as N) mg/L 37.0 26. 0 10
Specific Conductance (EC) uS/cm 1170 869 700
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) mg/L 688 620 450

Chloride, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) are all indications of salt in the water. Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen and for this reason is of concern because of the designated beneficial use of the receiving watershed as a domestic supply and, consequently, human health.

 

[bimr]

You would probably want to investigate membrane filtration + RO.

You need to desalinate about 50% of the waste stream using an RO process and then blend that stream with the other 50% (not treated by RO) to get the final water quality.

 

[luck3356]

Can you suggest any suppliers that I can engage?

 

[CivEnvEng98]

RO membranes:

toyobo
toray
US filter, Inc.
Applied Membranes, Inc.
GE
Koch

Go to their websites and look for the links to Local Reps.

Just know that:
1) RO has very high energy costs
2) The waste stream (aka concentrate) in some locals are very tough to permit it's disposal.

 

[luck3356]

Thanks for the lead and the warning.

 

[kenvlach]

pH?
Units perhaps mg/L?
Discharging to a POTW?

Try electrocoagulation -- breaks down organic molecules & inorganic complexes, reduces Cr(+6), buffers pH, and helps precipitate metals. Get a lab-size loaner unit from a supplier.

Some electrocoagulation info & suppliers:

http://www.powellwater.com/

http://www.kaselco.com/

http://www.oiltrap.com/Water_Treatment/

 

[bimr]

Refer to:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=174423&page=1