MacDermid Envio Shows Aerospace Manufacturer the Value of Versatile Wastewater Systems

The implementation of flexible wastewater system with batch treatment saves aerospace manufacturer money

Wastewater treatment within aerospace manufacturing is often a multi-step process, especially for organizations that deal with heavy metals, chemical finishes, and oil and grease. Contaminants such as cadmium cyanide make it difficult for some manufacturers to meet strict discharge limits without investing in state-of-the-art technology. One southern California-based aerospace manufacturer had an evaporator-based wastewater treatment system that was too costly and less effective than it needed to be. Rather than using pretreatment with automation prior to evaporation, all wastewater was sent directly to the evaporator.

Aerospace manufacturer was paying too much for a less effective wastewater solution

Evaporation without pretreatment created several problems for the aerospace manufacturer. Higher wastewater concentrations required more energy for evaporation. In addition, TSS built up within the evaporator and required continual cleaning — about a week of downtime every month. Cleaning required additional labor, which reduced the company’s available workforce and flexibility, and sludge removal costs were high. By creating more sludge, the manufacturer unnecessarily increased its wastewater treatment costs. Overall, the process took more time than necessary. Without an effective pretreatment wastewater system, the company was paying more than it needed to for a less effective solution. Treatment was becoming unacceptably expensive and less effective than required, plus an efficient means of cadmium cyanide destruction was needed.

Innovative multi-step process used to reduce wastewater treatment costs

MacDermid Envio saw that simply sending wastewater to the evaporator was not an efficient practice. In this case, less technology and equipment meant higher costs, greater maintenance and poor results. Instead, MacDermid Envio’s team showed the manufacturer how it could optimize its evaporator with better feed water and by using the method as a step in the process, not a one-stop solution. Implementing ion exchange for water recycle and batch treatment for solids removal changed everything for the better. Wastewater is now clean enough for effective evaporation.