Ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis Wastewater Treatment

Background

The Eaton Corporation’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) was designed to treat oily wastewater produced from manufacturing automotive parts with ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis.
The systems and sub-systems are initiated by tank levels during normal operation. The UF, RO and metals removal systems will each operate in batch mode.

The batch of each specific process will automatically initiate the subsequent process batch in a cascading pattern. Any interruption of the batch process can be suspended due to tank level (feed tank low or effluent tank high) but will automatically resume when the operating levels are restored.
During any process suspension, the individual process or processes will automatically “self-preserve” (flushing, displacements).

Challenge

Wastewater from the manufacturing process in the plant is too contaminated to be put to drain. Multiple parameters exceed discharge limits and without onsite treatment, contaminated wastewater would need to be trucked away for treatment offsite.
This comes with considerable cost and environmental impact.

Solution

Process Overview

• Raw wastewater produced from Eaton`s manufacturing facility is collected in three raw wastewater storage tanks
• The UF Feed system pumps the raw wastewater from these storage tanks into the UF feed tank
• From the UF feed tank, the raw wastewater is drawn into the UF system to separate contaminants such as oil from water
• The concentrate from the UF system is directed to waste oil storage tanks
• When it is time to dispose of the waste oil, the waste oil system pumps the fluid from the storage tanks to discharge
• The permeate from the UF system is sent to the RO feed tank
• The RO transfer system pumps the water from the RO feed tank to the RO system
• The RO permeate is sent to the process water storage tank to be reused within the manufacturing facility and reduce the facility’s total water consumption.
• The concentrate is sent to the RO concentrate tank
• The chemical feed system doses chemicals to the UF and RO systems as required
• Raw wastewater produced from the chrome plating system, stored in the chrome storage tank, is pumped in batches from the storage tank to the chrome treatment system
• The solids collected in this process are disposed of and the treated water is sent to the raw wastewater tanks
• The oil and chrome sump systems pump wastewater from the sumps to the designated locations