You are here:
TREATMENT OF ORGANIC CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING WASTEWATER FOR REUSE
Citation:
Scherm, M., P. Thomasson, L. Boone, AND L. Magelssen. TREATMENT OF ORGANIC CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING WASTEWATER FOR REUSE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/2-79/184.
Description:
This research demonstrated the quality of water produced by each step of a state-of-the-art, commercially available process sequence and determined the feasibility and economics of renovating organic chemical watewater for reuse as boiler feedwater or cycle cooling water. The 5-gpm pilot facility, located in Puerto Rico in the organic chemical manufacturing plant of Union Carbide Caribe Inc., consisted of sedimentation/filtration, carbon adsorption, pressure filtration, reverse osmosis, and ion-exchange. A pilot-scale boiler tested the product water as boiler feedwater at pressures, temperatures, and heat fluxes typical of full-scale manufacturing facilities. A pilot-scale cooling tower and heat exchangers determined feasibility as cycle cooling water makeup and chemical treatment requirements for makeup waters of varying quality from different points in the treatment sequence. The pilot boiler operated successfully at 180,000 BTU/sq ft-hr, 1500 psig, and 750 F superheat temperature with renovated wastewater. The cooling water test-loop studies indicated that special metallurgy would be required for the use of this renovated wastewater for cooling water. The total annualized cost of wastewater renovation to boiler feedwater quality at 67 percent water recovery, not including the cost of sludge or brine disposal, was $7.50/1000 gallons of product water in 1978.