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ETV REPORT: EVALUATION OF HYDROMETRICS, INC., HIGH EFFICIENCY REVERSE OSMOSIS (HERO™) INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
Citation:
Cushnie, G. C. AND D. Brown. ETV REPORT: EVALUATION OF HYDROMETRICS, INC., HIGH EFFICIENCY REVERSE OSMOSIS (HERO™) INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM. EPA/600/R-02/004, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
Information.
Description:
Hydrometrics, founded in 1979 and located in Helena, MT, manufactures a commercial-ready High Efficiency Reverse Osmosis (HERO™) industrial wastewater treatment system. The system uses a three-stage reverse osmosis process to remove and concentrate metals for recovery while producing high-quality product water for recycle and reuse. A mobile pilot-scale HERO™ unit installed after a conventional wastewater treatment system at Honeywell Federal Mfg. and Technology's Kansas City Plant (KCP), Kansas City, MO, provided a test setting for verification of the technology on a wastewater stream. The test evaluated the unit's ability to treat and recycle post-treated wastewater for reuse within the facility. Wastewater parameters included metals from metal finishing and rinsing operations, hardness, alkalinity, specific conductivity, residual chlorine, sulfate, sulfides, nitrate, total dissolved solids and cyanide from the conventional wastewater treatment system. Other parameters were monitored in order to determine external water quality standards compliance, such as local regulatory discharge as well as KCP recycled water quality standards. All analytical results for key parameters are shown in the verification report and statement. The test results show that the HERO™ system provided an environmental benefit by treating the KCP's industrial wastewater for reuse within the facility, thereby reducing the amount of fresh makeup water required each day. The HERO™ system achieved a very high recovery of the treated water (94%) and a high membrane flux rate (1.6 times higher than the conventional norm). Additionally, there was no indication of membrane fouling during the verification test period. A cost analysis of the HERO™ system was performed using current operating costs and historical records from the KCP normalized to a cost/savings per gal of treated water. The estimated capital cost (2001) of a HERO™ system able to process the KCP average of 86,000 gpd of industrial wastewater is $270,000 (includes $216,000 for the system and $54,000 for installation costs.) The annual cost savings associated with processing 86,000 gpd of waste through the unit is estimated to be $60,065, and the payback period is approximately 4.5 years.