Wastewater treatment is paramount when removing a variety of heavy metals, abrasives and oils from the effluent resulting from the surface finishing process.
Not only is having a good wastewater solution in place a responsible environmental measure, but it also facilitates recycling and lowers processing costs.
To help you understand the importance of the effluent process and how to treat wastewater effectively, we’ve compiled everything you need to know:
Why is it important to treat wastewater?
The treatment of effluent water serves to protect the environment, wildlife, and human health, before being discharged into oceans, rivers, and streams.
If industrial water becomes contaminated or polluted, the treatment ensures it is made reusable before being released back into the environment. If the effluent is not treated correctly, you will not produce clean water that is usable for your mass finishing process, so it is imperative to widen your knowledge on how to treat wastewater effectively.
What is the effluent treatment process?
Effluent treatment requires thorough research beforehand. To understand how to treat wastewater, first you need to find out your country’s specific regulations. This enables you to dispose of the effluent resulting from the finishing process. Then you need to know if you can recycle the processed water or not.
Recycling the wastewater is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective treatment method as it allows you to repurpose the water and compound, however, there are some cases where this is not possible:
- An acidic compound is used in the mass finishing process
- Several compounds are used in the process
- The component surface requires a certain degree of cleanliness at all times
- Components manufactured from different materials that are mass finished
Knowing if you can recycle the water or not will allow you to determine which effluent treatment system and consumables you need. For example, if the effluent has to be discharged into the drain post-treatment in the centrifuge, you would need to add flocculants in the treatment process.
What effluent treatment systems can I use?
At ActOn Finishing, we provide a variety of treatment solutions so you can determine how to best treat wastewater depending on your requirements;
Batch centrifuge – The Batch Centrifuge unit is designed to work in the most effective manner to treat the discharge water from mass finishing, either suitable for recycling or discharge to the foul drain as dictated by the process. The solids are captured in the basket of the centrifuge and then disposed of based on country specific regulations.
Automatic centrifuge – The ActOn AAC-36 Centrifuge allows for treating of wastewater discharged from finishing machines. Using cost effective methodology, it provides efficient effluent treatment by removing the solids before discharging into the drain, and water recycling to be further used in finishing processes.
Recirculation tank – Working as a highly cost-effective solution, the Recirculation Tank is effective when processing small quantities of effluent prior to discharging it into the drain.
Settlement tank – Connected to the drain of the finishing machine, the effluent in the Settlement Tank is discharged from the vibratory machine into this tank. Solids that settle out in the tank chamber can be removed with ease by the operator with the removable baskets.
A new way to treat wastewater
At ActOn we believe that an effective way to treat wastewater is through a combination of equipment technology, such as the ActOn Finishing Centrifuge System, and water cleaning products including flocculants and coagulants. Depending on the effluent content, there are times that a flocculant is not enough to carry out the cleaning process, hence the discharge from the mass finishing process will be first treated with a coagulant.
As mentioned, the best way to determine how to treat wastewater is through conducting trials. At ActOn Finishing we can collect and determine the right way to treat the effluent, just ask for a free trial with us today.
To arrange your free trial and consultation or to find out further information on how to treat wastewater, please get in touch with ActOn Finishing and our team of experts will lend a helping hand.