Wastewater Management Initial Steps

There are two initial steps that companies can take to help reduce their wastewater volumes:

1) Generate less wastewater by better controlling manufacturing processes.

2) Recycle the process/manufacturing waters, if cost-effective and practical.

1. Generate Less Wastewater

Companies should focus on controlling manufacturing variables that can directly reduce wastewater generation. But there is a caveat: manufacturers should be careful that their waste-reduction effort does not create critical and negative manufacturing issues nor erode product quality (produce rejects). The pursuit of environmental compliance should not become the "disposal tail that wags the production dog".

2. Recycling

Recycling is potentially a good approach for reducing wastewater volumes and, when appropriate, reusing process chemistries. This is often the preferred method when handling large volumes of wastewater or when the new process chemistry is expensive.

Traditional methods of recycling can often be time consuming and expensive. In addition, traditional efforts can often generate "out-of-spec" water that is not reusable or dischargeable (see Issues to Consider, for other concerns).

The Samsco WasteSaver™ Vacuum Evaporator and the Samsco EnviroStill Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) evaporator now offer a better alternative to traditional recycling methods.

These technologies produce "distilled water" that typically exceeds most incoming city water specifications. In addition, the concentrated chemistry can often be reused because the process is conducted under vacuum at a relatively low temperature.

For more information see The WasteSaver Vacuum Evaporator and The EnviroStill MVR Evaporator.

Issues to Consider

Heavy commitment to the daily management of wastewater chemistry

• Time
• Discipline
• Manpower
• Training
• Cost

Even if all recycling conditions are consistently met:

• Endpoint of the chemical life of process waters is inevitable
• Spent process waters still require a disposal plan and methodology (typically hauling off-site or evaporation)
• Method is inflexible and cannot handle multiple, varying waste streams