Achievements

Waste water treatment units

Wash water treatment for a penetrant testing process

Our Montreal-based customer, a world-renowned manufacturer of aerospace fasteners and assembly components, is looking to treat its industrial water. Two different effluents are involved in their production process: cutting oils used for cooling during machining of parts, and rinsing water from the penetrant testing bench. Both applications generate up to 900 L of wastewater per day.

Expensive water storage

With no industrial water treatment plant, our customer has to store its wastewater until it can be disposed of by an external waste treatment company, at a cost of CAD 400 per m3. Storing contaminants in this way entails storage costs and constraints, as well as presenting a definite environmental risk. So our customer wanted to treat its production wastewater so that it could be discharged into the sewer in full compliance, while also reducing operating costs and eliminating on-site storage.

A solution for lowering suspended solids levels

Cutting oil water flocculation test
Cutting oil water flocculation test

Two separate samples were supplied by our customer for testing and analysis by our NISKAE laboratory experts. The first sample consisted of cutting oils taken directly from the machining machine tank. With a dosage of 3.0 g/L, our tailor-made coagulant-flocculant formulation produced a sludge percentage of just a few percent, non-sticky and easily dewatered for easy filtration using filter bags.

Gravity filtration and separation of sludge ensures ease of implementation and operation for our customer. In addition, our specific reagent was able to lower the suspended solids content. The second sample, the rinsing water from the penetrant testing bench, is the result of a process for checking microcracks by applying a penetrating product to the surface of machined parts. The initial color of the filtrate is neon yellow, and the result is a clear, translucent and completely colorless filtrate after treatment.

Standard-compliant, more economical discharge

Rinsing water for penetrant testing bench
Rinsing water for penetrant testing bench

The formulation we have developed meets our customer’s needs, and enables us to use a single, effective powder to treat a mixture of two different effluents. This reduces the number and consumption of reagents for industrial water treatment. Once treated, the water discharge will comply with municipal network regulations, so there’s no need to continue storing water and having it disposed of by an external service provider.