International Chemical Manufacturer Reduces Carbon Footprint & Saves $4 Million in Discharge Costs Annually

With rising environmental and discharge regulations, coupled with the lack of technology and treatment expertise available to treat challenging and complex wastewater, many industries are forced to spend millions of dollars each year to have their liquid waste hauled away and treated or disposed of offsite.

With the evolution of innovative business models and water management approaches, these challenges can be overcome and addressed quickly by turning to experts like Aquatech, which provides outsourced solutions ranging from water purchase agreements to the leasing and rental of mobile or decentralized treatment plants and a range of aftermarket services aimed at helping reduce risk and cost of operations.

Challenge

An international chemical manufacturer experienced several challenges with wastewater management after bringing a new product online. The new product caused more challenging wastewater, damaging the system, leading to high internal charges for treatment and additional fees associated with hauling the wastewater offsite.

This required transporting over 2,200 trucks per year of liquid waste to a third-party treatment provider to avoid local discharge exceedances, compromised product quality, and higher operating costs. The manufacturer sought an alternative treatment solution to reduce its discharge costs and environmental impact resulting from the CO_² emissions from the hauling trucks.

Solution

While investigating a long-term solution to the problem, the manufacturer turned to Aquatech for help. Aquatech explored biological and thermal treatment, conducting initial sampling in conjunction with a pilot study to develop the optimal solution for this site’s unique high-strength wastewater. Conventional biological wastewater treatment was ruled out because of the wastewater’s complexity and the cost and footprint needed to accommodate this type of system.

To the chemical manufacturer’s delight, with Aquatech’s vast experience in evaporation through its ICD Process Technologies division, they were able to offer a novel thermal solution. Aquatech was not only able to offer an optimal solution utilizing its Horizontal Spray Film™ but also an immediate solution by renting its MoVap mobile evaporator.

Aquatech’s MoVap™ mobile evaporator was selected for its compatibility with challenging applications such as produced water or other industrial waste with high total dissolved solids. The MoVap mobile evaporator concentrates wastewater by 10X, or 90% recovery rate, enabling wastewater to be hauled off at a much lower volume. In addition to the mobile rental solution, Aquatech also supplied the manufacturer with a skilled operator who helped run the day-to-day operation of the wastewater plant.

Customer Benefits

The mobile evaporation solution's implementation and management allowed Aquatech to take on the challenge for the customer without investing millions in capital expenditure, enabling them to focus on their core business operations. In addition to continuously delivering value for the customer, the chemical manufacturer also:

• Reduced discharge costs by $4 million annually – Through Reducing hauling costs.
• Reduce carbon intensity score (CI Score) – Reducing the carbon emitted from hauling trucks.
• Reduce safety risk– Associated with the number of trucks and external personnel onsite.
• Improved community impact – Reducing the traffic from hauling trucks.