The water that is used becomes contaminated with heavy metals and solvents, thereby requiring disposal as a hazardous waste. To alleviate this burden, the plant began evaluating in 1991 the potential opportunities available to minimize this waste. A process flow diagram is included as part of this case study report. First, the waste feed water is pre-filtered to remove large solids. The ultrafilter separates suspended solids and high molecular weight particles.
Reverse osmosis removes additional smaller sized impurities.
The final water is then placed in storage where it can be drawn throughout the primer production areas for reuse in cleaning. The installation of the unit did not require any changes in the production process nor did it affect the rate of product manufacturing. The new waste stream that is generated from the reclamation process, which is basically a highly concentrated waste water, can be easily handled under the present waste management procedures. Approximately 4,000,000 gallons of water base primer are produced annually. Therefore, roughly one gallon of waste is generated for every ten gallons of product manufactured.