Ipec Global, Inc. - Surface Finishes, Wastewater Treatment and Engineering

Zero Discharge / Closed Loop

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ZERO DISCHARGE / CLOSING THE LOOP
AFFORDABLE - PRACTICAL - ZERO Discharge of wastewaters to the sewer and closed loop recycling of dilute rinse waters has finally come of age. IPEC has spent over 20 years of investigation and has worked with dozens of companies in this field. We can now offer reliable, low cost and practical systems that can get you off and keep you off the sewer. Like everything else in our industry there are no black boxes or proprietary systems or even revolutionary patents out there. ZERO Discharge is a matter of common sense and applying waste minimization and proven treatment methods.

What you see below are some of the methods we use to close loop systems, your facility may not need all of them.

Waste Minimization
Point of Source Treatment
Evaporation
Ion Exchange
Water Polishing
Reverse Osmosis
Batch Treatment
Waste Segregation
Filter Presses

Come visit one of our customers and see for yourself!

Visit the IPEC ONLINE Store for many Products and Technical help that you will need to begin closing the loop at your facility!

ION EXCHANGE (IX)

Ion Exchange is often used in Closed Loop or Zero Discharge systems to recycle rinse waters and meet mil-spec and commercial needs. The big challanges in using Ion Exchange effectivly occur from poor design in the sizing of the resin beds and lack of proper waste minimization in the up-stream processes that produce the wastewater. Choosing the right vendor here is crucial. Improper application of IX can be very costly indeed.

There are two principle types of IX systems On-site regeneration and Mobile off-site regenration. On-site regeneration is becoming more impractical every year especially in the metal finishing industry because the initial costs are so high and the payback is low.

IPEC uses Ion Exchange regularly in metal finishing operations with great success, but Ion Exchange alone is not the answer. You must target your use of IX to specific pollutants and remove non-targeted pollutants before they foul the beds. Here the use of

Reverse Osmosis (RO), for Zero Discharge

IPEC has had significant success in applying RO to pre-treated waste streams in order to produce makeup and product waters in ZERO Discharge applications. Reverse Osmosis,(RO), has had limited success in directly treating some raw wastewaters because the volume of reject waters produced are so high and maintenance of membranes are a constant problem. However pay back in properly applied RO system can be very fast. IPEC is a pioneer in successful application of Reverse Osmosis to metal finishing and other difficult waste streams.

Batch Treatment for Zero Discharge

Batch treatment is perhaps the most efficient and cost effective method of dealing with concentrated liquid wastes and dilute rinse. Batch treated wastes are easier to evaporatate, purified by RO or Ion Exchange post-treatment operations. Batch treaters can be used as stand alone recycling systems for processes like tumbler deburr, cleaning operations and for difficult low volume concentrates that tend to foul IX, conventional filters and other treatment systems. Batch treaters are usually combined with a filter press or other dewatering device to remove solids.

Without question a quality Batch Treatment system is central to a successful Zero Discharge / Closed Loop system.