Closed-Loop Water Recycling and Wastewater Treatment Case Histories

Cases #1 and #2: Moderate size PCB contractor and aerospace contractor

"If you're buying a cleaner from us, why not buy a closed-loop wastewater recycling system from us at the same time?"

discussion:

One cleaner vendor supplied a complete cleaner and separate closed-loop WASTEWATER recycling system to each of two different customers in California. After the systems were installed, neither customers could get the systems to function as a closed-loop process. The incompatible soldering chemistries would not allow economical operation, and 30-60% of the water had to be dumped to drain.

lesson:

The closed-loop wastewater recycling process is a chemistry-intensive operation. It may function in many cases without extensive knowledge of soldering chemistries, a prospective customer may have a complete failure.

Case #3: Large contract manufacturer in northern California

"We decided to buy a wastewater treatment system from the cleaner manufacturer because it was convenient."

discussion:

The cleaner manufacturer bought the wastewater treatment equipment from another company. This company was actually reselling the equipment that was made by another company. Therefore, there were two companies between the end user and the actual manufacturer of the equipment. In addition, the company that made the installation was a different local service company. During the installation, hydrogen peroxide was used to disinfect the piping system. Excess peroxide was put into an empty drum that was located near the equipment. After a few hours, the drum, that now was inside a shed, exploded from the excessive build-up of gas from a reaction of the peroxide with an unknown organic compound that was inside the drum. The drum was projected through the roof of the shed and landed on the roof of the adjacent building a few hundred feet away.

lesson:

When third, fourth, and fifth parties are used, the chance of failures and potential dangerous conditions will increase.

Case #4 and #5: Large and small Midwest companies

"We decided to buy the equipment from a smaller company that was offering a lower price."

discussion:

After the equipment was installed, problems were encountered by both companies in a short time. Their solution became more difficult as time went on because of serious design deficiencies. In the subsequent months, service calls were unanswered and the small water treatment manufacturer went out of business (E, KT). Without being able to correct the problems, both companies had to purchase new equipment from another company.

lesson:

Both companies knew that they were calling a supplier that only used an answering machine! This was a sure indication of the size of the company.

Case #6: Large Midwestern Electronics Div. of a Transportation Co. uses a local regeneration company that mistakenly mixes water purification resin with lead treated resin.

"I just called a local water treatment dealer and a salesperson came to discuss the application. He recommended his fiberglass tanks for my operation..."

discussion:

A manufacturing engineer contacts a major USA water purification company with a local regeneration dealership to get a DI water supply for his cleaner. The dealership is an independently owned franchise that does not handle wastewater treatment resins but typically only water purification applications for laboratories hospitals, or dialysis patients. He talks to the sales person and unknowingly does not discuss his lead removal application; in addition, the sales person does not ask the correct questions. The lead contaminated resin is now mixed undoubtedly with many other customer's resins. It is very important to realize that the generator (user) is still legally liable for any ultimate misuse of resin containing lead regardless who is at fault.

lesson:

This is a case of how a manufacturing engineer who is not familiar with water treatment can allow himself to expose his own company to serious liability because he did not question the credentials of the vendor. If you do not know, the engineer should have spoken to a company that handles wastewater treatment applications and he would have avoided this problem.

summary:

In each of the above cases, manufacturing engineers including management lacking training in water, wastewater treatment, water recycling, and hazardous waste, made serious errors in their evaluations. The results were substantial engineering design team misapplications, inflexible designs, and the risk of subjecting their companies to serious unknown liability issues. The solution to many of the above problems is to at least talk to those companies that specialize in wastewater treatment.