INNOVATIVE AND COST EFFECTIVE

ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE

TECHNOLOGY FOR INDUSTRY

Leif Ramm-Schmidt, Ramm-Schmidt Consulting Ltd, Finland

representing Arvind Envisol Private Limited, Ahmedabad, India
Presented at: Seminar and Training Workshop on Zero Liquid Discharge, Ahmedabad 27th January 2014
 WORD TRENDS

• Environmental pressure from population growth

• Clean water reservoirs steadily diminishing
• Growing demand for all kinds of water purification
• In industry in particular:
– Water recovery
– Closing of water loops
• New technology:
– Low cost corrosion resistant polymeric heat
exchangers
– To be used in highly efficient evaporation
technology
2
POLLUTION OF RIVERS AND WATERS

Man made
eutrophication

Industry plays a major

role

3
POLLUTION OF RIVERS AND WATERS

Death of
ecosystem,
diseases
spread,
no source
for drinking
water......

4
WHY IS ZERO DISCHARGE NEEDED IN INDUSTRY ?

• Industry uses huge volumes of pure water

and is a major polluter of water courses
• Conventional effluent treatment does not
remove pollutants sufficiently – nutrients and
salts are not well separated

Typically:

Zero discharge  re-use

of water

Leaving the clean water for human consumption

- with great improvement in standard of living
5
Applicability of different water treatment technologies

3 = high separation 2 = moderate 1 = low separation

Note! pH may change rating considerably

Pollutant to remove
Dissolved substances

Solvents (e.g. hydrocarbons)

C ions (e.g. heavy metals)

Monovalent (e.g. chloride)

Multivalent (e.g. SO42-)

Or anic compounds
Monovalent ions

Complexed ions
Multivalent ions

COD in general
Carbohydrates
Ammonium

Pesticides
Pigments
Alcohols
Proteins
A ons
Methods

ni
at

g
Technology
Adsorption (e.g. activated carbon) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 1
have often
Ion exchange 3 3 3 3 2 to be
Chemical precipitation
Membrane technologies
1 2 3 2 2 1
combined
Ultrafiltration (UF) 2 1 1 for zero
Nanofiltration (NF)
Reverse osmosis (RO) 3
2
3
3
3 3
2
3 1
2
3
3
3 1
2
3
3
3
2
3
discharge
Electrodialysis 3 3 3 3 3 3 operation
Evaporation
Distillation
3 3 3 3 3 2
3
3 3
3 3
3 3 3
or to meet
Flotation 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 discharge
limits
Air/steam stripping 3 2 3 2
Electrical methods
Electrolyse 3 3 3
Electro coagulation 1 3 3 2 2 2 2
Biological treatment 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 3 3 1 2 1 2
TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

SIMPLE AERATION, WATER RE-USE NOT POSSIBLE

7
FILTRATION SPECTRUM OF SEPARATIONMETHODS

EVAPORATION

REVERSE-
OSMOSIS Evaporation and RO
NANO- are only
FILTRATION
technologies that
ULTRA-
FILTRATION remove dissolved
MICROFILTRATION
salts
MICROFLOTATION

PARTICLEFILTRATION

0,001 0,01 0,1 1 10 100 1000

PARTICLESIZEIN MICROMETERS

IONICRANGE MACROMOLECULAR MICRON FINE COARSE

RANGE PARTICL PARTICL PARTICL
ERANGE ERANGE ERANGE

8
SALT AND COD REMOVAL EFFICIENCIES IN A
PAPER INDUSTRY EFFLUENT STREAM

PARTICLEFILTRATION

MICROFLOTATION

MICROFILTRATION COD
Salts
ULTRAFILTRATION

NANOFILTRATION

REVERSEOSMOSIS

EVAPORATIO

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Removal efficiency
PRIMARY RULE IN ZERO DISCHARGE

• Zero discharge with water

re-cycle will work only if
all pollutants and salts are
almost 100% removed.

• If not, accumulation of
COD and salts in the
process will take place!
Evaporation and RO are only technologies that
remove dissolved salts
10
 EVAPORATION -THE METHOD TO ACCOMPLISH
TOTALLY CLOSED WATER LOOP
MAKE-UP WATER
PROCESS

FRESH WATER WASTE WATER

• To public sewer
Internal measures • Treated locally to meet
taken to use water discharge limits
efficiently • Discharged to nature

PURGED SOLIDS
EVAPORATION
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WHY EVAPORATION ?
From a technological point of view evaporation
is an ideal method for purification of industrial
effluents, process waters and landfill leachates
for the following reasons:

• All non-volatile substances can be completely

separated
• Water recovered from the effluent stream is of
high quality
• Evaporated water (distillate) can, as such, in most
cases be reused in process or discharged into the
nature
• Harmful solids can be concentrated to a
manageable amount for appropriate disposal
• Valuable solids can be recovered and reused 12
WHY NOT YET ? -DRAWBACKS OF
CONVENTIONAL EVAPORATION SYSTEMS
 High operational costs (high energy
consumption)

 High capital costs especially when corrosive

streams (high chloride content, low pH etc.) are
treated; noble materials  high costs

 Problems with scaling and fouling -

irreversible and difficult to control especially
with waste waters having varying quality

 Steam and cooling water requirement of steam

operated evaporator (ME, TVR) systems
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 4-EFFECT EVAPORATION

Cooling
Specific Steam Consumption = 0,28 CONDENSER Water

Vapour
Feed Vapour Vapour Vapour

Steam
Vapour
Waste Heat

Concentrate

Primary Condensate
Condensate

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MVR EVAPORATION
P = C x MF x DT
P = Fan Power Use (kW)
COMPRESSOR C = Constant (2,5…3)
MF = Vapor mass flow (ton/h)
DT = Temp. difference (°C)

Compressed Vapour Steam consumption ~ 0

DT
Vapour Cooling water cons. ~ 0

Feed

Concentrate

Condensate

15
 NEW EVAPORATION TECHNOLOGY

USING LOW COST POLYMERIC FILMS AS HEAT TRANSFER AREA

16
NEW POLYMERIC FILM EVAPORATION TECHNOLOGY 1

Q = U x A x DT
 Low cost Evaporative surface
o large heat transfer surface PFan = C x MF x DT
o small temperature difference
o low energy use - typically 8 to 14 kWh per m3 of
purified water (MVR)
 Efficient production of
polymeric heat exchanger
elements by new machine
(1,5 million m2/year)
 Costs only a fraction of
metallic ones

17
COST OF SOME HEAT EXCHANGERMATERIALS

Material Relative cost/m2

AISI 316  51 x 1,0 mm tube (50 EUR/m2) 1

254 SMO  51 x 1,25 mm tube 2,5
654 SMO  51 x 1,25 mm tube 4,9
Sanicro 28  51 x 1,8 mm tube 5,7
Hastelloy C276  51 x 1,0 mm tube 13
Titanium  50,8 x 0,9 mm tube 13

Polyolefin film 40 my (0,3 EUR/m2) 0,006

High tech plastic film 0,06

18
NEW POLYMERIC FILM EVAPORATION TECHNOLOGY 2

 Polymeric surface
 corrosion resistant
 less scaling
 flexible - easy cleaning
 Mechanical Vapor Recompression
Principle (MVR)
 minimal steam or cooling
water required
 Simplified Vapor Compressor
(Fan) Design
 low operating speeds
 reliable
 easy maintenance

 Also multi-effect (ME) systems using waste heat or solar

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POLYMERIC EVAPORATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER
CARTRIDGE

The
heart of
the
system

 50 elements
 Surface area 200 m2
 Total weight 50 kg
MVR EVAPORATOR -OPERATION
Low speed vapor
Fan blower as vapor compressor
compressi on fan
Vacuum
vessel Impeller Compres sedvapor
Condensation
inner surface
Falling film
evaporatio n
outer surface
Vapor
inlet

Vacuum
pump

Condensate tank
Circulation
Condensate
water
Feed efflue nt
Concentrate
Polymeric Cartridges

21
MVR EVAPORATOR -OPERATION
Effluent distribution

Vapor to fan

Battery
of
Polymeric
Cartridges

Distillate outlet

Circulating effluent

22
MULTI EFFECT (ME)

When waste/surplus heat is available the Multi-Effect

(ME) Concept becomes feasible
Benefits of the Polymeric Film concept in the ME
process:

 Very large surface available at reasonable cost

 Low temperature difference over each effect -
more effects and larger capacity with a given
energy amount
 Efficient utilization of waste heat in form of hot
liquid, vapor or gas

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MULTI EFFECT (ME) -OPERATION
6 Effects

T = 19°C
Vapo r 65 °C Hot filtrate 85 °C
Flash
cooler
Coole d filtrate65 °C
CONDENSER

40 °C

Fresh /
VAPOR

VAPOR

VAPOR

VAPOR

VAPOR

VAPOR
process
water

25 °C

Condensate
1. Effect 2. Effect 3. Effect 4. Effect 5. Effect 6. Effect
65 / 63 °C 63 / 61°C 61 / 58 °C 58 / 55 °C 55 / 51 °C 51 / 46 ° C Concentrate
FEED EFFLUENT

24
MULTI EFFECT EVAPORATION USING WASTE
HEAT

25
 Boiler for
Boiler back up
5 MW

90˚C
SOLAR POWERED ME EVAPORATOR -
SIMPLIFIED FLOW DIAGRAM
Solar
Collectors
24.000
m2
1.000 m3/d clean water
Vapor 65Cº

Flash 6-Effect ME Falling Film Evaporator

250 m3/h
Cooler
Condenser
40ºC

1. Effect 2. Effect 3. Effect 4. Effect 6. Effect

Cooling water
5. Effect
30ºC

Tank Condensate

2000 m3 65/63ºC 63/61ºC 61/58ºC 58/55ºC 55/51ºC 51/46ºC 42 m3/h

80ºC Concentrate
55ºC
90ºC 42 m3/h
4,7 MW
118 m3/h
118 m3/h Feed
45ºC
84 m3/h

1 MW of solar heat produces appr. 9 m3/h of clean water

COST SAVINGS IN WATER RECYCLING BY
EVAPORATION

 Fresh water cost savings, including possible cleaning costs

 Reduced or no cost for conventional effluent treatment

 No cost for sludge handling

 Cost savings in land allocated for conventional treatment

 Value of recovered solids (positive or negative)

 Heating of the water to the process temperature

With new technology: The savings can be bigger than the operation costs!

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TYPICAL EVAPORATOR LAY OUT (14 CARTRIDGES)

Large diameter unit (3,8 m)

CONTAINER SIZE EVAPORATOR
(10 CARTRIDGES)

Small diameter unit 2,4 m

MVR-FAN

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TYPICAL APPLICATION AREAS

 Textile industry
 Steel and metal industry
 Mining industry
 Pulp & Paper
 Food and feed industry
 Landfill leachate
 Groundwater remediation
 Seawater desalination
 Chemical industry
 Electronic industry
 Power plants
 Pharma industry

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REFERENCE PLANTS

More than 40 plants already operating in

India and Gujarat, some 20 other plants
elsewhere in the world........

Some examples.....

32
TEXTILE WASTE WATER 3 X 500 M 3 /D

33
METAL INDUSTRY WASTE WATER 200 M 3 /D

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COPPER ROD MANUFACTURING RINSING WATER
TREATMENT – DILUTE SULFURIC ACID

Pickling Rinsing Protection Basin

Copper Rod

H2SO4 Surfactant

Recovery of
Vapor
Water

Comment by Evaporator
owner: Condensate Acid
360 / 24L-1.2
"The low energy consumption is
Concentrate Electro-

spectacular and real. Thanks to this Steam

winning Copper
system, we've decreased overall factoryBoiler Stripper
energy consumption, while increasing
our production rate and our product Acid Cu

quality."
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RO & EVAPORATION – PRIMARY TECHNICAL
DIFFERENCES
RO
 no fouling allowed!
 low final concentration
 very good pretreatment needed
 salt separation 95 – 98%
 limited pH & temperature
 if leaking -> to clean water
 electricity powered
 lower investment cost
Evaporation
 fouling (scaling) can mostly behandled
 high final concentration
 only coarse pretreatment needed, ifany
 salt separation > 99,9%
 no pH & temperature limits
 if leaking -> to dirty water
 steam & waste heat or electr.powered
 higher investment cost

RO + Evaporation may be a good combination, but

evaporation alone provides often the simplest solution!
POLYMERIC FILM EVAPORATION COST COMPARISONTO
CONVENTIONAL EVAPORATION (”LARGE EVAPORATORS”)

Energy consumption (el = 6 Rs/kWh, steam 1 Rs/kg) Rs/m3 clean water

 New technology MVR (12 kWh/m3 + 10 kg steam/m3) 82
 Conventional MVR (25 kWh/m3 + 20 kg steam/m3) 170
 Conventional ME 1 stage (2 kWh/m3 +1100 kg steam/m3) 1112
 Conventional ME 4 stage (3 kWh/m3 + 280 kg steam/m3) 298

Relative investment cost Relative

 Low corrosion (incl. sea water) 0,7 – 0,9
 Medium corrosion 0,6 – 0,8
 High corrosion (high chloride, acids) 0,4 – 0,5

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CONCLUSIONS
Evaporation in general:
 Almost only tool for zero discharge systems
 Evaporation is the most powerful tool for removal of
dissolved pollutants (salts, organic matter etc.)
 But costs are high in conventional evaporators
 MVR reduces operation costs
 Scaling and fouling may be a problem

New Polymeric Film technology:

 Investment and operation costs are considerably
reduced
 Scaling and fouling problems are more easily managed
 Recycling of surprisingly dilute effluent streams is
becoming feasible
 Waste heat or solar can be efficiently utilized (ME)

38
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Leif Ramm-Schmidt,
Ramm-Schmidt Consulting Ltd
leif.ramm-schmidt@rsconsulting.fi

Chandan Kumar, Arvind Envisol Pvt.

Limited
chandan.kumar@arvind.in

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