|
Volume 7, Number 3
June/July 2008
FEATURES
Calculated Savings
A water balance can help facility personnel control water costs
Thomas A. Blair
As aging industrial facilities are retrofitted and reused for new purposes, their water use and wastewater treatment are growing concerns. Increasing costs are causing industries to rethink how they manage water and wastewater in their facilities.
A water balance can identify inefficiencies in water and wastewater management. It can help facility personnel identify and address inefficiencies, as well as determine options for improving.
|
2007 Author/Subject Index
2006 Author/Subject Index
2005 Author/Subject Index
View Sample Issue
|
Filtration Benefits Farmers
Membrane filtration can turn animal waste into crop nutrients
Lucie Massé, Daniel I. Massé, and Yvon Pellerin
Researchers recently evaluated how well various nanofiltration (NF) and reverse-osmosis (RO) membranes concentrated manure produced at a typical commercial farrow-to-finish swine operation in Canada. They found that, with efficient pretreatment, the surplus manure at livestock operations could become valuable products for other farmers. Liquid–solids separation followed by membrane filtration can divide the manure into phosphorus-laden solids and a potassium- and nitrogen-rich liquid that can be used to fertilize and irrigate crops.
NEWS
Glycerin: Waste or Resource?
The U.S. biofuel industry produced about 1.7 million m3 (450 million gal) of biodiesel fuel in 2007, or 225 times more than the 2000 production levels of 7600 m3 (2 million gal), according the National Biodiesel Board (NBB; Jefferson City, Mo.). As the production of this renewable fuel increases, so does the need to dispose of its coproducts, namely glycerin, and the wastewater associated with the process.
Both glycerin and biodiesel wastewater have very high oxygen demands that would quickly deplete dissolved-oxygen levels if released untreated into a receiving stream. However, glycerin is high in energy, and with proper handling, it can be put to beneficial use.
No Easy Answers
Western town’s experience raises questions about abandoned mines, water quality
In February, the Lake County (Colo.) Commission declared a state of emergency in Leadville, the county seat, over growing fears that a partially collapsed mine drainage tunnel nearby might burst, flooding the former gold rush town 160 km (100 mi) west of Denver with contaminated water.
Built by the federal government during World War II and the Korean War to drain zinc and lead mines, the 3.4-km-long (2.1-mi-long) Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel carries water contaminated with these and other heavy metals that have accumulated in the region’s many abandoned mine shafts. A water treatment plant at the foot of the tunnel removes the metals before the water is deposited in a fork of the Arkansas River.
BRIEFS
Quick updates on news of interest to the industrial wastewater management professional.