Future-proof modification of the treatment of emulsions Clearcat-technology optimizes vacuum distillation
Research and development for the benefit of our customers: Before the Clearcat systems reached serial maturity, they were tested extensively in H2O’s technical lab.
Emulsions are needed in many production processes of metal working and machining industries. The emulsions, which are designed for a particular application, contain oil, grease, preserving substances and also a cocktail of substances for improving product characteristics. At the end of their life, these process fluids are often disposed of at high costs.
Where about 150 m³ of emulsions are produced every year, treatment of the fluids in a vacuum distillation system on site is an economically viable alternative. The water recovered from the treatment can either be used for preparing new emulsion or it can be discharged in the sewer. Either version requires very good water quality, which is a great challenge to the treatment system. The company Georg Meusburger GmbH & Co from Wolfurt, Austria is a leading supplier of standardized automatic molding components for mold and tool makers in Europe and must treat regularly about 400 m³ spent emulsions a year from mechanical manufacturing.
For Mr. Eberle, authorized officer for Meusburger, it was not a question early in 2006 that the old evaporation system had to be replaced with a modern and up-to-date vacuum distillation system. The requirement specification drawn up by Mr. Schadl, who is the responsible technical offer for the project for Meusburger, the following items were important:
- Maintain the strict discharge limits for the distillate
- Lowest possible consumption of chemicals
- Low operating costs
- Simple and reliable process
- Suitability for varying emulsion composition
- As little residue as possible
Distributed widest for historical reasons is the chemical-physical treatment by cleavage and flocculation. This method is very manpower intensive and requires constant adaptation of the chemicals to the effluent.
Membrane methods require much less chemicals. Unfortunately, the sensitive ceramic membranes must be adapted individually to each water component. This is very difficult to provide where the composition of emulsions changes constantly. Besides, there is a risk that the emulsions block the membrane which requires high maintenance effort for cleaning.
Therefore, Meusburger decided very early for distillation of the emulsions in vacuum. The process water was treated in a heat pump evaporator and the distillate discharged in the local sewer after passing a residual oil separator.
However, the available equipment required a lot of repair and maintenance and therefore costs were rather high. Besides, the refrigeration circuit in this system consumed three times more energy than a modern VACUDEST system from H2O, which needs about 70 Wh for each one liter of process effluent – an important reason for the new investment.
Meusburger found H2O GmbH from Steinen im Wiesental in the internet. The „smart ideas for clean water“ proved to be the right strategy for replacing the old evaporator.
Installation of a VACUDEST test system
After an extensive design phase in cooperation with H2O GmbH, Meusburger at first decided for borrowing a demonstration system. In this way, the VACUDEST was tested at the customer’s facility with real emulsions of the type obtained in production there. It was found very quickly that the required quality of the distillate to remain within the official discharge limits could only be obtained with the unique Clearcat technology. Besides, there was clear evidence that the consumption of energy and media was reasonable.
The following points were found to be clear advantages of the VACUDEST method in comparison with other evaporator types. In addition to the automatic-cleaning of the heat exchanger by the Activepowerclean system, the layout of the equipment and the resulting ease of maintenance and operation were important. Besides, the patented automatic adjustment to changing waste water contamination provided the reliability to always obtain the optimal concentration of the process effluent.
After the success of the test phase, Meusburger finally decided for H2O. An important point in the decision was the new Clearcat technology, which produced crystal-clear distillate which - as the analytical results showed - could be discharged in the sewer without problem.The emulsion and also the distillate were examined in the process laboratory of H2O GmbH and the results discussed with Meusburger. They were clearly better than the strict limits.
Crystal-clear distillate due to the integrated Clearcat step
Where the discharge of the distillate is the target of treating the process effluent, the Clearcat step from H2O has unique advantages. The name Clearcat describes the function as well as the action: Clear says that the distillate is clean, Cat is short for catalyst. The Clearcat is a catalytic and condensation step directly integrated in the VACUDEST system. The analytical results can be reproduced for many emulsions of similar composition.
The hydrocarbon content of only 2 mg/L is lower by factor 3 than the strict discharge limit of 10 mg/L prescribed in Austria. The electrical conductivity is a measure for salts and easily volatile acids contained in the distillate. With 230 µS/cm, it is at par with soft town water, which means it is very good. The oil content of more than 70 % indicates that the residue is of very high concentration. Compared to membrane filtration systems, this factor of concentration is nearly two times higher. This means that the amount of residue is smaller by the same factor and therefore disposal costs less.
Clearcat-technology is convincing
The reduction of hydrocarbons by Clearcat is based on purely physical, catalytic processes. Neither consumables nor chemicals are needed, which makes Clearcat very cost-saving and easy to maintain. A benefit that really pays off for customers of H2O: Where expensive activated charcoal or residual oil separators requiring a lot of maintenance were required in the past, now crystal-clear distillate with minimum residual oil concentration is discharged from the treatment system. Whether the water is discharged in the sewer or used in a circulation system to avoid waste of water is for the customer to decide.
The success of the Clearcat technology is obvious: Already a few months after the launch, a large number of VACUDEST systems with this feature in the performance from 90 to 1,000 liters an hour went into service.
H2O GmbH offers all from a single source
Depending on the customer’s wish and application, accessory items, such as vessels, neutralization equipment or filter, are required for treating the process water. H2O offers the full range of services: From individual design and planning of water equipment to customer specifications, tests in the company’s technical laboratory and turn-key assembled solutions, H2O plans and builds your customized solution.
H2O also offers a lot of service after start-up of the system: In addition to training in the operation of the equipment, regular inspection of the distillate in the company’s lab, technical services and maintenance contracts for your water treatment system are available – all from a single source.
The result for Meusburger
The new water treatment system with Clearcat technology is giving uniquely satisfactory service. Distillate quality, concentration and reliability cannot be beaten. As production is going to be expanded, more emulsion will need treatment. This can also be handled easily with VACUDEST: Expansion to handle higher volumes of emulsion is possible on site at any time.
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