Alternative Water Treatment Technologies for Cooling Tower Applications

Introduction: This guide describes Finnish practices for managing industrial wastewater and provides instructions for drawing up an industrial wastewater agreement. The purpose of this guide is to provide support for all those who are involved in decision-making concerning the conveying of industrial wastewater to sewers and the safe treatment of it at municipal wastewater treatment plants. The guide describes the industrial wastewater related legislation currently valid in Finland, information on different types of industrial waters, instructions for preparing an industrial wastewater agreement, formula of increased fee, monitoring of industrial wastewater and practical examples of functional solutions. The guide describes the various stages in drawing up an industrial wastewater agreement and matters that have to be taken into account in preparing such an agreement. The aim of this guide is to provide as many concrete examples and instructions as possible. However, when preparing an industrial wastewater agreement, it is always recommended to use case-specific discretion and take the local circumstances in account. The specific properties of industrial wastewater must be taken into account in the industrial wastewater agreement. The quality of wastewater conveyed to the sewers has impacts on the occupational safety of the employees of the water utility, the condition of the sewerage network and equipment of the treatment plant, the operation of the treatment process, the sludge quality and the state of the recipient water body. All these aspects must be taken into account in the agreement.

Executive Summary The City of Grand Ledge (City) retained Fishbeck to evaluate options for the replacement of the City’s existing iron removal treatment system. Fishbeck is evaluating three options as part of this process: the installation of a new iron removal system, the installation of a new softening system, and receiving water from the adjacent Lansing Board of Water & Light (LBWL) system. This report evaluates the second option, the installation of a new softening treatment system to replace the existing iron removal system. The City’s existing iron removal plant utilizes an AERALATER® Type II-Q Packaged Iron and Manganese Removal System by General Filter (Aeralater) for iron removal. The Aeralater is at the end of its useful life, and has significant signs of deterioration. The repair of the Aeralater system was investigated as part of a prior study completed by Fishbeck, which determined that repair of the Aeralater would be costly and would give a low return on investment. The City opted to move forward assuming that the Aeralater unit would need to be replaced, rather than attempt to repair it.

Introduction: The industrial water user should determine if implementation of each identified BMP measure to achieve water savings would be cost effective. The analysis should determine the cost effectiveness to the industrial water user of the lower direct costs of the saved water and other cost savings that may also accrue. Many operating procedures and controls that improve water use efficiency should be implemented simply as a matter of good practice. In other cases the industrial user may decide to implement BMPs based on non-cost factors such as public good will or political reasons. In evaluating equipment and process additions or changes, each industry should utilize its own criteria for making capital improvement decisions.