Water Treatment for The Finishing Sector: A Guide to Improving Quality and Efficiency
The finishing end of a production process is one of the most demanding in terms of water volume required. Certain industries have higher demands for finishing, and to ensure that the product is of the best possible standard, water treatment solutions are essential. Depending on the finishing process, chemical, mechanical, or smart finish, certain products such as oils or substances end up in the wastewater, including metals and paint residue. The proper removal of these products is vital to prevent damage to local water supplies and the environment.
The finishing industry
requires quality control throughout, ensuring high standards of surface
finishing with no defects. Every metal finishing shop is unique, and this
incredibly broad sector covers both decorative and functional items for
domestic use. This includes such diverse things as jewellery, watches,
electrical goods, kitchenware, windows, doors and associated furniture, and
many others. Each will use different chemicals and generate varying liquid
waste with metals and other contaminants. Each shop will have different waste
treatment priorities arising from its own unique combination of product,
specialisation, government regulation and economic factors. In the automotive
sector, the paint and finishing stage dominates the volume of water used and
can often use more than the other stages in the plant or facility. Poor quality
water going through the process can affect the quality of the finished product
as well as having environmental implications.
At Membracon, we work
with a number of consultants and installers who work with developing clean
water systems to improve the finished quality of a product and look to bring
this to more clients as we work alongside them to promote better water treatment.
The Benefits of Water Treatment Solutions
Installing a water
treatment solution to your finishing processes helps to improve the
efficiencies. This system should be part of the pre-finishing stages (setting
up, preparing chemicals and equipment), the process itself, and cleaning-up of
the tools used afterwards. The benefits of water treatment solutions include:
- Cost benefits: Installing a water
treatment solution can create a more efficient working system for your
team, lower the requirement for water, reduce sludge, minimize waste, and
recover chemicals and metals.
- Environmental benefits: A correct water
recycling facility installed removes harmful substances from the
wastewater and treats leftover water through processes such as reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, or UV bacteria control to make the water fit for
reuse. Membrane systems can remove chemicals, ultimately giving benefits
inching received water costs and environmental footprint through managing
your wastewater.
Top-up Water in Finishing
Pure water is used for
preparing chemicals, topping up plating baths, and rinsing parts, such as PCBs,
to ensure there are no spots on the finished coating. Different plating
industries use different purity levels of water for their applications. Some
will take the water straight from the tap, which although this water is made
for drinking, is not the purity required for most plating applications. The
water quality required for plating involves producing reverse osmosis (RO)
quality water or totally de-ionized (DI) water. This quality level of the water
is controlled with pure water production reverse osmosis systems, de-ionizing
resin systems, or a combination of both.
Other Areas Where
Ultrafiltration and Microfiltration Processes Are Carried Out
Food & Dairy:
Milk/whey bacteria removal, Casein/whey protein separation, Fat/protein
separation from whey, Milk standardisation, Apple juice/glucose syrup
clarification, Gelatine concentration.
Biotech: Concentration
& defiltration, Desalting & buffer exchange, Cell
harvesting/clarification, Virus harvesting/clarification, Extraction/filtration
of organic and amino acids.
Water treatment in various manufacturing industries.
- Food and beverage industry: The quality of water used directly affects the quality of food and drinks produced. Drinking water is commonly used for preparation, dilution, and services. The most common techniques for obtaining drinking water include disinfection, granular media filtration, softening, reverse osmosis, ozone, and UV light sterilization. Other crucial stages in drinking water treatment include activated carbon adsorption and ion exchange resins. Strict pH control may also be necessary in some circumstances.
- Pharmaceutical industry: High-quality water is required for both manufacturing pharmaceutical products and maintaining and cleaning the machinery involved. Pharmaceutical water is derived from drinking water, but it must undergo reverse osmosis or another de-ionizing method to achieve exceptional quality. Three common types of water are used in pharmaceutical production: filtered water, extremely pure water, and water for intravenous use. Techniques such as reverse osmosis, deionization, and ultrafiltration can be used to produce exceedingly pure water. Distillation is the final step in obtaining injection water, which is contaminant-free and has a different boiling point. Without access to potable water, the pharmaceutical industry must manufacture and treat its water for pharmaceutical usage.
- Water use in the mining sector: Water is
essential in the mining industry, mainly for cleaning minerals and for
some equipment's unit functions such as grinding and drying. The water
used in mining does not have to be as pure as in the food and
pharmaceutical industries, and it can even be reused. The main challenge
for this industry is how to treat water after it has been used in their
processes. The products obtained in the mining sector typically require
washing with water and chemicals to separate the intended product from the
mineral and other compounds it contains.
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