Additional Wastewater Solutions for Steel

Raw Water Treatment

Steel mills need water for many purposes including cooling towers, noncontact/contact water cooling circuits, etc.    In many cases, the source water (river, lake or well) will require some treatment before use. In many cases, this is simple clarification with or without filtration.  These are very straightforward systems that UCC and help design and supply.

Filtration

In both contact and noncontact cooling water circuits, the water is used many times prior to treatment and discharge.  In many cases, it is advantageous to filter the water and/or skim oil before reuse.  UCC is well versed in the necessary technology.

Demineralized Water Treatment

Some steel mills produce their own steam.  In these cases they will need demineralized water for boiler makeup.  In most cases this means two pass reverse osmosis with polishing via mixed bed ion exchange or EDI.  In many cases, this equipment is straightforward and fairly standard, but in some cases there site specific challenges such as poor influent quality, limits on overall system recovery, etc.  UCC has the capabilities and experience to surmount these challenges.

Dewatering

All of the water treatment systems mentioned above will require some sort of dewatering – plate and frame filter presses, centrifuges, belt presses, etc.  UCC is very familiar with this equipment and excels at selecting the correct technology for the application.

Overall Site Water Balance Optimization, ZLD 

Industry has begun to realize that water should not simply be divided into ‘influent’ and ‘effluent’ but should be considered as a resource be managed and minimized throughout the facility.  An overall site water balance can be used to track water quality as it flows through the facility.  Such a tool is helpful in identifying opportunities for reuse.  There are a few steel mills that operate without discharging at all – Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).  This is achieved by aggressively reusing water and eliminating the remainder via evaporation – solar or thermal (steam/electric).