Work-baths regeneration

Within a lot of work places, water and other solvents are used to wash-down, soak, de-grease and general clean materials. Working examples include:

• Automotive industry, once the base shell for a vehicle has been manufactured it can be dipped and washed several times in a variety of tanks and spray booths during the process of painting. During this process a lot of the (predominately) water is wasted. Normally from the Work-Bath area, there is a small interceptor tank, which then transfers when full to a central storage vessel. A great deal of this water is relatively clean and could with minimal treatment be recycled.
• In the process of making metal cables, the metals such as Copper or Steel are stretched and wound into shape and size using a variety of processes, including heating and then cooling in large Bath systems. As the wire is transferred around a building a lot of the solvent falls back into the Bath, or is collected in common interceptor tanks, which are then transferred to a common treatment system. As with the automotive industry, with cost effective engineering from Condorchem Envitech it is possible to put together treatment systems for the regeneration of this solvent material.

As the cost to dispose of the solvents, even water, continues to increase for manufacturers, the need to assess the potential for cleaning and recycling the solvents becomes more economically viable.

Condorchem Envitech works with their clients to ensure that the best cost-effective solutions are provided for the Regeneration of solvents. Some of the technologies that have been successfully provided include:

• Ultrafiltration
• Electro-dialysis
• Diffusion-dialysis
• Centrifugation
• And our Patented system Chemirec®

These technologies allow the recovery and reuse of contaminated solvents, utilized in washing and degreasing operations. This is possible through Condorchem Envitech working with the client to fully assess the best possible cost-effective solution for regenerating the solvent.

Condorchem Envitech, can provide the client with a distilling installation that separates out a variety of potential contaminating by-products including: resins, polymers, pigments, paints, inks, oils, etc. from the original solvent. Condorchem Envitech has been successfully applied Regeneration of Tank & Bath solvent solutions to the following industrial applications:

• Regeneration of degreasing and Phospho-degreasing baths
• Regeneration of Anodic oxidation baths
• Regeneration of Pickling baths with Caustic Soda (NaOH)
• Acid mixture recovery
• Mineral acid recovery

Case Study

Within the Steel Industry a series of baths are used as the metal is formed, these are termed “Pickling Baths” and are used to coat the steel, particularly with Chrome to prevent oxidation of the metal, which would make it weaker. These are particularly important in the lower quality grades of Stainless Steel that contain some Iron (Ferric). Even the Austenitic Grades of Stainless Steel, which contain high levels of Chromium, (such as one of the most common Grades 316) need to go through a series of protective Bath dips.

Some of the Baths have Hydrochloric Acid, and during the dipping of the steel, the Baths collect particles of various reaction metals, particularly Iron (Ferric (II)), Zinc and smaller levels of Manganese, Carbon and Nickel.

Condorchem Envitech, have successfully patented a Chemical Recovery System (Chemirec ®). This system has been successfully used in the Steel Making industry for the recovery of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl). Even with such a harsh chemical as Hydrochloric Acid, the Chemirec ® system, is able to split out the by-products and leave a high quality Hydrochloric Acid, at the end. In the majority of cases this acid can be recycled. Even the by-products, which generally are in a solids format after processing through the Chemirec ®can by disposed of as a commercial by-product.

For further information on our innovative Chemirec ® System please follow the link below: Chemirec ® System