Process : Treatment of waste water
An innovative process to treat your water and wastewater
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Natural water (groundwater, surface water, rainwater) is the main source of drinking water, however, these waters may contain pollutants. Indeed, many industrial processes generate polluted wastewater that requires special treatment.
The nuclear industry (from mining to material recycling) is responsible for the presence of radionuclides (uranium, radium, caesium, etc.) or other chemical species (e.g. nitrates) in different wastewaters. These effluents are treated in accordance with the applicable environmental standards prior to discharge into receiving waters. However, in the interest of continuous improvement, the nuclear industry wishes to develop new innovative processes that are more efficient and more economical, which constitutes a challenge.
CIME develops tailor-made wastewater treatment solutions for its various customers using various types of innovative techniques including:
- Adsorption from synthetic or natural materials (resins, zeolites, etc.)
- Chemical precipitation
- Membrane technology
- Biological cleaning
CIME also offers to support its customers from the definition of the solution to its implementation on the customer’s site. The process can be summarised in 4 main steps:
- Definition of wastewater treatment and experimental conditions through literature and solid experience.
- Experiments are conducted at the laboratory level to determine treatment effectiveness.
- Operating conditions and results are confirmed at the pilot scale.
- Implementation at the customer site
- Improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment
- Decrease in wastewater treatment costs
- Process simplification
A classic treatment of radium in wastewater is to add barium to precipitate a salt of (Ba,Ra)SO4. But, in some cases, the addition of sulphate ions is necessary to allow salt to precipitate. Selective, highly effective and inexpensive treatment using natural microporous materials has been developed to remove radium from wastewater. The absorption capacity of this material is high (more than 100 Bq/g). Another interesting result is the stability of saturated materials.
Uranium in mining waters (concentration of about 1 mg/L) is treated chemically (aluminium sulphate, caustic agents and flocculants) and by decanting. The uranium disposal rate is about 50%. Experiments in the laboratory and at the pilot scale have shown a significant improvement in the efficiency of the absorption of the U by the mud bed process, from 50% to 95%.
Laboratory tests have been conducted to ensure potential treatment with membrane separation technologies on effluents containing dissolved radioactive substances. Disposal rates were greater than 99.5% for two nanofiltration membranes. This process was transferred to a larger scale as part of an on-site pilot project. Preliminary laboratory results were confirmed: several m3 of water were successfully treated.
- A tailor-made solution tailored to your needs
- Support from finding a suitable solution to its implementation
- Pilot scale laboratory study
- Mobile pilot plant (skid) to work at customer site (20 or 40 foot container)
