Use of Ion Balance in Industrial Wastewater Characterization 1

[chemeng55]

I'm a wine producer and have hired a consultant to assist in our wastewater minimization program. He's recommending the use of an "ion balance" analysis of about 20 process wastewater streams. This involves a sampling program and analysis for metals, anions, pH and a host of other analytes and will be expensive to perform.

I thought ion balances were reserved for water samples where the chemistry was well known - such as potable water or well water but not wastewater. I have several questions that perhaps you can help me with.

1)Is it an industry standard to perform an ion balance on process wastewater?
2)What will an ion balance tell me?
3)How would I use it to help select wastewater treatment processes?
4)is there another approach that is less costly?

thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide here - and have a happy new year!

 

[shahyar]

I am not expert in "wine wastewater(ww)", but what I usually do is:
1. First of all, I am starting with 3R approach: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.For "Reduce" possibly your process engineer can help him (no need for water analysis), but for Reuse and Recycle portions we need analysis.
2. However, for Reuse, Recycle, we can use rough, typical ww analyses which are documented in books/articles. For example I know about typical ww analyses in oil industry, Electroplating,...
Unless you are using a specific, edge technology in your production.
3. I believe "ion balance analysis" is not good phrase. It is better to name it "Wastewater analysis" (ion balance just is referred to ionic dissolved specises and does not include molecular dissolved matters). Yes it is necessary for detailed solution but at least not at first steps of project.
4. As far as I know, for wine ww, what important is BOD, because the main problem is organic loading.
5. " I thought ion balances were reserved for water samples where the chemistry was well known ". No, it is not right. Even for WW's which chemistry is not well known, we have water analysis, but instead of reporting all chamical concentrations, we report BOD as a index of total organics, for example.
6. "He" can use water analysis for deciding about the required processes. For example if BOD is high, aerobic methods are not economical and anaerobic methods are used.

With Googling:

http://www.ajevonline.org/cgi/reprint/23/4/165.pdf

http://www.stormcon.com/ow_0511_wine.html

http://www.wecleanwater.com/assets/pdfs/articles/Treating_Winery_Wastewater.pdf

Hope this help

 

[bimr]

Unless you have an extremely large facility, it is not going to be economically attractive to evaluate and study treatment schemes for 20 process streams.

The wastewater parameters of concern will be BOD, TDS, TSS and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus).

Here are some reports that may help you:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/Draft_Orders/Documents/2007_wineries/staff rpt order 2007-0084.pdf

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wef/wer/2001/00000073/00000004/art00002

http://www.airoflo.com/reports/hess_paper.pdf

http://www.gwrdc.com.au/downloads/ResearchTopics/CSL 02-03.pdf

Here is a quote from the Australian report:

"The data set shows that the greatest impact of winery wastewater irrigation on land is likely to be through the build up of salts, especially sodium and potassium. The build up of monovalent ions in the soil profile can result in deterioration of soil structure and consequently can adversely impact soil productivity. This aspect needs a thorough investigation to clearly establish the threshold of different soil types in tolerating the winery wastewater."

This means that if you have some type of process at the winery such as an ion exchange unit (that adds sodium to the wastewater) and you intend to land dispose of the treated wastewater, you will need to evaluate the capacity of the soil to tolerate the salts. However, it is not going to impact the type of wastewater treatment that is selected. It will impact the disposal of the treated wastewater.

1)Is it an industry standard to perform an ion balance on process wastewater? No
2)What will an ion balance tell me? Not much insofar as wastewater treatment.
3)How would I use it to help select wastewater treatment processes? You would not, but you would look at the TDS when evaluting irrigation of treated wastewater. The local soil conservation agent may be of assistance with that.
4)is there another approach that is less costly? Contact the regulatory agency for assistance. Talk to some of the nearby wineries and see what they are doing. Do some research.