Choosing the Right Industrial Wastewater Treatment Technology

Choosing the Right Industrial Wastewater Treatment Technology

Choosing the right treatment technology isn’t just about ticking regulatory boxes. It’s about creating a financially sustainable solution that fits your specific operation, protects the environment, and balances costs with efficiency to benefit your company over the long run.

If that sounds like a lot, you’re right. It helps to break things down a bit. Join us as we take a closer look at how to choose the right industrial wastewater treatment technology for your operation.

Balancing Act: Getting Industrial Wastewater Treatment Right

While treating wastewater isn’t your company’s core operation, handling this critical overhead has consequences for downstream communities and your company’s continuing financial health.

Below we examine some of the critical decisions and key considerations for choosing the right industrial wastewater treatment technology for your company. This includes matching the technology to your application, dealing with specific contaminants, navigating regulatory requirements, and delivering a system that suits your business’s growth plans.

1. Understand Your Application

Every industrial process has its own wastewater “fingerprint”, including specific contaminants, overall daily volumes, and discharge patterns. Whether your operations run continuously or in batches, these factors shape how you approach treatment.

For example, a food-processing plant might produce continuous volumes of wastewater containing fats and oils while a chemical manufacturer may deal with sporadic batches of water-contaminated with hazardous substances.

How to Approach It: Talk to your local publicly-owned treatment works (POTW) to understand your discharge requirements and any upcoming changes that could affect your compliance. Be sure to inquire if your organization might fall into a category that might have more stringent requirements on certain contaminants, such as can-making and metal coating.

Next, define what wastewater treatment success looks like for you. Is it to lead by example by setting new benchmarks for water quality, or simply to ensure you meet required standards? Is lowering labor costs by minimizing human involvement important? Do you need the lowest capital cost right now, or is guaranteeing the lowest overall operating costs more important? Once you know your priorities, it’s easier to identify the right solution.

2. Contaminants Shape the Solution

Now it’s time to get real about exactly what is in your water. This is not just about meeting regulatory standards, it’s about choosing the right treatment technology for the job. Industrial contaminants come in many forms.

The following table lists some common contaminants and how they can be treated using equipment supplied by Anguil.

How to approach it: If you do not know what is in your wastewater, you will want to get it tested. Since you already talked to your regulatory body, you will know exactly what you will want to test for in your wastewater. 

Reach out to a third-party testing lab and inquire about test methods, sampling protocols, and sample submission. 

3. Navigating Regulatory Compliance

Compliance is more than checking a box. It’s about examining the regulatory landscape and proactively planning to meet today’s standards and prepare for a positive future as standards are likely to get stricter over time.

That can mean the difference between opting to continue to remove contaminants at current required levels and building in excess processing capacity now to allow you to meet tighter quality standards in the future. Again, your answer will depend on whether your company is focused on short-term gains or long-term investments.

Remember that non-compliance can also cost you through fines, lawsuits, and lengthy shutdowns. Saving money now by meeting only minimum standards today may not be worth it if you end up spending the difference on clearing up non-compliance issues. 

How to approach it: Talk to your local POTW and other regulatory bodies to understand potential shifts in requirements. If your system is built with flexibility, you can avoid costly upgrades later. 

Be sure to have a partner like Anguil who can help you when you find process or regulatory changes potentially – or already – impacting your wastewater and discharge compliance.

4. Optimizing Capex And Opex in Industrial Wastewater Treatment

With treatment options on the table, it’s time to look at the right fit for your company’s financial strategy and corporate culture. This usually comes down to striking a balance between up-front capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) — the money you will spend each month running, operating, and maintaining your equipment.

• Spending more on CAPEX can allow you to install highly efficient infrastructure and fully automated equipment. The upfront cost may be high, but you can typically achieve long-term savings on performance, efficiency, and maintenance and repair costs.
• Focusing on OPEX may involve installing bare-bones infrastructure designed to meet minimum regulatory and operating requirements. You save upfront but should be prepared for higher labor, maintenance, and repair costs over time.

The right answer depends on your company’s financial goals and where you are on your projected growth curve. 

How to approach it: Take a step back and evaluate your company’s long-term financial strategy and goals. Are you anticipating production changes, considering expansion, or adding new product lines? These factors impact the wastewater treatment option you choose. 

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

It’s worth taking the time to get your wastewater treatment technology investment right. Rushing the process could lead to over-investment in expensive technology you don’t really need or installing sub-par equipment that risks your bottom line and reputation, not to mention the integrity of your downstream environment. 

In our experience, companies that are hasty to make this decision often make one or more of the following mistakes:

1. Skipping or rushing your testing phase: Without comprehensive testing, you lack critical information about your treatment needs. Make sure you understand exactly what contaminants you’re dealing with.
2. Setting a budget without understanding your treatment requirements: Budgeting too quickly could mean underestimating costs or overlooking critical expenses. Make sure you know and understand the options before budgeting.
3. Settling for off-the-shelf solutions: One-size-fits-all solutions are affordable and quick to install, but rarely meet the unique demands of your facility. Fully integrated equipment is designed to deliver both short-term gains and long-term value.

Why Partner with a Single-Source Provider?

Evaluating your wastewater treatment needs and procuring an effective solution is a complex, multi-part process, even for small operators. You can maximize return on investment and minimize your risk by working with a reputable, single-source partner.

At Anguil, we don’t just offer a product—we offer a partnership. Our team starts by taking the time to understand your wastewater challenges through detailed lab testing. From there, we tailor a system that works seamlessly with your existing operations, whether it be a brand-new installation or an upgrade to your current setup.

Choosing a full-service, equipment-agnostic provider like Anguil means you don’t have to juggle multiple vendors or risk getting locked into a proprietary system that does not meet your needs. Instead, you’ll get an end-to-end treatment plan designed specifically for your operation.

Anguil: The Power of the Right Partner

Choosing the right wastewater treatment system for your process is a journey filled with important decisions. By taking the time upfront to understand your application, assess your contaminants, navigate compliance, and balance CAPEX and OPEX, you’re minimizing risk and maximizing your return on investment.

With almost 50 years of experience in delivering effective wastewater solutions for a wide range of industries, Anguil is here to guide you every step of the way. Whether you’re upgrading a system or starting from scratch, our customized, equipment-agnostic solutions ensure you get the most efficient, compliant, and cost-effective system to meet your treatment challenges.

Ready to get started? Click below to learn more about our industrial wastewater treatment solutions.

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Challenges with Industrial Wastewater Compliance

Industrial processes often generate wastewater that is challenging to handle due to its high pollutant volume, complex composition, and unpredictable variability. The complex and variable nature of effluent necessitates a thorough analysis of its physical and chemical characteristics. 

This analysis is the foundation for designing the most cost-effective and efficient treatment process for your needs. As companies look to reduce operational costs, effective and automated treatment systems have driven improvements in innovation in the sector for many years. Though technological advances have emerged, challenges still remain. 

These challenges are particularly acute regarding maintaining compliance with environmental regulations and discharge limits. Keeping up with changing rules, meeting stringent discharge standards, and managing complex effluents can take time and effort. Failure to comply can have significant, costly,  and far-reaching consequences.

Read on to learn more about industrial wastewater treatment costs and compliance issues.

Factors Leading to Non-Compliance

The most common reason a company falls into non-compliance is a change in their industrial operations. For example, introducing new chemicals, increasing production volume, or modifying Clean in Place (CIP) processes may render their wastewater treatment system unable to handle contaminants.

Other main factors include:

Lack of Maintenance

Many businesses neglect to keep their systems in good working order. They tend to put maintenance and upkeep off and instead opt to pay surcharge—rather than addressing the root causes of the issues. This can lead to compliance violations and costly penalties. 

Adapting to Regulatory Changes

Companies often have a challenging time keeping up with changing regulations. For example, the EPA may introduce stricter limits on certain pollutants, requiring them to upgrade their wastewater treatment systems. Many of them don’t have money budgeted for this unexpected expense. 

Aging Equipment

Another issue is the use of older equipment. Treatment systems that reach the end of their lifespan may become less effective at removing pollutants and lead to compliance violations. This is particularly challenging for companies that have been operating for decades. Their systems may be outdated or incompatible with newer technologies.

Upgrading Issues

Upgrading or replacing older systems can be a significant financial burden, especially for smaller businesses. Companies must stay informed about regulatory changes and plan ahead to ensure they have the necessary resources to maintain compliance. Failure to adapt quickly enough can lead to non-compliance and costly penalties.

In one instance, a plating company faced a significant challenge when the municipality lowered the discharge limits by a factor of almost 100. This was due to three other platers within the same municipality. 

The engineers at Anguil helped this client by sharing targeted “polishing” techniques they could add to the back of the system without disrupting current operations or incur significant costs to meet the more stringent discharge standard.

Challenges of Serving Multiple Industries and Treating Complex Effluents

Staying compliant with EPA regulations can be particularly challenging for companies that serve multiple industries. Each industry may have its standards and requirements, and what works for one may not be sufficient for another. 

For example, an oil and gas company that produces water as a byproduct must ensure that its wastewater treatment system effectively removes contaminants specific to both sectors. 

Some industrial effluents are extremely difficult to treat and often result from challenging industrial processes that form complex wastewater streams. These wastewaters can contain high levels of oil and grease, heavy metals, and toxic or corrosive chemicals, with each component requiring specialized treatment. This includes surface and groundwater impacted by industrial use, which must be remediated (PFAs, 1-4 dioxane are examples).

The EPA is a concern regarding surface discharge or anything near waterways and wetlands. However, local discharge standards are often more important, as they consolidate the EPA requirements.

This complexity requires a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape and the ability to design and implement flexible treatment solutions.

Balancing EPA Standards and ESG Commitments

Many companies voluntarily commit to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, such as achieving net-zero emissions. While these initiatives demonstrate a commitment to sustainability, they can sometimes conflict with EPA regulations. 

This is a significant reason they generally prioritize meeting discharge standards over ESG initiatives. The potential for fines, legal repercussions, and damage to their reputation is far too great.

For example, some technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions may be less effective at removing certain water pollutants. Companies must carefully navigate these competing priorities and find solutions that balance environmental compliance with sustainability objectives. 

However, there is growing interest in water reuse, which can provide a return on investment over time and contribute to sustainability goals. Companies must consider the costs and benefits of implementing ESG initiatives while ensuring compliance with EPA regulations, as every case is different.

Anguil provides treatment systems to remove or reduce the following contaminants and address other wastewater treatment system performance issues.

• Total Suspended Solids (TSS)
• Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
• Metals – Dissolved
• Fats, Oil, Grease (FOG)
• Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
• Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
• Color
• Inorganic/Organic Compounds
• pH
• Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
• Solids Handling

Navigating Local Discharge Standards

While EPA regulations set the overarching framework for environmental protection, local Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) play a crucial role in enforcing discharge standards. 

These standards often incorporate and expand upon EPA requirements, tailoring them to the specific needs and conditions of the local environment and infrastructure.

At Anguil, we understand the intricacies of both EPA regulations and local discharge standards.

Anguil’s Comprehensive Approach to Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Anguil’s comprehensive approach to providing industrial wastewater treatment systems starts with understanding your current water chemistry, your required discharge or reuse criteria, and then performing the necessary lab trials and testing to validate an effective treatment approach that meets your business’ goals and objectives. The onsite Anguil  wet-lab offers the equipment to efficiently trial multiple treatment technologies and processes to ideally provide you with multiple options that allow you to select the approach that works best for you.

We offer a single source of responsibility by managing all aspects of industrial wastewater treatment, from system design and integration to installation services, commissioning and ongoing support.

Reducing Discharge Volume through Water Reuse

In an effort to be a good neighbor or to save money, many organizations look to reusing treated water in their processes. This approach is gaining traction in many markets.

To successfully implement water reuse, you must determine the required water quality for the intended application. This may involve treating the water to meet specific standards for use in the same industrial process or for other purposes, such as boiler feedwater. Anguil can help you explore the costs and benefits your company can achieve through water reuse.

Anguil Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions

Anguil’s approach is focused on aligning the correct technologies with a client’s objectives. Because we leverage all available technologies in the marketplace, we are not focused on trying to make the solution fit into one or a few typical technologies. Instead, we discuss a client’s wants and needs, design a lab trial approach to validate the viability, and then provide our client’s with the results, along with pros and cons as to how they relate to their wants and needs. This ensures our client’s can make the most informed decision.

The industrial wastewater treatment solutions we offer are developed from a collaborative process with our customer to understand their needs, then validated through lab or pilot testing. Anguil can provide additional services, including installation and service if the customer requires. In the end, Anguil is there to provide as much, or as little, as our clients need. We believe our flexible and transparent approach provides our a significant cost advantage to our customers. Whether you need clean process water, system upgrade, updated controls and automation, or a treatment system to ensure compliance with discharge or reuse, we feel our flexible approach, along with the findings from our validation testing in the lab or field, is what sets us apart. 

Partner with Anguil for Effective Treatment Solutions

At Anguil, we understand the intricacies of industrial wastewater treatment and the importance of practical solutions. Over the past 40 years, we have developed a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape and the ability to design and implement flexible treatment options. 

Click below to learn how we helped a global manufacturer of key chemical ingredients solve a significant wastewater treatment challenge.

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Onsite vs. Offsite Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Increased regulatory pressures are driving many industries to rethink their wastewater management strategies. These regulations aim to restrict the discharge of untreated water that can harm the environment and human health. 

However, finding a cost-effective solution can be challenging. Some companies turn to third-party water hauling companies to transport and dispose of their wastewater, while others consider onsite treatment options. 

Multiple factors contribute to the complexity of wastewater management strategies. Read on to learn more about the pros and cons of each approach to make a more informed decision.

Offsite Wastewater Treatment

Treating wastewater offsite involves hauling it to a third-party facility for treatment and disposal. This method eliminates the need for on-site equipment installation and maintenance.

However, this convenience comes at a cost. Industries with difficult-to-treat wastewater or those located in remote areas often face significant expenses. In many cases, hauling wastewater is more expensive than installing an onsite water treatment system.

Weekly pickups can lead to substantial expenses. Companies must consider the long-term costs of offsite treatment and explore alternative solutions that reduce waste management costs effectively.

Onsite Wastewater Treatment

If you have been using a water hauling service from a third-party service provider, chances are your costs have dramatically increased over the last few years. Fuel, labor, and high effluent treatment standards are vital in these cost increases.

Regardless, the costs will continue to rise due to increasing cost for fuel and labor. Fortunately, several other water treatment options are much more economical and efficient.

How Does Onside Wastewater Treatment Work?

Onsite industrial wastewater treatment involves treating wastewater at the source by using various technologies tailored to the specific contaminants present in the water. This approach can provide a cost-effective solution for many organizations.

Businesses can avoid the high costs of hauling and disposing wastewater by installing a water treatment system on-site. At Anguil, we offer customized onsite industrial wastewater treatment solutions that help companies reduce their environmental impact and unlock massive cost savings over time. 

How We Determine the Best Treatment Approach

We follow a thorough process that starts with understanding the needs and wants of your organization in the terms of onsite treatment. This starts with the discharge standards that need to be met and analyzing the wastewater chemistry of their wastewater. This information helps us identify different approaches that can potentially treat the water to meet the required standards.

Lab Trials and Clarification Equipment Options

We then conduct lab trials to validate the treatment efficacy of the proposed approaches. This helps us identify the most effective method for removing impurities from the wastewater. From the lab trials, we will generate a report on the viability of the treatment approaches, and provide some pros and cons based on the previous needs and wants the client communicated. This allows the client to have all the critical information to make the most informed decision to benefit their company.

Meeting Rigorous Standards

In some cases, rigorous discharge standards may require additional polishing techniques to meet the discharge standard. This could involve leveraging secondary treatments like Ion Exchange (IX), carbon, or other methods depending on the contaminant that needs further treatment.

Benefits and Considerations

The benefits of treating water on-site include reducing costs over time. Additionally, some clients end up reusing the treated water within their own processes. This can also save money and meet certain community goals a company may have, but that is something each firm would need to determine. However, this approach involves an initial investment in equipment and ongoing operational expenses. Anguil can help you determine the capex and opex to help you determine if onsite treatment is right for your organization.

Cost Implications

Choosing between onsite and offsite wastewater treatment requires careful consideration of financial aspects. Onsite treatment involves an initial investment in equipment installation.

Off-site treatment requires ongoing hauling and disposal expenses that increase over time due to fuel and labor. A thorough comparison of these expenses is vital to determining which option best suits your business needs.

Regulatory Requirements

Both onsite and offsite wastewater treatment options come with regulatory requirements that must be met. Onsite treatment requires businesses to comply with regulations, including obtaining permits and ensuring discharge standards are met. 

Offsite treatment providers typically handle these responsibilities, but businesses must ensure that the provider complies with regulations. The main difference lies in who is responsible for compliance: the business itself for onsite treatment or the offsite treatment provider.

Treating Wastewater with Anguil Environmental Systems

The Anguil team consists of over 40 engineers and technical personnel. Additionally, we have a support team of 70 operational and field service members who work together to provide air and water treatment systems that meet your specific needs.

Anguil is your single-source provider for designing, developing, integrating, installing, and servicing your treatment systems to meet your regulatory or reuse requirements. We deliver customized solutions that effectively address unique challenges and produce results.

Our Simple & Effective Approach

Our project development steps are straightforward, focusing on your needs and decision criteria.

The steps include the following:

Scope: We begin with project assessment, project ROI, benchmarking, and decision process and criteria.

Discovery: In our Discovery stage, we take a comprehensive approach to understanding your wastewater treatment needs. We focus on understanding the discharge standards you need to meet and analyzing the water chemistry of your wastewater. This allows us to present you with different treatment approaches that can effectively treat your wastewater to meet the required standards.

Based on the results, we conduct lab trials to validate the chosen treatment approach and determine its efficacy. Additionally, we offer various clarification equipment options, including slant-plate, DAF, and ballasted-floc, each with its pros and cons. This enables you to make an informed decision about which option best aligns with your decision criteria.

Test: Anguil can provide pilot testing at our facility or even in-situ field testing at your location if further validation is required.

Implement: The process begins once treatment efficacy and pricing have been agreed upon. Anguil can design, build, integrate, install, commission, and train your team on your new wastewater treatment system.

Choose Anguil to Solve Your Wastewater Problems

Complying with regulatory laws about industrial water pollution control can be daunting. However, with the help of Anguil Environmental Systems, you can have a cost-effective in-house solution that will eliminate the need and costs of hiring a third-party service to haul and dispose of your industrial wastewater.

If you have any questions or concerns about our services, please contact us or submit your project specifications today. We’re ready to design and develop a solution to improve your bottom line.

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Benefits of Single-Source Wastewater Treatment Providers

If your industrial process involves significant amounts of wastewater discharge, then you’ve probably got your hands full with meeting tightening regulations and higher water quality standards while keeping your operational costs and capital expenditure under control.

Add to that an often bewildering mix of vendor agreements, each providing a specific service or a piece of proprietary equipment, and you’re likely spending valuable hours managing a remediation cost center that would be better spent on driving revenue and building your business.

A single-source wastewater treatment provider manages every aspect of your treatment process from initial consultation, design, and engineering of an integrated system that meets your specific needs, to installation and ongoing support. 

By choosing a single provider for all your wastewater treatment needs, you’ll get a treatment solution that works seamlessly from input to discharge, while reducing your management load and lower costs. 

In this blog, we’ll explore the key benefits of choosing a single-source wastewater treatment provider, including a technology-agnostic approach, reduced risk, customized system design, and long-term support options. Read on to learn more. 

Understanding Single-Source Wastewater Treatment Providers

What do single-source wastewater treatment providers do? By managing the entire wastewater treatment process, single-source providers ensure that your system works perfectly from start to finish. 

Single-source wastewater treatment specialists like Anguil deliver a fully integrated water treatment solution, so you don’t have to juggle different products from different vendors that might not work together. By doing this, single-source suppliers offer:

• Simplified wastewater project management
• An efficient and cost-effective wastewater solution
• Compliance with local, state, and federal water quality regulations
• A wastewater process that aligns with your strategic goals and sustainability values

4 Benefits of Single-Source Wastewater Treatment Providers

Let’s explore some specific benefits a single-source wastewater treatment provider offers as compared with in-house management of multiple vendors and processes.

1. Technology-Agnostic Approach

A single-source wastewater treatment provider is not an equipment manufacturer. We’re system integrators. That means we’re not tied to specific products or equipment brands. Instead, we spend our time evaluating the available options to deliver an end-to-end solution designed for your specific needs. 

Whether it’s advanced filtration, biological treatment, or chemical processes, our technologies are selected based solely on their suitability for your application. You’ll pay for a single, fully supported, cost-effective treatment package that performs from day one.

2. Mitigated Risk

Choosing a single-source wastewater treatment provider reduces the risks associated with managing your treatment project in-house. With one provider managing all aspects of the system — from design and engineering to installation and maintenance — you have just one point of accountability, minimizing the chances of miscommunication, project delays, and budget overruns.

That means less time worrying about — and mitigating for — worst-case scenarios, and more peace of mind, knowing your entire wastewater treatment operation is being managed by experts.

3. Customized Systems

Individual technology providers usually offer off-the-shelf solutions that may fail to address the full rnages of needs and challenges of your process. Instead of offering generic solutions, a single-source provider matches the parameters of specific technologies to your overall system needs and challenges.

By ensuring every part of your process is perfectly integrated, single-source providers can deliver systems that reduce operation costs, minimize risk, and meet regulatory benchmarks. We’ll also work with your strategic goals to design a scalable solution that can be expanded or adjusted to meet your future needs.

4: Flexible Support Options

Single-source wastewater treatment providers offer a suite of services, not a product. That gives companies like Anguil the flexibility to meet you where you are at, providing comprehensive turn-key solutions or just the specific wastewater treatment services you need. 

Looking to upgrade an existing system or optimize your efficiency? We offer targeted solutions to help you reach your operational goals. Infrequent or skipped maintenance is one of the leading causes of equipment failure or regulatory non-compliance. Hand off your maintenance burden to an expert to ensure environmental compliance, and to maximize equipment life and return on investment. 

Anguil’s Project Development Steps

Wondering what end-to-end service delivery looks like in real life? Anguil’s project development steps provide a template for the delivery of our industry-leading services.

1. Scope: We work with you to assess your needs, project and compliance criteria, wastewater treatment challenges, and the required investment.
2. Discover: We conduct a series of lab tests to replicate your process and deliver the required water quality. This lets us establish the required capital expenditure and ongoing operating expenditure needed for your wastewater system.
3. Test: We run pilot tests on-site to ensure our proposed solutions work at scale in real-world conditions. This allows us to finalize capital and operational expenditures and lock in the required development scope of work. 

Implement: We design, build, and implement a full-scale wastewater treatment center that matches your needs and meets the required operation and compliance standards. We provide value-added services including commissioning, training, and ongoing support and maintenance.

Choosing a Single-Source Wastewater Treatment Provider

With so much at stake, it’s important to choose the right single-source wastewater provider to meet your needs. Here’s what to look for in a single-source wastewater treatment provider:

Seamless Integration of Technologies

A provider needs to be able to integrate both new and existing technologies to build a system that meets your current needs, improves performance, and is future-ready for upgrades or new regulatory requirements. Choose a technology-agnostic provider with proven integration skills.

Capability to Test and Diagnose 

A provider like Anguil can offer in-house lab capabilities for thorough analysis and validation testing, ensuring that the proposed solution is tailored to your requirements. A provider who is capable of running their own tests (or even can set up a lab on-site) is better placed to validate, benchmark, and adjust solutions to meet your needs.

End-to-End Support

Any company you consider should truly be a single-source provider of wastewater treatment and management services. That means having both skills and experience in providing end-to-end wastewater solutions, as well as the ability to consult with you to design, install, and commission industrial-scale wastewater solutions and provide ongoing technical support and maintenance services.

Knowledge & Experience 

It’s easy for providers to boast about services they can do while having little real-world experience actually delivering them. Be sure to choose a true single-source provider with experience offering the full scope of services to a range of industries. 

Look for a history of successful projects and a reputation for quality work. That way, you’ll ensure your provider delivers the tailored services promised.

Clear Solutions to the Toughest Wastewater Challenges

Choosing a trusted single-source industrial wastewater treatment provider like Anguil to manage your post-processing water management needs makes sense. With a proven track record of providing services to large and small processors worldwide, we have the experience and know-how to deliver on our promises.

Tired of trying to coordinate ordering, compliance, and billing from dozens of providers offering a mish-mash of solutions? You shouldn’t have to. With Anguil you get true end-to-end, single-source, industrial wastewater services including: 

• System Expertise: We know how individual processes work and how they fit together.
• Equipment Alternatives: We offer you options to better meet your needs.
• In-House Capabilities: We test and validate all of our solutions ourselves.
• Single-Source Responsibility: We work with vendors so you don’t have to.
• Integration Capabilities: We ensure your system delivers optimum performance.
• Experience: We offer proven experience delivering effective wastewater solutions worldwide.

Reach out to us about how our tech-agnostic philosophy, risk-mitigation approach, fully customized systems, and flexible support options can best serve you, or click below to learn more.

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Understanding Wastewater Treatment Challenges & Solutions

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The United States consumes an estimated 322 billion gallons of water daily. Industrial applications account for nearly half this total usage. 

Industrial wastewater presents tremendous challenges to companies and the communities they operate within. The amount of water consumed, plus the significant effluent produced by industrial clients poses great challenges and costs for both the industrial client and the local municipality. 

Companies must adequately manage any contaminants generated during their production processes. If a company fails to address its wastewater treatment properly, it can lead to high costs related to surcharges or fines, or it can pay high costs for hauling and disposal. For these and other reasons, efficient industrial wastewater treatment technologies are crucial for fiscal, environmental, and reputational reasons.

Read on to learn more about industrial wastewater treatment processes and the available options for your application.

Industrial Wastewater

Many industrial facilities install pretreatment plants to mitigate the environmental impact of highly contaminated wastewater. Different kinds of wastewater contamination require different strategies to facilitate the proper removal of contaminants. These treatment systems remove solids, VOCs, metals, fats, oils, grease, and other contaminants to ensure regulatory compliance. Industrial companies are also responsible for the proper disposal of solids generated by their treatment process.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Challenges

Companies that need to pretreat wastewater before they send it to the municipality face several major issues. Infrastructure problems and regulatory pressures are two of the biggest challenges.

Aging Infrastructure and Investment Dilemmas

Aging equipment is a growing concern for many industrial clients that generate wastewater. Many treatment systems that have been running for decades often rely on cobbled-together solutions and the expertise of the employee to manually maintain functionality. This situation puts companies in a difficult position regarding future investments.

They must weigh the costs of major upgrades against implementing entirely new treatment systems. The impending retirement of experienced operators adds urgency to these decisions. A constant threat of system failure and discharging wastewater above permitted discharge limits also pushes companies toward action.

Regulatory Changes and Compliance Efforts

Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) sometimes revise their discharge limits. These changes force industrial clients to improve their system performance. Such revisions typically happen when industrial growth strains a POTW’s ability to meet residential needs.

Municipalities find it more cost-effective to tighten standards for industrial clients rather than expand their own facilities. This approach helps reduce the burden on the municipal treatment system. Industrial companies then face the challenge of finding economical ways to meet these new criteria to avoid penalties and surcharges.

Cost Reduction and Process Optimization

In recent years, companies have created initiatives to reduce costs and risks with their wastewater. Many companies that were spending money to haul and dispose of their wastewater have seen significant cost increases and are exploring in-house treatment as an option. Others are looking to upgrade their systems due to more stringent standards, cost or loss od labor, expansion, and even reuse of process water.

One challenge they face is finding a cost-effective manner to properly troubleshoot their current process and have the certainty that whatever solution or system is proposed is the best available treatment approach from a cost and risk standpoint.

Anguil is a system integrator that provides new systems, as well as upgrades to existing treatment systems. Anguil leverages our 45+ engineers and an additional 80 technical and operational personnel to help industrial organizations efficiently and effectively treat and process wastewater. 

We conduct trials to optimize various treatment approaches and provide detailed cost estimates for different options. This information covers both upfront expenses and ongoing operational costs. Facilities operators can then use these insights to make informed decisions about improving their processes.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions

The primary focus of most wastewater treatment solutions is to discharge wastewater in compliance with national and local regulations. The secondary goal is to be as cost-effective as possible when treating wastewater.

Anguil’s Approach to Wastewater Treatment

Anguil is a trusted and experienced Systems Integrator. We provide comprehensive, single-source industrial wastewater treatment solutions. Our projects follow a structured 4-step process:

• We start by collaborating closely with our clients to understand their challenges, specific needs, and key decision criteria.

• The second step involves conducting wet lab trials for each potential treatment option at our facility. We tailor these experiments to meet the client’s criteria and validate potential treatment technologies. Our team then analyzes the results and prepares a detailed report. It details how each option aligns with or challenges the client’s requirements.

• The third step involves pilot testing at the client’s site (if necessary). This allows us to further validate different technologies and treatment approaches under real-world conditions. During this phase, we provide detailed comparisons of capital costs (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX) for each potential solution.

• The project execution phase could include fully engineered, build-to-specification, turnkey, and customized solutions. Depending on project requirements, this may involve new equipment installations, retrofits, or system upgrades.

Importance of Technology Alignment with Your Needs

Considering long-term maintenance costs is essential when designing a system. Here are a few key design principles to consider for low-maintenance systems:

• Selecting the right equipment for the specific contaminants: Matching water treatment technologies to targeted pollutants is imperative if you want cost-effective and efficient operation. If multiple treatment options are available, Anguil can provide you with the pros and cons of each so you can make the most informed decision as to what is best for your company.  
• Designing for easy operation: With most systems, you can determine the amount of automation that is right for your organization. If you have limited resources, many treatment systems can have a majority of the process automated to minimize human involvement. If cost is the only driver and resources to operate are available, we can leverage a more manual approach and save some capital. 
• Focus is on success: Any upgrade or new system will be focused on successful treatment. A system that keeps you compliant mitigates risk to your pocketbook and reputation.

Additional Capabilities and Client Communication

Besides system retrofits, upgrades, and the integration of automated options to reduce human involvement, Anguil can provide solutions for water reuse or (near) zero liquid discharge (nZLD and ZLD) if required.

We maintain constant and open communication with the client throughout this process. We discuss how potential solutions align with their decision criteria and address any concerns. This collaborative approach ensures a final proposal and execution plan that clearly defines scope and handoffs.

At Anguil, our industrial wastewater solution consists of:

• System Expertise
• Equipment Alternatives
• In-House Capabilities
• Single-Source Responsibility
• Integration Capabilities

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions: Technologies

Industrial wastewater solutions use a variety of technologies. The following are some of the materials these systems remove and the technologies used to remove them:

• Heavy metals/dissolved metal materials can be removed through pH adjustment and clarification, ion exchange, and carbon technologies.
• Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) and oil-water separators remove fats, oils, and grease from wastewater.
• Filter presses, belt presses, rotary vacuum drums, and rotary screw presses squeeze water from sludge to achieve dewatering.
• Cartridge filters, ballasting, parallel plate clarifiers, DAF, and bag filters remove suspended solids.
• MBBR, MBR, anaerobic, anoxic, bioreactor, and oxidation treatment eliminates soluble biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).
• Total dissolved solids (TDS) are the measurement of the total dissolved amount of organic and inorganic solid materials present in wastewater. Reverse osmosis, ion exchange systems, and nanofiltration facilitate the removal of TDS.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are often present in wastewater, requiring removal via air stripping, granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, or oxidation.
• Ultra-pure water requires the removal of minerals and other contaminants from relatively clean water. Reverse osmosis (RO), deionization (DI), ion exchange, ultrafiltration (UF), and microfiltration are a few technologies that can be leveraged to create ultra-pure process waters.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions From Anguil Environmental

At Anguil, we believe in clean air and water. Our founders built the company on the premise that public health, economic prosperity, and sustainability are intrinsically linked. Click below to explore our treatment solutions or contact one of our engineers for more information.

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How Much Does Industrial Wastewater Treatment Cost?

Investing in an effective treatment system is crucial for businesses that generate wastewater. It ensures compliance with environmental regulations and demonstrates a commitment to sustainability. 

However, the price tag of implementing and maintaining such a system is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Understanding the factors that influence industrial wastewater treatment costs is key to making informed business decisions and avoiding unexpected expenses down the line.

Read on to learn more about the costs of treating industrial wastewater.

The Variable Cost of Industrial Wastewater Treatment Systems

The cost of industrial wastewater treatment systems varies widely depending on the project’s complexity. Simple equipment replacements may be relatively affordable, while comprehensive system upgrades can easily require investments in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Projects addressing complex wastewater streams or requiring multiple treatment stages can surpass a million dollars in cost.

Factors driving cost variability:

• Simple Equipment Replacements: Replacing a single component like a clarifier could cost around $40,000 to over $150,000 depending on your wastewater volume.
• System Upgrades: These often require additional pumps, tanks, treatment equipment, and more sophisticated automation. Expect an investment of between $65,000 to $200,000 based on needs.
• Complex Wastewater: Wastewater streams with multiple contaminants may necessitate multiple treatment steps including a polishing stage if certain contaminants have a very low discharge limit. Depending on the volume to treat, you could be as low as $400,000 but easily exceed $1.5 million or more. The need to remove BOD/COD can sometimes double the cost.

These numbers are estimates from projects that range between 25 gpm to just over 100 gpm. Costs can vary greatly based on various factors as discussed in this blog. Please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your needs.

Primary Factors Influencing the Cost of Wastewater Treatment

While the costs can vary widely, the following primary factors typically have the most significant influence on the price of an industrial wastewater treatment system:

• Flow (GPM): Larger volumes of wastewater necessitate larger tanks, pumps, and overall equipment.
• Discharge Limits: Stricter regulations often require additional treatment steps or equipment to ensure compliance.
• Specific Contaminants (BOD/COD): Addressing these contaminants might require specialized and expensive equipment, such as anaerobic or aerobic digesters.
• Wear and Tear: The type and concentration of contaminants present in wastewater can significantly impact the wear and tear experienced by equipment. For instance, highly acidic or corrosive wastewater may require specialized materials and frequent maintenance to prevent equipment degradation. Similarly, high-volume usage can also contribute to faster wear and tear.
• Consumable Components: Systems will inevitably require the replacement of certain components over time, such as pH probes, meters, and flow and level transmitters. Additionally, chemical costs can add up over time – especially if your system is not optimized.

Lifetime Cost Considerations

The upfront cost of a wastewater treatment system is only one piece of the financial puzzle. It is essential to consider the long-term costs associated with operation, maintenance, and potential upgrades.

Anguil understands the importance of lifetime costs. We work closely with clients to:

• Assess Lifespan Expectations: Design systems for their intended longevity (e.g., 15-20 years vs. 30+ years) to balance initial investment with long-term needs.
• Account for Maintenance: Help clients understand regular maintenance requirements and expected replacement cycles for components.
• Anticipate Future Needs: If tightening regulations or changes in your wastewater composition are likely, your system should be adaptable to avoid costly overhauls.

Contact us to better understand the solutions available for your wastewater treatment requirements.

Strict Regulatory Compliance 

Environmental regulations governing wastewater discharge are becoming increasingly stringent. This often translates to tighter discharge limits imposed by publicly operated treatment works (POTWs) on businesses. 

Companies may need to upgrade or modify their existing systems to remain compliant, particularly when addressing contaminants such as pH, metals, COD/BOD, and nitrogen-based compounds.

Commonly Overlooked Cost Factors

Businesses often focus primarily on the cost of the wastewater treatment equipment itself. However, hidden expenses are associated with integrating and installing a new system into your operations. Sourcing and managing additional contractors adds time, cost, and the potential for miscommunication.

Anguil’s turnkey solutions eliminate these hidden costs and your risk exposure. We can handle system integration and installation entirely in-house. This streamlines the process, potentially saving you money and eliminating the hassle of managing additional contractors.

Significant Cost Savings with In-House Wastewater Processing

Companies often see significant savings when switching to in-house wastewater treatment compared to hauling and disposal costs. Anguil has worked with clients who have achieved remarkable returns on investment (ROIs) with in-house wastewater treatment. 

Some clients have seen ROIs as fast as 1½  years, while a typical range falls between 3 and 4 years. With hauling and disposal costs rising in recent years, in-house treatment presents an increasingly attractive and financially feasible option for many companies.

Anguil Saves You Money Long-Term

Investing in a high-quality wastewater treatment system is key to significant long-term savings. Anguil’s approach ensures your system delivers efficiency and value over its entire 20-30-year lifespan:

• Tailored Solutions: We’ll work with you to understand your specific wastewater challenges and priorities. This allows us to design a system that addresses ease of operation, operational costs, and overall cost of ownership for optimal long-term value.
• Lab-Backed Decisions: Our in-house lab allows us to evaluate all treatment options. This helps us determine the pros and cons, capital costs (capex), and operational costs (opex). A data-driven approach ensures you’ll get the most cost-effective system.
• Optimized Chemistry: We carefully optimize your chemical usage to minimize long-term operating costs throughout the system’s lifespan.
• End-to-End Responsibility: Anguil manages everything from initial discussions through installation, commissioning, and ongoing service/support. This single-source accountability ensures seamless execution and eliminates the unexpected expenses caused by miscommunication or poorly integrated systems.

Anguil – Your Partner in Cost-Effective Wastewater Solutions

Anguil helps you control the cost of wastewater treatment. We’ll explore all viable solutions to find the most cost-effective system for your needs. We do not manufacture a specific product type, such as a slant plate clarifier. 

This allows us to examine all types of clarifiers (DAF, Ballasted floc, lamella) and point out the pros and cons of each as they relate to your wastewater and initiative objectives. This multi-solution approach holds true for all your contaminants of concern you need to remove/reduce. 

Click below to learn more about the cost-saving benefits Anguil delivers with our wastewater treatment services.

Read About A Wastewater Expense Crisis

Industrial Wastewater Solutions Overview

Most industrial facilities produce some volume of wastewater, which can range from 1 gallon per minute to millions of gallons per day. To protect the soil and groundwater from contamination, industrial wastewater treatment solutions must be efficient while meeting environmental standards. Read on to learn more about industrial wastewater treatment processes and what options are available for your application.

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Industrial Wastewater

To minimize the effects of highly contaminated wastewater on the environment, many industrial facilities have to implement wastewater pretreatment plants that treat industrial wastewater to acceptable standards for discharge to a municipal wastewater treatment plant or to the surface (into lakes or rivers). These pretreatment plants remove solids, VOCs, metals, fats oils, and grease such that the final effluent is compliant with local and national laws and regulations. Industrial facilities must also properly dispose of solids that the waste treatment process generates or removes.

In the United States, total water use is estimated at around 322 billion gallons per day. Industrial applications use nearly half of that total. To ensure compliance with existing laws, facilities must adequately manage any organic and inorganic pollutants generated during production processes that might otherwise contaminate water supplies. Different kinds of wastewater contamination will need different strategies to facilitate the proper removal of contaminants.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions

The primary focus of most wastewater treatment solutions is to discharge wastewater in compliance with national and local regulations. The secondary goal is to be as cost-effective as possible in the treatment of wastewater.

Anguil’s project approach has 4 distinct steps that lead to project execution. Project development entails understanding a client’s needs and respective decision criteria. Next, lab trials focused on meeting those criteria are executed in the Anguil lab. If conditions dictate, Anguil is prepared to do pilot testing at the client site. Through our lab and pilot testing, we can validate different technologies and treatment approaches to meet their needs, including capital cost (CAPEX) and operational cost (OPEX) comparison. If needed, we can provide automated options to reduce human involvement. We can even provide options for water reuse, ZLD (zero liquid discharge), or near-zero liquid discharge.

The project execution phase could include fully engineered, build-to-specification, turnkey, and customized solutions. In lieu of new equipment, execution may be retrofits or system upgrades.

At Anguil, our industrial wastewater solution capabilities include:

• System Expertise
• Equipment Alternatives
• In-House Capabilities
• Single-Source Responsibility
• Integration Capabilities
• Experience

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions: Technologies

Industrial wastewater solutions use a variety of technologies. The following are some of the materials these systems remove and the technologies used to remove them:

• Dissolved metal materials can be removed through pH adjustment and clarification, ion exchange, and carbon technologies.
• Fats and oils/grease can be removed with dissolved air flotation (DAF) and oil-water-separators.
• Sludge dewatering happens when water is squeezed from sludge using filter presses, belt presses, rotary vacuum drums, and rotary screw presses.
• Suspended solids are removed by cartridge filters, ballasting, parallel plate clarifiers, DAF, flocculation, and bag filters.
• Soluble biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)/chemical oxygen demand (COD) is eliminated with MBBR, MBR, anaerobic, anoxic, bioreactor, and oxidation treatment.
• Total dissolved solids (TDS) are the measurement of the total dissolved amount of organic and inorganic solid materials present in wastewater. Reverse osmosis, ion exchange systems, and nanofiltration facilitate the removal of TDS.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are often present in wastewater, requiring removal via air stripping, granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, or oxidation.
• Ultra-pure water requires the removal of minerals and other contaminants from relatively clean water. Reverse osmosis (RO), deionization (DI), ion exchange, ultrafiltration (UF), and microfiltration are a few technologies that can be leveraged to create ultra-pure process waters.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions From Anguil Environmental

At Anguil, we believe in clean air and water. Our founders built the company on the premise that public health, economic prosperity, and sustainability are intrinsically linked. If you would like more information about industrial wastewater treatment, contact us today!