FILTRATION OF WASTEWATER FROM A ZINC POWDER ATOMIZING SYSTEM (LA5)

ISSUE

A plant located in Quebec (CA), supplying zinc powder form, is recirculating the water from its hydrometallurgical sector. The water used to transfer the zinc powder contains zinc particles that can harm the components and equipment of the process such as seals, atomization nozzles, high pressure pumps, etc. The presence of these particles, therefore, increases costs maintenance of these equipment/components.

TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

STS Canada needed to identify and size the most suitable, reliable and robust filtration technology to remove zinc particles in the water supplying the atomizer system. Since the plant had little free space, it was essential to select a compact technology that could be integrated into the available space. Also, the integration of the proposed system should consider equipment layout upstream or downstream of the filtration unit, type of operation, automation and maintenance.

RECOMMENDED SOLUTION

STS Canada initially established with the customer a list of design criteria that the selected technology had to meet. Subsequently, the various filtration technologies available on the market were evaluated using previously established design criteria and internal tools developed by STS. Laboratory tests were then carried out to collect the information necessary for the proper sizing of the selected technologies. Once sized, equipment technical specifications and quotations were requested from various manufacturers available in the STS database to identify the supplier offering the most economical and compact technology suitable for this application. Finally, a scheme of the general arrangement of the proposed system was created to optimize the integration of the different equipment of the system.

RESULTS

As a result of STS Canada's research and studies, a concept using a fully automated continuous pressure filter has been proposed to the client to filter the water before supplying it to the atomization system. The proposed unit allowed to obtain a filtrate containing less than 5 ppm meeting the customer's guidelines operational criteria and recycle the zinc filter cake to the process. Also, thanks to STS Canada's supplier databases, the manufacturer offering the equipment with the best value for money has been identified and presented to the customer.