Surface treatment

Treatment of wastewater coming from surface cleaning and surface finishing processes. Water reuse, disposal cost reduction, sustainability.

Surface treatment processes are widely used in the production of metal parts; they can be functional, as those aimed at protecting from corrosion or wear; aesthetical, like painting or coating; or both, as aluminum anodizing.
These processes are used for metal objects utilized in a large number of industries, amongst which:

  • the automotive industry
  • the aerospace industry
  • the production of household appliances
  • the furniture industry
  • the industry related to solar and photovoltaic energy
  • microelectronics and many others


Surface treatments’ wastewater: extremely dangerous and polluting

The surface treatment industry produces large quantities of water containing extremely dangerous and polluting elements as heavy metals, organic substances, cyanides and other suspended solids.

The most common wastewater streams generated from the surface treatment industry are:

  • oil emulsions
  • exhausted baths containing heavy metals (such as chromium, zinc, copper etc.)
  • water based lubricants
  • wastewater from rinsing and degreasing lines
  • floor washing waters
  • compressor blow down
     

Wastewater treatment for nickel plating, tin plating, chrome plating, copper plating, galvanizing

Different surface treatments may be applied depending on both the purpose of the treatment and the type of metal onto which it is applied. Our wastewater treatment technologies are thus prepared to treat a lot of different metals in water, making our wastewater treatment equipment the ideal solution for:

  • chrome plating wastewater treatment
  • nickel plating wastewater treatment
  • chromium plating wastewater treatment
  • galvanic wastewater treatment
  • tin plating wastewater treatment
  • copper plating wastewater treatment
  • treatment of water from hedging with other metals, more or less precious.

The waste water deriving from these processes can be essentially categorized into:

  • Water from cleaning or surface preparation processes: degreasing, pickling and rinsing baths in general, including the water used for rinsing floors.
  • Water from covering and surface finishing processes: waters used for the composition of the various treatment and covering applications, as the exhausted baths, those used for the anodizing, galvanic processes etc.

 

Wastewater treatment by evaporation in surface treatment processes

Regardless of the composition of the effluents, EVALED® evaporators are a necessary step in the goal of achieving the environmental needs of your company, since they are necessary for the zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and very effective for water reuse, for the achievement of discharge standards and for obtaining by-products.

EVALED® vacuum evaporation units typically allow a concentration of the total volume of wastewater of 10 times or more, consistently reducing the relevant disposal costs. Secondly, the distillate obtained, usually in excess of 90% of the wastewater stream, can be reused for fresh baths preparation or rinsing operations delivering both cost savings and environmental sustainability to the companies that make use of our technology.

 

Application & products

SURFACE TREATMENTS

Application Evaled ADDED VALUE
Pre-treatment baths RV, AC, PC Water reuse, sludge reduction
Degreasing baths RV, AC, PC Water reuse, disposal cost reduction
Phosphate coating baths RV, PC Water reuse, disposal cost reduction
Pickling baths (H2SO4 , HCl, HF, HNO3) PC Water reuse, sludge reduction
Cyanide rinsing baths PC Water reuse, sludge reduction
Copper, Zinc, Nickel rinsing baths RV, PC Metal recovery, disposal cost reduction
Cobalt, Cadmium rinsing baths RV, PC Metal recovery, disposal cost reduction
Chromium rinsing baths PC Metal recovery, disposal cost reduction
Aluminium anodizing rinsing baths RV, PC Water reuse, sludge reduction
Silver, Gold (precious metals) baths PC Metal recovery
Gas scrubber blow-down RV, AC, PC Water recovery, disposal cost reduction
RO concentrate RV, AC, PC ZLD, water recovery, sludge reduction
IE re generation RV, AC, PC ZLD, water recovery, sludge reduction
New or revamping WWT plants (mixed streams) RV, AC Water reuse, disposal & operational costs reduction

Capabilities

Mechanical parts workshops (Precious metals, Precision, Instrumentation)
Automotive (Car, Trains, Motorbikes) engine and main parts production – Tier ½
Aviation engine and main parts production
Automotive sub-suppliers – Tier 3/4
Aviation sub-suppliersFurniture mechanical parts production
Appliance mechanical parts production
Heating & Plumbing parts production
Wire production (Copper/Steel/Alu)
Defence mechanical parts production
Engineering companies

REFERENCES
Discover the portfolio of our solutions and implementations around the world.
Our Products
Discover our EVALED® evaporators families and series.