A tanker truck operator built a new operations terminal part of which contains a wash facility to wash the interiors of trucks and the exterior of the tankers and tractors. The operation is a contract hauler so a wide variety of liquids will end up in the wastewater.
The facility obtained a sewer discharge permit that had restrictive oil and grease and metals limits but also had a daily discharge volume limit of 7,000 gallons.
Among the commodities transported are oil products, sugar, chemicals, acid, and caustic, as well as many other organic products. The system design, therefore, had to accommodate all these potential contaminants in the water.
The system design includes free oil separation, pH control and final treatment using ultrafiltration (UF). This treatment was designed to treat the wastewater to meet the sewer discharge limits despite variations in the waste stream.
Water having had the free oil, suspended solids, and emulsified oils removed and having had the pH controlled is suitable for use as wash and first rinse water in the tank washing operations. This, therefore, became part of the system design to conserve water and to enable the facility to meet the sewer volume discharge limitation. Because this was a new facility, there was not an opportunity to complete treatability studies on the wastewater. Dynatec Systems prior experience in similar/like applications served as the basis of design.
Tank Truck Wash Water Ultrafiltration
The ultrafilter is configured in a crossflow (tangential) flow process, a membrane pore size of 0.07 micron. It is used to reject colloidal and emulsified components in water. A high rate of flow across the membrane is maintained to cause turbulence. This, in turn, prevents fouling of the membranes.
For many waste applications like this one, a tubular membrane is specified to prevent the possibility of plugging of the membrane element and to concentrate the contaminants to a high concentration.
Tank Truck Wash Water Results
The system continues to meet the demanding discharge requirements. About 50% of the water produced is reused for wash and first rinse, both for the interiors of the tankers and for the exteriors of the vehicles.
The system is simple to operate and maintain. Variations in the quality of water being fed to the system caused by different chemicals being cleaned from the tankers does not cause variations in the quality of discharge.
Contact Dynatec Systems today to discuss your wastewater application.
https://www.dynatecsystems.com/technologies/membrane-technologies/ultrafiltration-systems/