Water/Wastewater


The creation of an in-house facility also provides the ability to adjust the treatment and recycling process to meet changing needs. This means that if there is a change in the chemical component or packaging material of any of the tests, the waste management process can be adjusted accordingly.


Incineration is Not a Solution – It is Part of the Problem


Some companies relinquish their responsibility for waste treatment by sending waste reagents to incinerators. HACH LANGE does not support this action for environmental reasons. Incineration generates greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic gases such as dioxins. These emissions are generated by burning materials that could have been recycled. Importantly, incineration does not miraculously remove the toxic heavy metal component of the waste; it simply converts it into liquid or solid toxic waste. A further problem with incineration is that, as a quick and easy solution, it serves as a deterrent to reuse and recycling which are by far the preferred environmental options.


Low Carbon Footprint


By creating one large central European facility, HACH LANGE is able to minimise the environmental and financial costs of transport. This is achieved by consolidating enormous numbers of waste 'packages' into one large container. For example, in the UK, waste is collected at one location until a full 40ft container is ready for transport to Germany. This avoids the transport of large numbers of small samples and drastically reduces the carbon footprint of the whole operation.


How it Works 10,000 COD cuvettes are used to create one silver bar


On arrival at the Environment Centre, the reagents are weighed and sorted. Packaging is either recycled or reused and the remainder is sorted into four main waste groups: cyanide-containing reagents; acid-containing reagents; mercurial reagents and AOX- containing reagents.


Liquid reagents are separated and both glass and plastic containers are cleaned, crushed and separated for subsequent recycling.


Mercurial reagents are treated in an electrolysis plant which is wastewater free. Both silver and mercury are isolated as an amalgam and processed into precious metals and the silver is formed into silver bars (one bar is created from 10,000 COD cuvettes) which are returned to some (lucky) customers.


Cyanide-containing wastewater is detoxified with hydrogen peroxide and neutralised with calcium hydroxide; the resulting sludge is passed through a chamber press and the treated water is purified with active carbon.


AOX-containing reagents are handled by a biological wastewater treatment plant. Summary


Looking back, Dirk Kruse says "In 1988 environmental issues were not as prominent as they are today, so it was a bold decision for HACH LANGE to invest in a bespoke waste management centre. However, this facility has become an enormous benefit for our customers because most of them have an environmental protection policy and the ability to reuse and recycle their waste reagents is a clear demonstration of best practice."


Looking forward, the HACH LANGE company operates a rigorous continuous improvement policy, so whilst Dirk is rightly proud of the fact that over 75% of waste material entering the Environment Centre is currently recycled or re-used, he naturally plans to increase this figure even further.


ix


Smart Wireless Technology Monitors Water Usage at Glaxosmithkline in Ireland


Emerson Process Management’s Smart Wireless technology is enabling GlaxoSmithKline to monitor water usage at its Cork plant in Ireland. Installation of RosemountR wireless flow and pressure transmitters on two new storage tanks has provided an opportunity to better understand water usage throughout the plant, to trial the wireless technology, and to create a network for cost-effectively adding new process instrumentation in the future.


"GlaxoSmithKline is continuously looking to improve plant performance by increasing the number of parameters measured," explained Emmett Martin, Site Services & Automation Manager, GlaxoSmithKline. "Water is a considerable overhead to the plant so it is important that we monitor flow rates to manage consumption, and to help identify any usage trends."


The Cork site is a strategic manufacturing plant that produces a range of bulk active ingredients for use in the formulation of prescription drugs. The existing water storage facility was too small and had no measurement instrumentation in place. Two new storage tanks were installed along with a new pipework infrastructure. The tanks are located around 300 metres from the main control room and there was no existing cabling in place. A wired installation would have required new power and data cables to be buried in trenches. By adopting a wireless solution these significant costs were avoided.


Ten Smart Wireless devices were installed including six Rosemount pressure transmitters, two Rosemount flow transmitters and two Rosemount level transmitters. The Smart Wireless technology integrates seamlessly with the existing automation equipment. Flow data is transmitted every 30 seconds and pressure and level data every 300 seconds to a Smart Wireless Gateway strategically positioned on the control room roof. This is connected using a serial connection to the existing DeltaVT digital automation system that controls the plant utilities. From here the flow and pressure measurements are sent to a data historian and are available to plant operators for regular monitoring and reporting.


The new data obtained has enabled GlaxoSmithKline to clearly identify water usage for different areas of the plant, providing a far better understanding of the costs. GlaxoSmithKline is now in a position to identify changes.


The new wireless infrastructure makes it very easy and cost effective to add additional measurement devices without the need for new cabling. GlaxoSmithKline are already looking at installing a wireless level device that will be added to the existing network.


"We regard the installation of wireless very much as a two stage process," explained Martin. "The first step is to establish a wireless network and let it prove itself over a period of time. The next step is to expand the network and use wireless whenever it is more cost effective than a wired alternative."


"We are more than satisfied with the solution, which is proving to be reliable with no signal loss," summarised Martin. "Based on a successful implementation, at some point in the future we are perhaps, looking towards a plant with no wires."


Reader Reply Card No. 189


IET May / June 2011 www.envirotech-online.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65