INDUSTRIAL WATER REUSE OPTIMIZATION PROJECT;

ECONOMIC, STRATEGIC, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL GAINS.

Business

Reuse and consequent reduction of water consumption and generation of contaminated effluents in a foundry industry:

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• Economic : production cost reduction, with short-term payback;

• Strategic : reduce the vulnerability of the supply of vital water input, creating its own circuit for the reuse of the good - increasingly scarce, subject to seasonal variations, public policies, infrastructure and population growth;

• Environmental and Social : reduce competition for the consumption of this noble and expensive good, destining it mainly for human consumption and improving the quality of effluents, returning them to the collection network with clean water quality;

Project:

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• Create separation of drinking water distribution pipes for exclusive human use washbasins, showers, drinking fountains, provided by Cia de Águas, Sabesp;

• Build a new, separate system for industrial waters, replacing Sabesp's water with abstraction from artesian wells, rainwater, reuse and wastewater.

Development

We subdivided the existing water distribution network into two: the one for drinking water and the other for industrial water.

The rainwater collection network was integrated with the industrial water network . In it we install an automatic gate that only opens and channels the flow to the public network, when there are torrential peaks of rain that can cause potential overflow.

Next to this gate, we built a discharge well with a water-oil separation system to pump all the water captured at that point into lung and decantation tanks. From these tanks, the treated water is pumped to the upper box and returned to the industrial water distribution network. This closed industrial water system is monitored daily by the quality laboratory, always guaranteeing quality water, and can even be discarded according to the competent NBR prescription.

To remove dirt from the system, sand filters are installed next to the lung tanks. The backwashing of the filters is poured into sludge drying tanks. After decanting, the water returns to the system. The sludge is dried by filtered vapors from the foundry. The dry sludge incorporated into the foundry's ashes is sold to an industry that manufactures micronutrients.

The wastewater goes through a treatment system and, after chlorination, is reused in the industrial water network.

Deliverable

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• The works, carried out within the planning with a detailed schedule, allowed the services to be carried out without stopping the factory;

• Project completed within 8 months;

• The maximum flow rate specified reached 150 m³ / hour, higher than the industry's demand.

 

Results of

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Economic / operational: The implemented engineering solution:

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• Eliminated expenses on water consumption and generation of effluents, generating savings of R $ 88,000.00 per month;

• Reduced operating cost by R $ 1.05 million / year;

• 9 month payback.

 

Strategic:

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• Reduction of dependence on vital industrial input. Water, very finite, faces increasing difficulties; supply, rationing, prices, quality;

• The project reduced the vulnerability of this asset, anticipating possible shortages in supply, dependence on funds and public policies, environmental seasonality;

• Increased the company's competitiveness, generating operational flexibility;

• During the rainy season, Dec / Apr, the floods in the surrounding streets were reduced to almost zero during the rainy season, which hindered and prevented the access of inputs, production output and the safe circulation of employees;

 

Social:

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• The implementation reduced the monthly water consumption in the industry by 108 thousand m³, enough to supply 5,000 homes / month, or a city of 15,000 inhabitants.

• By allocating saved water for human use, which is more noble, it reduces pressure on public investment, water collection and distribution infrastructure, sought in increasingly distant locations.

• Piscinão: The Industrial Water System with reuse, collection, floodgates, settlement wells and “lungs” of 3 million liters. Regulates water for the public pluvial system, overloaded in the rains. It improved access and sanitary conditions with a considerable reduction of private and public losses downstream and upstream;

 

Environmental:

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• Important reduction in the consumption of industrial water;

• Great improvement in the quality of wastewater, dispensed with excellent quality, reducing the impact and the public cost of treating effluents;

• Benefits to public water management and policies for the population and the environment.