Swirltex: Coal Terminal Case Study

Client Specifications

This client was a major coal terminal with extremely challenging industrial wastewater. Prior to implementing the?Swirltex system, the Client faced:

• excessive water consumption for dust control – using enough?daily?to support the water needs of a small town;
• limited options for filtration systems that can effectively handle fine coal particles;
• an existing filtration system that was prone to membrane fouling and required on-going maintenance.

Project Goals

The client’s ideal solution required:

• effective filtration of terminal produced wastewater, primarily for solids, and oil removal;
• consistent membrane permeate flux production of > 100 LMH; and?
• target parameters for key contaminants such as TSS?< 50 mg/L, oil and grease < 5 mg/L, iron < 10 mg/L, and bacteria < 165 pg/L.?

Project Success

For?preliminary testing, Swirltex collected a composite sample from the Client’s facility. After successful chemical pre-treatment, the wastewater was pumped into the Swirltex system for its final treatment. Both the untreated wastewater and permeate were sent to a third-party laboratory to verify the accuracy of test results.

As a necessary practice for all coal terminals, the Client implements wet-type dust removal. This requires significant amounts of water to continuously spray down coal stores and stockpiles. As shown in the table above, Swirltex’s high removal efficiency allowed the Client to access its waste stream’s re-use potential. With our system, the treated water could be safely re-used in spray bars and other dust control mechanisms to minimize the terminal’s overall freshwater consumption. Furthermore, Swirltex’s system provided greater operational efficiency by reducing the number of membrane skids required from 3 to 1. This also provided generous savings in terms of capital expenditures and non-compliance penalties. Overall, by choosing Swirltex to handle its wastewater, the Client:

• eliminated?its excessive freshwater consumption, transitioning to more sustainable water use;?
• streamlined?its filtration process to reduce capital expenditures and carbon emissions; and
• decreased?energy consumption to make daily operations more sustainable.

Swirltex Compared to Other Systems

One of the most pressing issues is coal wastewater, which is often treated with advanced treatment methods at a fairly high cost.

Existing filtration systems struggle to remove the fine pollutants, making it difficult for coal-fired plants to meet regulatory compliance.

The costs of compliance can reach as high as $200,000,000 annually in the United States alone.

Our team identified four main contaminants in coal wastewater and focused on removal efficiency.

Our technology exceeded industry standards for contaminant removal, with at least 98% reduction across all categories.

Swirltex’s ultrafiltration system has several advantages over its competition. After cleaning, our membranes recover 93% of their initial performance, compared to just 6% for non-Swirltex systems.

Our unique flow-pattern ensures minimal contact between contaminants and the membrane walls, preventing irreversible damage. In addition, our buoyancy-enhanced membranes separate solids and liquids for greater permeate production and higher quality effluent.

Swirltex Inc. ’s technology is not just about filtration, it's about clean technology that facilitates water re-use and reduces the strain on global and local water supply. Our system delivers exceptional removal efficiency without the maintenance costs of conventional filtration systems.

It's a solution that allows the coal industry to continue providing a vital resource while minimizing its environmental impact.

Interested in achieving similar results in wastewater filtration??Reach out to Barron at?[email protected]?or directly at (213) 675-2070.

Read about our work in other industries:

• Case Study: Oilfield Water Recycling
• Case Study: Municipal Lagoon
• Case Study: Food & Beverage Facility

#coal #coalpower #wastewater