ACI-HERZOG Pretreatment Plant Effluent Surfactant Reduction

Abstract

ACI-HERZOG is the firm contracted to maintain and operate the Puerto Rico Tren Urbano system. As part of their duties, they are required to wash down train cars periodically. The water generated from the wash down process must be treated for pH and temperature, in accordance with federal and state pretreatment regulations. Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency released more strict regulations with regards to stormwater discharges. With the possibility of pretreatment standards also becoming more stringent, the firm may eventually be required to treat their process waters for surfactants. Thus, a proposal was put forth to install an activated carbon filtration system with a caustic soda regeneration system. To this end, company carwash effluent and surfactant data was compiled, and, through a series of volume conversions and surfactant calculations, it was determined that a skid mounted, double vessel 1 ton, 16 gallons per minute GAC system can achieve the project goal of reducing the surfactant levels in the carwash effluent by at least 50 % of its current average. Key Terms ⎯ Activated carbon, effluent, regeneration, sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate.