Avoiding Tunnel Vision: High-Recovery Membranes in the Rocky Mountains

A newly built zero-liquid discharge industrial wastewater treatment plant for the treatment of groundwater flow from a railroad tunnel provides an excellent example of an elegant solution to a highly constrained challenge. The design of the plant was constrained by a lack of sewer or water connections, a small space in the midst of a ski resort to build and very low allowable levels of metals in the treated water. The conservative design of the UF membrane system, along with the presence of detergent in the return flow from the backwash recovery system, has allowed the zero-liquid discharge plant to operate for four months (and counting) with no need for a clean-in-place membrane treatment and low chemical costs.

This presentation is available to AMTA Members only.