Zero liquid discharge: applications, technologies and Salher references
Over the last few years, the concept of zero liquid discharge has become more relevant in the water sector, emphasising the reduction of urban and industrial water consumption in order to minimise its environmental impact. Salher offers quality, compact solutions for wastewater treatment and water reuse that contribute to achieving a circular economy.
Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) is a sustainability concept that aims to minimise the discharge of contaminated wastewater into the natural environment while reducing water consumption. ZLD-enabled systems include water reuse technologies in wastewater treatment plants.
These systems can be applied to any activity that generates wastewater, whether it be residential, commercial or industrial. For these last ones, in addition to minimising the environmental impact of their activity, they will be especially interesting to reduce operating costs and water consumption during the production process and to avoid the tax rates that wastewater discharge represents for companies.
To achieve zero liquid discharge, Salher offers its water reuse technologies that achieve a quality of effluent that allows its reuse in urban, agricultural, industrial or recreational activities, such as the irrigation of green areas, the refilling of toilets, the cleaning of factories, etc. In the following video you will find out all about Salher’s reuse systems:
Therefore, the technologies applied for the zero liquid discharge system are mainly membrane and thermal separation technologies. Salher offers its microfiltration and ultrafiltration equipment as pre-treatment, and its compact plants through nanofiltration or reverse osmosis for the regeneration of up to 80% of the water.
No water to waste
Recently, Salher has designed, manufactured and commissioned a water treatment plant for a famous tyre company in Spain, whose objective was to achieve zero liquid discharge to implement in its circular economy system.
In this plant, water from a nearby river is treated to obtain the necessary quality to cool the cooling towers of the tyre factory. The system includes a grit chamber – grease trap, a coagulation equipment in line, a final refining system using silex and anthracite filtration and post-chlorination for water maintenance.
The reject water resulting from filter washing is treated by a flocculation system and then sent to a lamellar decanter, DE-LA. The effluent obtained will return to the grit chamber – grease trap, thus closing the reuse cycle.
This simple solution is just one example of how easy it is to treat water for a production process and reuse it within the same business. Salher adapts to the particularities of each project to develop the solution that meets the expectations of all its customers and achieves the objectives of zero liquid discharge.
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