Neutralization at Coloral

Complete industrial wastewater treatment plant for acidic and alkaline wastewater arising from production

Chemical dosing station and pH measurement

Reservoir

Display on touch panel

Concept With CP (cathodic protection), a new surface treatment machine, Coloral is expanding to an industrial facility in La Neuveville. Even during the planning stage of this expansion, the wastewater treatment concept received particular attention. Ordinary surface treatment in the CP machine involves surface treatment of semi-finished products made of aluminum, using alkali and acid. During the process, small amounts of acidic and alkaline wastewater are produced. These are subject to continuous neutralization before entering the sewage system. Once or twice a month, the acidic and alkaline baths in the CP machine must be replaced. The only way to treat the heavily contaminated wastewater is by means of batch neutralization. Due to space restrictions, a combination of both processes presented the only viable option.
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Coloral, a company with headquarters in Neuchtel, processes customer orders in the area of surface treatments. These include mechanical processes, such as sandblasting, brushing, engraving, CNC lasering, polishing, drilling and milling, among others. Electromechanical processes, such as chemical chromatization, chemical engraving, decorative anoxic oxidation and other chemical processes, produce different types of acidic and alkaline wastewater.

These must be treated before they are discharged into the public sewage treatment plant.

For the new CP system, the customer assigned Endress+Hauser with the design of a complete wastewater treatment i.e. neutralization facility.

Planning, construction The key to success in this project was engineering and project management. The customer wanted a turn-key system including the process for wastewater treatment. The low space requirement, together with a combination of continuous and batch neutralization, presented a real challenge in the planning and construction of the system. A PLC system, type WAGO I/O, was used to build the cabinet. A touch panel was used to provide a quick and simple overview of the current operation. The interactive display, showing the status of the basins, pumps, valves and levels, keeps you informed about the process sequence at all times. Using a rotary switch, the customer can switch between continuous and batch neutralization. This is of particular importance as the basin must first be completely emptied for batch neutralization. This is due to the fact that during cleaning of the CP machine, several hundred liters of diluted alkali and acid are produced. As these have different concentrations, space is needed initially in the neutralization basin after mixing to allow for the larger quantity of chemicals which must be added. When the plant was commissioned, it emerged that, due to the precision control of the PLC, chemical pumps with large dosing units are also suitable for dosing small amounts during normal operation.

Continuous and batch basin

The PLC is then able to call on the maximum dosing performance of the pumps duning batch neutralization. In the outlet of the system, the pH value is measured and continuously recorded using a graphic display recorder.
View of the neutralization basin

12.06/I.I.

Instruments International Endress+Hauser Instruments International AG Kaegenstrasse 2 4153 Reinach Switzerland Tel. +41 61 715 81 00 Fax +41 61 715 25 00 http://www.endress.com info@ii.endress.com

CS 003B/20/en/12.07 EH/INDD CS2