How to Reuse and Reduce Water consumption in Ceramics Industry?

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How can I best reduce the water consumption in ceramics industry?

Have any of you have been involved as an environmental consultant at a ceramics factory, or do you have any good information you can pass along?

I've recently started as an environmental consultant for a ceramics factory. My work is mainly focused on water consumption reduction methods and possible water recycling methods.

Pilot tests are currently being done to determine if the water is in a good enough condition to be reused in the process or downgraded and used as cleaning water.

I am starting from scratch so any information would be greatly appreciated. 

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10 Answers

  2. Dear Cheyne, ceramic industries dont use much water in process of making tiles. They might be using steam in bio-gasifier to produce carbon mono oxide gas for heating applications. Now if they use coal in bio gasifier, the condensate left out usually having lot of tarr and phenols in addition of sulfer, fluoride and other toxic elements. Most of the Phenols are volatile and harmful to human health and you cant just let it evaporate in the atmosphere. so do a very good homework and then initiate. Good luck.

  3. Cheyne, The first step if you haven't already done so is map the water system: all pipes, valves, points of use, cross-connections and meters. Then identify the volume used at each major point and ensure that you properly understand where all the water is used. Unless its a new factory or someone has looked at it before, you're likely to have inherited a system with leaks, cross-connections, and odd uses that nobody knew about. Fix that first, and add additional meters if necessary so you can MONITOR what is being used in each part of the factory and prevent wastage.

    Also have you considered alternative water sources such as boreholes or rainwater harvesting instead of using potable water for some applications?

    After doing the REDUCE bit, look at methods to REUSE the water without treatment. Collect rinse water and use it for washing, for example.

    Only after looking at all the reuse opportunities should you move to the final stage of RECYCLING water, with appropriate treatment. Be careful because you'll get all sorts of salesmen trying to sell you snake oil, most of whom should be banned from this forum. Look at what is in each "waste" stream and what you'd need to do to enable you to reuse it elsewhere, and the cost/reliability issues with doing so. Speak to the experts, as others have suggested.

    Good luck, and stick to the principles: Reduce, Reuse, then Recycle.

  4. all reused waste water from the  factory is to be checked if it is nuetral i.e. having a ph of 7+-1. if not treat it with acid or lime, then remove solid impurities by a ss filter + simple sand & gravel gravity filteration ,then inject it into the ground to be taken out after 30 days which again must be checked to be suitable for your industry. take a 2nd opinion from a geologist.

  5. Cheyne, it is possible to distill your waste water using heat from a biomass gasification system.  The result would be clean water and residual sediment from your process.  Biomass waste can fuel the system.  The gas it produces may be able to be used to fire your kilns.    Neal@newrangepower.com

  6. It depends ultimately what you are looking for. But at EcoloBlue we manufacture atmospheric water generators that create water from the humidity in the air. No water source needed, therefore you are not using or wasting any natural resources. By pulling the humidity from the air, you can produce enough for your needs. Our internal filtration system can re-filter the water, probably best with prefiltration added to remove large sediment before entering the machine. www.ecoloblue.com

  8. Hi Mr. Cheyne Jolley,

    Everything depends on how the water treatment is organized in the factory on in the cluster of ceramic factories. This industry uses clays, heavy metals and mostly inorganic pollutants. It is possible to recover and reuse all the water to recirculate it in the process and even recover the sediments as many tile factories in Spain do atomizing the treatment plant sediments and recovering the steam. I recommend you to contact ITC (Institut de Tecnica Ceramica) in Castellón Spain. They collaborate with big tile companies to achieve 0 waste.

    Sincerely,

     

    Pau Rodenas

  10. Please get in touch with Nick-clay Michael at nic@clay-Michael.com; he will be able to help.