Industry Evaporates MCES permit
Parker Hannifin Corporation in Chanhassen installed an evaporator system to treat its wastewater discharge and eliminated the need for an MCES Industrial Discharge Permit.
Parker Hannifin is a machine shop specializing in integrated hydraulic valves. Their process wastewater consists of spent coolants, mop bucket water, and some tumbling wastes. Before switching to the evaporator system, the company rented a reverse osmosis (RO) system to remove oil from their wastewater prior to discharge. The recycled water from the RO system was sent down the drain and the oil waste was put in drums and shipped out each week.
With the new evaporator system installed, all drains in the production area are closed off. All wastewater produced is transported to the treatment area by way of a portable pump and contained in a holding tank. The wastewater from the holding tank is batch dumped into the evaporator. Over 90 percent of the wastewater fed into the system is evaporated. The remaining 10 percent waste is put in barrels and shipped out. Nothing is discharged to the sanitary sewer. The barreled waste contains enough BTU content to be used as a fuel additive and is, therefore, very inexpensive to dispose of.
According to Jerry Hoffer, the facility manufacturing engineer manager, the new system has been in operation since October 2003 and has already paid for itself. The company went from discharging 869,200 gallons of process wastewater in 2002 to zero gallons so far in 2004. They have reduced the number of barrels of waste shipped each month and reduced the cost per barrel. There is very little staff time involved in operating the system, no chemicals to be added, no testing and no permitting.
Parker Hannifin is successfully evaporating their wastewater discharge and has evaporated their MCES discharge permit as well!