German company offers a high-porous spherical filter media with a unique crystalline structure for efficient pre-filtering of oils, hydrocarbons, heavy metals and radioactive elements from industrial waste water

To preserve water as a precious resource it is necessary to implement strategies of responsible consumption and efficient methods for treatment and re-use. Economically and ecologically, the development of technologies for more efficient treatment is crucial. Especially industrial process- and wastewater can be heavily contaminated. Therefore, removing hazardous contaminants is an important prerequisite for further downstream water treatment processes and ultimately, for recovering clean water for re-use. Hydrocarbons and oils in general - if present in these raw wastewaters - will cause serious rising of treatment costs due to damages and malfunctions within the secondary treatment. In industrial wastewater treatment plants, there is a technological gap identified between primary treatment solutions such as separators, screens, belt filters, flotation, sand/media filtration and the following secondary treatment steps consisting of highly advanced technologies such as ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, activated carbon or biologic treatment. If these secondary treatment technologies are applied to hydrocarbon contaminated waters and solid particles are present in these oil-water-mixes, technical problems and high costs are the results. Even small quantities are enough to cause serious troubles and lead to substantial loss of treatment performance. A German company, specialised in the development and manufacture of granulate for various applications has developed a unique and patented high-porous, spherical filter media made of special diatomite earth with a unique crystalline structure. The filter material is used to effectively pre-filter and clean process wastewater of oils and solid particles in a classic filtration process. It is produced layer by layer until the needed grain size is reached. The filter process is based on the principle of coalescence, oils are collected in droplets on the surface of the filter media. It is not only collecting all kinds of oils and hydrocarbons (e.g. heavy oils, tar oils, fuels, plant oils, synthetic oils, hydraulic, cooling and cutting oils – mineral-based, plant-based or synthetic does not make any difference), but also contained heavy metals and radioactive elements – all in one simple process. It has the highest sorption/extreme retention capacity of 90m² of filter material surface per gram of filter material. Apart from removing hazardous substances or radioactive elements the filter process also allows the recovery of valuable heavy metals as well as the cationic-anionic capturing of rare-earths and specific minerals from wastewater at industrial scale. The innovative filter can be applied in every industrial and communal treatment plant to clean water on the one hand and to protect and guard the treatment plants and technical components on the other hand. Large economical savings and a better ecological overall performance of the plant are guaranteed. Main fields of application are process water in oil & gas industries, oil-contaminated industrial wastewater, nuclear waste- & process water, biological wastewater treatment, aquaculture & oceanarium, circulating pool water etc. The company is looking for engineering companies in the water treatment sector or water treatment plant operators. For an established range distributors are needed. But usually, the filter material needs to be adapted in grain size, volume, throughput capacity etc. to the specific application, thus preparatory co-engineering services and technical advice and support are provided together with the final filter product. Respectively, the company seeks commercial agreements with companies providing turn-key wastewater treatment plants. Special focus is also on the upgrade of existing treatment plants since the proposed filter technology will cover the technological gap very effectively, baking treatment plants to a new level of performance and efficiency.