Case Study: Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment in Ireland
A well known pharmaceutical giant in Ireland approached us to help them with APIs which were persistent in their wastewater even after treatment. This case study describes how our Nyex Rosalox system removed the APIs to the limit of detection.
Industry
Pharmaceuticals
Equipment Capacity/Flow Rate
2m3/week
Compounds of Concern
Various APIs
Influent Concentration
20 mg/L
Treatment Targets
0.01 mg/L
Unit Energy Consumption
5 kWh/m3
Industry
Pharmaceuticals
Equipment Capacity/Flow Rate
2m3/week
Compounds of Concern
Various APIs
Influent Concentration
20 mg/L
Treatment Targets
0.01 mg/L
Unit Energy Consumption
5 kWh/m3
Background: Removal of APIs from pharma wastewater
We were approached by a pharmaceutical company generating small batches of wastewater with persistent APIs.
The presence of hazardous APIs meant that they were unable to discharge their wastewater. Instead, they had to tanker it offsite, at a cost of up to 300 EUR/m3.
Irais Baizabal
Wastewater consultant
Schedule a call with one of our wastewater treatment consultants at your convenience. Or you can send us an enquiry.
The pharmaceutical company had a comprehensive wastewater treatment system already in place, but there were a selection of persistent APIs which could not be removed by the existing technology.
The client came to us to trial how our technology would enable them to reuse the water, rather than trucking it off site for incineration.
Their priorities included:
Simple to operate (hands off)
Removal of >99% API
Interested in removing API for CSR purposes (responsible manufacturing)
Save on costs for tankering away
What’s it like to work with Arvia?
“The Arvia team is highly experienced, personable and able to answer difficult questions on both the chemistry and the operation / running cost elements of the equipment. I have found Arvia to be pro-active in following up on our project and interested in finding solutions to provide an automated solution as per our specification and to reduce overall cost.”
EHS Coordinator
Our solution: Removal of APIs from pharma water
We deployed the Nyex Rosalox™ treatment system in order to tackle the containing the API containing wastewater. This was a compact and fully automated solution.
Arvia’s solution provided a <2 year ROI.
Technology alternative was a Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE). Arvia’s solution was ¼ of MEE capital cost. MEE was a higher OPEX solution too.
The Nyex Rosalox™ treatment process combines adsorption with electrochemical oxidation in a single, scalable unit. As the contaminated water flows into the reactor tank, pharmaceutical contaminants are concentrated onto the surface of our proprietary Nyex™ adsorbent media, which is non-porous with high electrical conductivity.
A low electrical current is simultaneously passed through the media bed to fully mineralise the adsorbed contaminants to H₂O, H₂ and CO₂, without the production of sludge. Unlike activated carbon, Nyex™ media is effectively regenerated in-situ and the process can continue without interruption or incineration to renew the media.
The treated water then flows from the reactor tank ready to be safely discharged.
Tell us what organic compounds you need to remove from your water and our consultants will give their recommended approach which might involve:
Engineering assessment of your water profile
Treatability trial to scope the pilot
Optioneering to determine best solution
Results
Results from the trials show a comprehensive removal of the persistent APIs of >99% and to below the limit of detection (LOD). The energy used was 5kWh/m3.
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Removal from 15 mg/L was demonstrated and a reduction to 0.01 mg/L was reached in less than 6 minutes residence time using about 0.70 Euros worth of energy per m3.