28 avr. 20225 min de lecture

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Development In The United States, Europe and Japan (1) | YASA ET

Industrial Wastewater Treatment In The United States

In recent years, the Chinese government has successively issued more than 10 industry-related standards for industrial wastewater treatment, more than 30 national environmental standards for water pollutant discharge, and more than 20 local environmental standards for water pollutant discharge to regulate the development of index industries.

With the improvement of industrial wastewater discharge standards, the demand for industrial wastewater treatment will continue to increase, and the industrial wastewater treatment industry will usher in a favourable period of a new round of rapid development. The industrial wastewater treatment market will usher in vigorous development again.

Through the analysis of the development situation of the industrial wastewater treatment industry in major countries/regions, we can obtain some constructive experience and development guidance. Therefore, we selected the development history of the industrial wastewater treatment industry in three typical regions of the United States, Europe and Japan as the analysis objects, hoping to gain some experience and inspiration for future developments.

In this first article YASA ET introduce the development process of industrial water treatment in the United States.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment In The United States - Initial Stage

Industrial wastewater treatment in the United States began 50 years ago (in the 1970s), and almost every state in the United States is threatened by pollution of rivers, lakes or coasts due to the growing discharge of wastewater from factories.

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 and the Water Quality Act of 1965 were the first statutes that established regulations on the treatment of industrial wastewater discharges in general.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (“Clean Water Act (CWA)”) promulgated in 1972 established major pollutant discharge regulations. Wastewater treatment as part of production.

Corresponding to emission regulations, the main treatment technologies are activated sludge technology, ozone technology, ion resin technology, peroxidation reaction and activated carbon treatment methods, etc. In terms of processing equipment, the energy crisis has led to the development of energy-saving technologies, such as low-speed blowers, biological cycle contact drip filters, solid contact agent clarifiers, and anaerobic reactors.

Another important technology developed during this period was organic polymer flocculants, which enabled centrifugal settlers and belt filter presses for sludge dewatering.

This decade was a golden age for industrial wastewater treatment in the United States.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment In The United States - Development Stage

Entering the 1980s, the focus and policy of industrial wastewater treatment underwent a fundamental shift. Since most industrial enterprises still cannot meet the emission requirements through biological treatment, the treatment focus turns to source treatment.

In 1980, regulations on volatile organic compound emissions were enacted and nutrient emission limits were introduced. Different emission limits can be formulated according to the pollutant discharge situation of enterprises.

In terms of industrial wastewater treatment technology, sequencing batch reactors, microporous jet aerators and oxidation ditch technologies have appeared in the past 10 years. Membrane technology was further developed, and anaerobic treatment technology began to be used to treat high-concentration organic wastewater. And the emergence of biological phosphorus removal technology, odour control, wastewater solid tertiary treatment and removal of heavy metals and other technologies.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment In The United States - Maturity Stage

The biggest change in technology in the 1990s was the introduction of computer technology into industrial water treatment facilities, which began to use PLCs and PC technology for control. Real-time monitoring of water treatment facilities using microprocessors and remote control.

In the 1990s, enterprises began to consider the technical cost of environmental protection, and regarded the treatment of industrial wastewater as an indispensable part of the production process. "Zero discharge" began to become the focus of enterprises on water treatment. Technologies developed in the 1990s began to focus on the full utilization of limited resources (space, financial environment).

During this period, waste minimization technology, chemical substitution methods to eliminate or reduce intractable harmful substances, ultraviolet disinfection technology are widely used, nutrient removal technology and waste reuse membrane technology have become more and more in the treatment facilities of enterprises. important.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment In The United States - Future Perspectives

After entering the 21st century, although the cumulative growth rate of industrial production in the United States is 60%, the volume of industrial wastewater will be reduced from 62 billion gallons per day to 23 billion gallons per day.

Through the recovery and recycling of industrial wastewater, the United States has taken actions in the following aspects:

1. Increased investment in operating expenses of wastewater treatment plants;

2. Strengthen the research on the treatment technology of toxic pollutants, and complete the research on the biological evaluation and screening of pollutants in industries such as organic chemistry, wood, papermaking, plastics, and medicine. Carry out biological treatment experiments on plastics, pesticides, organic chemical industries and other industrial wastewaters to study whether these harmful components can be treated by general biological treatment methods.

3. Aiming to expand the recovery and recycling of industrial wastewater.

Looking at the development history of the industrial wastewater treatment industry in the United States, we can see that they lead the progress of industrial wastewater treatment through technological development and technological innovation.

The United States has always represented the development direction of the world's advanced industrial wastewater treatment technology, leading the development trend of technology. The new direction and new ideas of its industrial wastewater treatment technology appear in various fields of wastewater treatment, adapt to the changing nature of wastewater raw water, further thinking on the relationship between health and environment, discussion of industrial waste issues and the impact of new regulations.

Important issues that the U.S. industrial wastewater treatment industry has focused on in recent years:

(1) How to improve the processing efficiency of the aging original infrastructure;

(2) New methods of process analysis and control;

(3) The efficiency and reliability of the sewage treatment plant;

(4) Disinfection of wastewater;

(5) The overflow problem of the confluent drainage pipeline;

(6) Influence of rainwater and domestic sewage overflow and point source sewage discharge;

(7) Unit treatment of backflow;

(8) Odour control and emission control of volatile organic compounds;

(9) Renovation and upgrading of sewage treatment plants.

In the industrial wastewater treatment market, the United States has always insisted on providing customers with professional, specialized services. First of all, the market demand in the United States mainly depends on the stock. Therefore, the wastewater treatment idea in the United States tends to be multi-level comprehensive treatment, and the market demand will be transformed to comprehensive services. The main focus is on improving the efficiency of pollution treatment by integrating resources.