Logisticon Rental was recently approached by a chemical company that produces plastics in the Rotterdam port area. This client has a biological wastewater reactor, which breaks down wastewater contamination from the factories, after which the wastewater can be discharged.

However, during a turnaround at the factory, the wastewater treatment plant was unable to process the amount of cobalt that entered the effluent water and this could not, therefore, be discharged.After a brief inventory, site visit and calculation, Logisticon Rental offered a temporary water treatment solution to remove the cobalt. Once an external consultancy had verified the proposed solution, the installation was promptly installed. The batch of cobalt-containing water was then treated quickly and effectively ensuring that the wastewater met discharge standards and could be discharged safely.

A sand filtration followed by double activated carbon filtration for the removal of aromatic hydrocarbons was chosen for the process. A pH correction was installed after this to optimise the cobalt removal. As a final step, ion exchange with a specific resin was chosen as this removes the cobalt from the water with extreme efficiency.

This temporary water treatment plant eventually treated a number of batches over several weeks, and the client was delighted to be able to meet its discharge requirements again.