A Western Pennsylvanian client was faced with meeting stringent low heavy metal discharge limits to outfall to a creek. They needed part per billion levels for copper and nickel. We performed a 30 day field pilot study with impressive results. An effluent side stream from the waste treatment plant was directed to our field pilot unit which contained (3) proprietarily treated activated carbon columns, feed pump, pH control, and agitator. The effluent verified that we had optimized the carbon s ability to produce a low level heavy metal effluent over an extended time period. The data are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Heavy Metal Analysis
| Dates | Copper Feed | Copper Effluent | Nickel Feed | Nickel Effluent | Gallons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/22/92 | 0.015 | 0.008 | 0.008 | 0.008 | 107.0 |
| 4/24/92 | 0.039 | 0.008 | 0.008 | 0.011 | 458.0 |
| 4/25/92 | 0.285 | 0.008 | 0.057 | 0.008 | 777.7 |
| 4/26/92 | 0.192 | 0.008 | 0.029 | 0.008 | 1068.4 |
| 4/27/92 | 0.627 | 0.008 | 0.418 | 0.008 | 1331.3 |
| 4/28/92 | 0.776 | 0.008 | 0.377 | 0.008 | 1540.7 |