A major French automotive group asked CTP environnement to identify the best available technology for treating their treated effluent. The goal was to be compliant with requirements governing discharges of hazardous substances into water (French RSDE regulation), especially the metals traces.

By taking account of the flow rate, which was 4 times higher than the threshold established by regulations governing discharges of hazardous substances into water for nickel, i.e. 20 g/day, CTP environnement scheduled tests on part of the facility’s outlet stream. Following a detailed bibliographic study, four processes were chosen:

• Activated carbon adsorption.
• Ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis tested with the pilot UF+RO unit.

By combining rigorous implementation and analytical monitoring by the client with recording of operating data and responsive technical support from CTP environnement. A complete test report was produced, showing the performances achieved by each of the technologies tested.

This study allowed the client to envisage the modernisation of its site in line with future changes in standards:

• Identification of technologies and prioritisation on the basis of their economic criteria, in addition to technical criteria.
• Dimensioning and estimating the cost of an industrial scale facility.