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Leaders in Zero Liquid Discharge.

RPO Springs was particularly convinced by the fully automatic, maintenance-friendly system and the good treatment quality of the VACUDEST vacuum distillation unit.

 

RDO Springs: Productivity increase thanks to VACUDEST Clearcat evaporator from H2O GmbH

Less maintenance, better quality, more automation - that's what RDO Springs wanted to achieve with their new wastewater treatment. The decision was made in favour of an energy-saving VACUDEST system: "Now we can finally make better use of our resources!

RDO Springs in Bresles (60) designs, manufactures and markets billions of stainless steel or steel metal springs internationally. The company is one of the leading manufacturers in France.

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  • Sector: Pharmaceutical industry / Cosmetics
  • Size of the company: 75 employees
  • Location of VACUDEST: Bresles (60) / France

The initial situation

Two types of products are manufactured at the RDO Springs site in Bresles:

  • Carbon steel springs, which undergo a surface treatment by vibratory finishing. The water produced by this process contains oil and is stored in a tank until it is treated.
  • Stainless steel springs that are chemically passivated. The acidic rinsing water produced by this treatment is stored in a separate tank before being neutralized with sodium bicarbonate. The baths are emptied at weekly intervals and stored in the same tank.

Treatment of the wastewater was already done by evaporators using a competitor unit supplied three years ago. After storage, the distillate was returned for vibratory grinding and passivation.

The solution

The search for a solution to replace the existing evaporator involved several criteria:

  • Return of the distillate to the vibratory grinding tanks and the passivation chain. The quality of the extracted water is an essential criterion.
  • Easy maintenance and simple operation. The existing plant requires up to 40 percent of the machine operators' working time; this should be reduced.
  • Sufficient processing capacity for the entire wastewater stream. To cope with the increase in production, the machine must be sized accordingly.

Based on these decisive criteria, the experts for wastewater-free production at H2O GmbH took the following actions to find a solution: 

  • Draw up a complete balance sheet of the wastewater flows and the corresponding volumes.
  • Compile a list of all the products used (vibratory finishing additives, nitric and phosphoric acids, soaps...). This part is crucial as it helps to identify and possibly isolate products or flows that could be critical or limiting for the proposed solution.
  • Carry out extensive laboratory tests at H2O to determine the relevance of the groupings. This test demonstrated that 316Ti stainless steel, the standard material grade at H2O, is sufficient and most appropriate.
  • Determination of upstream and downstream storage capacities: The existing tanks had sufficient capacity.
  • Determining the post-treatment options of the distillate to meet the quality requirements: According to the distillation tests carried out in the laboratory, a post-treatment was not required for recycling. The installation of a UV lamp to prevent the growth of microorganisms upon storage was suggested.
  • The standard evaporator throughput was determined based on the flows involved and via the concentration factor achieved:

The requirements were met by a VACUDEST 2.100 Clearcat evaporator, which can process up to 6 m³/day at a concentration factor of at least 33 or a maximum of 3 percent concentrate. RDO Springs opted for this vacuum evaporation solution and replaced the previous plant.

Operation and initial feedback

After more than a year of operation, the evaporator is delivering very satisfactory results. Mr. Sohier, production manager at RDO Springs, would make the decision for an H2O solution again and again: "The commissioning of the unit went very quick, and the training was comprehensive. We can now even reuse the distillate because the quality allows it. H2O's customer service is both competent and responsive. We are called back within an hour or at the latest within 24 hours. To refine the settings and stabilize the process, H2O sent an experienced technician on site for a week. In addition, the fully automated operation and easy maintenance of the machine allowed us to make better use of our resources and concentrate fully on production."

H2O's after-sales service now takes on the task of ensuring the machine's availability, answering questions, carrying out important maintenance work and recommending improvements where necessary.

 

Advantages through our solution

 

Reliable

Our innovative technologies enable safe compliance with limit values. The treated water impresses with excellent quality that you can always rely on.

Durable

With German engineering, our systems are of the highest quality. They are individually tailored to the needs of our customers with great care and innovation. So that you benefit from your perfect solution for a long time.

Fully automatic

Our solutions operate fully automatically, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The intuitive control system allows easy access, so even the weekly system check is done quickly.

 

What our customer says

H2O's customer service is both competent and responsive. We are called back within an hour or within 24 hours at the latest.“

 

Crystal-clear distillate thanks to Clearcat technology

Where other processes barely meet the legal discharge limits with a lot of additional equipment and operating effort, the Clearcat condensation stage is impressive in terms of the quality of the treated industrial wastewater. Even the strictest environmental standards are reliably met.

Learn more about Clearcat

Kompliziertes, aber erfolgreiches Einsetzen der VACUDEST auf einer Plattform in vier Metern Höhe.

 

Funktionsprinzip Vakuumdestillation

Functional principle of vacuum distillation

Vacuum evaporators are based on the simple principle of separating substances according to their boiling point differences. The industrial wastewater is evaporated. All substances that have a higher boiling point than water remain in the evaporation residue. This includes heavy metals, salts, oils, fats, or surfactants. Because the water content is evaporated, the residue is reduced to 0.5 to 5 percent of the original wastewater volume. The water vapor is virtually free of impurities. After its condensation, the clear water can be returned to the production process. This makes your production wastewater-free.

Learn more about vacuum distillation

 

VACUDEST Anlage bei RDO Springs VACUDEST Anlage bei RDO Springs

Well informed but still have questions?

Our experts have the answer.

Contact us now

Career

You want to be part of our team and create the wastewater-free future with us?

We will tell you how!

 

Your contact is:

Bettina Böhringer
Human Resources

+49 7627 9239-201
career@h2o-de.com

Requests

You have questions on our VACUDEST systems?

Kindly contact us!

 

Your contact is:

Thomas Dotterweich
 Senior Sales Engineer

+49 7627 9239-306
thomasm.dotterweich@h2o-de.com

Service

You need consumables, spare parts or a maintenance date?

We will be pleased to assist you!

 

Your contact is:

Carles Fité
 Technical Customer Support

+49 7627 9239-888
carles.fite@h2o-de.com