Wastewater-free for 100,000 hours

Satisfaction and a little pride - this is reflected in the faces of the VACUDEST operators of the automotive supplier HQM Induserv from Saxony. "We are pleased that we produce wastewater-free with the help of the VACUDEST for 16 years by now! The cleaning media from the production process which are treated with the VACUDEST 160, are of such good quality that they can be reused in the cleaning process. This not only saves the costs for fresh water and valuable water resources, but also saves cash on operating and disposal costs. On the occasion of the 100,000th operating hour of the VACUDEST wastewater treatment system, H2O GmbH visited its customer in Saxony.

The responsible persons in front of the 16-year-old VACUDEST 160 NT: Hendrik Mikolaschek (left) and Bernd Klein

Consistently high cleaning quality

The HQM Group is active throughout Germany with several locations for the automotive and supplier industry. At its location in Chemnitz, the company is specialized in container and component cleaning, which includes modern spray cleaning processes and ultrasonic cleaning. Thanks to innovative working methods and machines, a consistently high cleaning quality is guaranteed. The technology of H2O GmbH also contributes to this: a VACUDEST vacuum distillation unit is in operation since 2003 to process the cleaning media.

A few years ago, a belt filter was retrofitted to further improve the pre-treatment. Since September last year, a Vacutouch machine control system made the operation of the plant even easier. "Otherwise, the VACUDEST is essentially still in its original condition and operates 24 hours a day. We are very satisfied that it ran so reliably for 16 years now", as the employees responsible for VACUDEST, Bernd Klein and Hendrik Mikolaschek, tell us.

Good care = high reliability

This is no coincidence: "Regular maintenance and the right care play an important role for the process reliability of the machine", says H2O service technician Hartmut Uhlig, who has been with HQM Induserv since 2007. This is the only way to replace wear parts in good time, respond to changed parameters, retrofit required technologies and thus maintain the value of the machine for a long time. For this reason, the company has concluded a maintenance contract with H2O GmbH right from the start.

The Vacutouch machine control clearly shows all important parameters - here in the picture the 100,000 operating hours (Betriebsstunde).

Why wastewater treatment with VACUDEST?

Before the purchase of the VACUDEST vacuum distillation plant, the wastewater was completely disposed of by a regional environmental service. This was associated with high running costs. "Then our company invested in new cleaning machines. The volume of the wastewater produced increased enormously, which would then also have caused a high rise in disposal costs," says Erik Hartmann, who is responsible for container management and parts cleaning as the technical manager at HQM Induserv. The installation of the VACUDEST vacuum distillation plant was therefore regarded as extremely attractive for economic reasons. The investment in the VACUDEST system paid for itself after only a short time due to the savings in disposal costs.

How exactly are these savings possible? The principle of vacuum evaporators is based on boiling point differences. The wastewater is heated, the pure water evaporates, the contamination does not. Thus up to 98 percent recyclable water is produced from 100 percent wastewater and only 2 percent contamination remains. These can be disposed of at minimum cost. An economically highly interesting solution for companies from all branches of industry.

Innovative technologies ensure high efficiency

Evaporation with VACUDEST vacuum distillation systems is not an energy guzzler: water evaporates under vacuum already at approx. 185 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to clever energy recycling - the energy of the steam is returned to the evaporation process through various heat exchangers - this process does not consume any external energy source. The motor of the vacuum pump is the only energy consumer - therefore the wastewater treatment with VACUDEST vacuum evaporation has got an energy efficiency of up to 95 percent. This energy recycling is one of the first innovations of the 20-year-old company. Many others followed over the years, such as the Clearcat technology for oily wastewater or the Destcontrol pH controller for improving the distillate quality. With these innovations, H2O GmbH is a global technology leader in its sector.

More information can be found on the company's homepage under "Innovations".

Authors:
Hartmut Uhlig - Service technician
Catherine Akintschin – Referent for Public Relations
H2O GmbH. Leaders in Zero Liquid Discharge