Chemicals Producer Reuses Wastewater Treated With MBR For Domestic Use

Pune, India /PRNewswire/ - After side-by-side testing, speciality chemicals producer Galaxy Surfactants, India, chose Alfa Laval's hollow sheet membrane bioreactors (MBRs) instead of flat sheet solutions for three industrial wastewater treatment plants.

With MBR, Galaxy will be able to reuse the water for domestic purposes, successfully pursuing their zero liquid discharge (ZLD) strategy and saving fresh water resources, after installation of reverse osmosis.

Galaxy Surfactants is a leading manufacturer of speciality chemicals, which are used as raw materials by leading home and personal care products manufacturers worldwide such as Unilever, Henkel and L'Oreal. Galaxy has five manufacturing facilities in India, one in the state of Gujarat and four in Maharashtra, plus a facility in Egypt, all adhering to the principles of good manufacturing practises (GMP).

Alfa Laval India has had a strong relationship with Galaxy for more than a decade and has supplied a wide range of equipment such as sanitary pumps, plate heat exchangers and decanter centrifuges for various applications like sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) production and wastewater (sludge treatment).

In 2010, Galaxy needed MBR for biological treatment of industrial wastewater at two new units at Jhagadia in Gujarat and inEgypt. Alfa Laval India's wastewater treatment specialists suggested that Galaxy should consider Alfa Laval hollow sheet membrane filtration modules (MFMs) for the new projects. The all-in-one MBR system combines secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment and delivers a superior effluent quality. It offers trouble-free, gravity driven operation with no manpower or pump requirements and very little instrumentation.

Tough conditions imposed, Galaxy already had an MBR from another supplier installed at its Taloja factory in 2009 and was satisfied with the performance achieved. Accordingly, the company stated that if they were to even consider Alfa Laval membrane filtration modules, they must first see six months' uninterrupted trials with better performance than their existing solution.

Galaxy agreed to conduct a pilot test at their existing facility with our hollow sheet membrane module running side-by-side with their existing flat sheet MBR solution.

Performance exceeded expectations:

The six months uninterrupted pilot test was performed in 2010 with data collected every two hours. As the results below show, the Alfa Laval MBR modules not only met, but by far exceeded Galaxy's performance requirements: 

    Parameters                Authorized level  Levels obtained with Alfa Laval MBR

    BOD5 (Biochemical

    Oxygen Demand)                        <10                 5

    COD (Chemical

    Oxygen Demand)                        <250               35

SS (Suspended Solids)                     <100                5

The test results convinced Galaxy Surfactants that it was a better solution than their existing flat sheet membranes and therefore decided to place the order for two new MBR plants with Alfa Laval:

• 2 MFM 100 modules with a total capacity of 100 cubic metre/day were installed at Galaxy's plant in Jhagadia, Gujarat, in India
• 4 MFM 100 modules were installed at Galaxy's plant in Egypt.

In 2014, the company repeated the order with 2 MFM 100 modules for their plant in Tarapur, India, for a 120 cubic metre/day plant, which involved converting an existing secondary settling plant to an MBR plant. Unlike the simple effluent at Galaxy's Taloja factory, the challenge at Tarapur was to treat the effluents coming from batch process and multiple processes. Therefore, Galaxy wanted to have MBR treatment of the complex industrial effluent. Another challenge at Tarapur was to install the Alfa Laval membrane modules in the existing tank without stopping the plant. The entire operation went smoothly.

The Alfa Laval MBR system helps Galaxy Surfactants fulfil their 2011-2015 sustainability goals: water reduction 25%; waste reduction 50%.

Reduced water consumption (cubic metre) at Galaxy's Tarapur factory thanks to reuse of treated wastewater:

• With conventional tertiary treatment (before) - 0%
• After biological treatment with MBR - 5%
• After addition of reverse osmosis (future) - 30-40%

About Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. The company's equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol. Alfa Laval's products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, oil and gas exploration, in the mechanical engineering industry, the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications.

Alfa Laval's worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena. Alfa Laval is listed on NASDAQ: OMX, and, in 2014, posted annual sales of about SEK 35.1 billion (approx. 3.85 billion Euros). The company has about 18,000 employees. For more information, visit: http://www.alfalaval.com