Operation of the Wastewater Equipment & the CE Reactants

 

The CE reactant line of chemicals are a series of dry powders composed of minerals, inorganics and organic acids and bases, and cationic (positively charged) polymers blended into formulations. The CE powders are designed to take a waste stream through each of the same steps as a conventional waste treatment system would; however, the process occurs quickly and sequentially. This is accomplished by employing differing solubility rates to each of the components so that they become active at just the right time.

First, the acidic component of the CE reactant causes oily contaminants to coalesce and separate from the water. Next the polymeric cationic portion of the formation attract any remaining oil and larger, more highly charged anions. Finally, the basic component comes into play helping to precipite metallic hydroxides and driving the system to a fully flocculated condition where the cationic polymer molecules (with any absorbed oil), and metallic ions and positively charged materials are all attracted to the clay. Any unprecipitated heavy metal cations still remaining in solution, ion exchange with the sodium on the clay and becomes strongly bound to the clay structure by electrostatic forces. The resulting mass is a complex mixture of encapsulated contaminants and waste solids help together by Van Der Waals (weak) as well as electrostatic (strong) forces. The clay particles then begin to stick together, entrapping the other components and surrounding them completely. Once the pozzolanic reactions begin between the lime and the bentonite to form a cementitious particle that drops to the bottom of the vessel, the process of microencapsulation is complete. The water becomes clear and the entire process is over in just minutes. Clear water is then pumped to a clean water tank for reuse.

At this point, the flocculated and solidified waste mass is non-leachable. This has been tested in independent laboratories for an assortment of formulations in the CE reactant line. The contaminants, once microencapsulated, are surrounded by a barrier of clay particles and are unavailable to external leaching fluids for as long as these fluids are kept from the interior of the clay “pocket”. Since the contaminants are evenly distributed throughout the particle, no great concentration is ever “open to the environment”, even on prolonged exposure to leaching in a landfill situation.