Evaporation and separation of water-based solutions and mixtures (E04-03, R3)

Many industrial processes generate oily waters, emulsions, washing liquids and aqueous coolants. Most of this is water, mixed with oils, salts and other contaminants. At DESIGN Kft.'s Kerepes site we separate these components using a vacuum evaporator. The equipment creates a lower-than-normal pressure, so the water starts to boil at around 60–70 °C. The water and the more volatile substances turn into vapour, while the oils, salts and other heavier components remain behind. The resulting vapour is then cooled, so it becomes liquid water again. After appropriate treatment this water can be discharged safely. The other output of the process is a much smaller quantity of concentrate, amounting to only 5–20% of the mass of the original waste. If its composition is suitable, this remaining oily material can be sent for further processing and recovery, so not only is the quantity of waste to be treated significantly reduced, but valuable materials can also be recovered from it. Using this technology we treat more than 4,000 tonnes of emulsions and other aqueous mixtures each year.