Wastewater Treatment – Industrial


  • BAPS Temple Treatment System 1Design

  • Treatability Studies

  • Quality Assurance/Technical Assistance

A wide variety of industrial wastewater treatment needs have been addressed by Huff & Huff, Inc. (H&H). Mr. Huff has designed wastewater treatment facilities, including a land application system for high strength organic wastes which was presented in the Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation. H&H has designed pretreatment facilities for two electroplating/metal finishing operations containing chelated metals, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, and facilities with oily wastewater. For the wastewater with chelated metals, a unique sodium borohydride process was utilized that eliminated a separate clarification step.

Another project required the removal of high levels of zinc and thiourea, and a process combining lime and hydrogen peroxide was developed. A unique catalytic oxidation process for cyanide was developed by Mr. Huff, and published in the Carbon Absorption Handbook from Ann Arbor Science.

H&H has been instrumental in the development of batch biological reactor technology, controlled by PLCs. For flows less than 100,000 gpd, the capital and labor cost are significantly less than flow through activated sludge systems. The higher MLSS levels carried in SBRs provide better “shock” resistance, and effluent quality is more consistent than with a flow-through system. The firm has conducted pilot-scale systems on high-strength ammonia, cyanide/thiocyanate, and on pharmaceutical wastewaters for BOD5 and COD reduction, using this technology. Full-scale systems have been designed and installed on the high-strength ammonia wastewater, a pharmaceutical company, a meat packer, a freezed-dried fruit/vegetable operation, a metal finishing operation treating cleaning solutions mixed with domestic wastewater, as well as for two golf courses and a new Hindu Temple. Some of these systems have been as pretreatment, and others have subsurface discharges.

Groundwater remediation systems, including bench-scale studies, have also been designed and operated by H&H, from carbon adsorption to batch biological treatment systems. Treatability studies and a 4,000 gpd pilot reactor for cyanide and thiocyanate destruction at a Superfund site were completed for a proposed 83 gpm groundwater treatment system. A unique in situ biological system for soil contaminated with “Agent Orange” (2,4-D and 2,4,5-T) was designed and installed by the firm.  Mr. Huff conducted biological treatability studies from an organic peroxide manufacturing facility and developed alternative designs, and recently designed a significant upgrade for a fatty amine plant.

Mr. Huff’s consulting efforts for an organo-phosphate manufacturer resulted in a significant improvement in the compliance level without further capital investment. A zero-discharge treatment design was completed for a firefighting training facility for a major utility. Designs of sedimentation basins and stormwater basins for a foundry have been completed. These basins are unique in that they are designed to serve as both sedimentation basins and sludge drying beds. Prior to starting the design, sedimentation tests using an 8 foot high pilot-scale clarifier and drying bed tests to determine optimum sludge depth were performed.