Update on Russia’s Sanctioned Oil Tankers: Bloomberg Tracks Shipments, Including Clandestine Transfers

     Bloomberg has been tracking oil shipments from Russia, including sanctioned oil delivered via sanctioned tankers. This behavior should be documented and should also be a case study of sanctions evasion. They report that clandestine cargo transfers utilizing:

“…specialized shuttle tankers and sanctioned ships are helping to maintain flows out of Russia’s ports in the Pacific and Arctic...”

     In January they reported that Russia was Shipping Arctic oil to India via sanctioned tankers, although India indicated it would stop at some point.

“India has indicated that it would only allow sanctioned tankers that loaded before Jan. 10 into its ports — provided they get there before Feb. 27. All five shipments collected their consignments after Jan. 10.”

They report that the sanctions that went into effect on January 10 are working, or at least slowing the movement of sanctioned oil.

“In a sign that sanctions are biting, the first ships to load at Murmansk after being blacklisted by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control on Jan. 10 should have arrived at their Indian destinations by now. But some have been diverted to China, while another has offloaded its barrels onto another ship. A third is idling at anchor far from its destination. The same is true in the Pacific.”

“In the Pacific, cargoes are being switched from shuttle takers to other vessels to maintain flows of crude from Russia’s two Sakhalin projects. But even after they have been transferred, Pacific cargoes are not proving easy to discharge.”

      Bloomberg is tracking weekly crude shipments, export value, and flows by destination as shown in the graphics below. One of the graphs shows pretty clearly that since 2022 exports to Europe have been basically fully replaced by exports to Asia, mainly India and China. It should be reiterated that India and China continue to be benefitting quite well from sanctions on Russian oil. Russia benefits too but must sell at a lower cost. India and China are basically getting a free ride to lower-cost oil. To a lesser extent, Turkiye has also taken on Russian oil that was once sold to Europe.

 

 

References:

 

Russia Set to Test New Delhi’s Nerve by Sending Sanctioned Oil and Tankers to India. Julian Lee. Bloomberg. January 28, 2025. Russia Set to Test New Delhi’s Nerve by Sending Sanctioned Oil and Tankers to India

Russia Steps Up Covert Cargo Transfers to Keep Its Oil Moving. Julian Lee. Bloomberg. February 25, 2025. Russia Steps Up Covert Cargo Transfers to Keep Its Oil Moving

Coal-Fired Plant Retirements Have Slowed in Recent Years and Energy Sec Wright Says They Should Be Delayed to Retain Reliability: EIA and Other Forecasts

     The last coal-fired plant built in the U.S. went into service in 2013. No one is proposing to build any new ones but there are calls to delay retirements, including calls from new Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

“According to Secretary Wright, in an interview with CNBC, America will not follow the German model, which the Biden administration appeared to be duplicating. He said, “Germany spent half a trillion dollars, made their electricity two to three times more expensive, and they produce 20 percent less electricity today than they did 15 years ago. We’re not going to go down that road. We want affordable, reliable, secure energy and a reindustrialization of America, not deindustrialization of America.”

     Comparison to the German model only really applies to California. Our situation is much different than in Germany. We have a massive amount of domestic natural gas. Germany does not. Germany was set to import inexpensive and lower emissions natural gas via the Nordstream II pipeline. That was never a good idea as Russia cannot be trusted. Before they invaded Ukraine, they were regularly manipulating the pricing and availability of gas as a flex of their power. Germany had to give up that source of gas at the beginning of the invasion and opt instead for LNG from the U.S. and Qatar which was four times higher in price than the Russian gas would have been. Thus, it's not accurate to say that Germany’s energy transition push was the sole reason they were forced to deindustrialize as companies moved out of the country. The sudden massive increase in gas prices was also a big factor. There is no doubt that the over-focus on renewables was a factor as well, just not the only factor.

     Wright also noted and I generally agree (with a few caveats):

“We must … permit and build energy infrastructure and remove barriers to progress, including federal policies that make it too easy to stop projects and far too difficult to complete projects,” Wright said. “Net-zero policies raise energy costs for American families and businesses, threaten the reliability of our energy system, and undermine our energy and national security. They have also achieved precious little in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”

     Certainly, we have made progress retiring old coal-fired plants. We should also keep in mind that many of these old coal plants (and old gas and oil plants) are underutilized and not operating anywhere near capacity. Peak U.S. coal capacity was achieved in 2011 at 318 GW before we knew we could extract natural gas with new technology. Coal powers about 15% of the U.S. grid, down from over 40% around 2011 and over 50% in 2000. Seth Feaster of the Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), an advocacy group, thinks that coal can be dropped to 10% of grid power by 2030 as more plants are retired. However, coal use still rises during cold weather spells when it is tapped as gas can have delivery limitations based on pipeline capacity and residential and commercial demand. The IEEFA coal retirement schedule prediction from April 2023 is shown below.

 

     Power Magazine’s Darrell Proctor reported in February 2025 that several utilities plan to delay more coal retirements:

“Several U.S. utilities in recent months have said they plan to keep coal-fired units in their generation fleets operating past their scheduled retirement dates, in most cases citing increased demand for electricity in their service areas. Some also note that the Trump administration is likely to eschew enforcement of current pollution standards, and attempt to roll back greenhouse gas emissions regulations put in place by the Biden administration.”

     It should also be noted that many of the coal plants slated for retirement are already very old and among the least efficient and most emitting plants. The New York Times article has two nice graphics that show: 1) the history of coal retirements since 2000 and 2) where coal retirements have been delayed, accelerated, or not announced.

 

     The Energy Information Administration reports that coal retirements are set for a slight increase in 2025 as noted below. This is only a slight increase and is still below the trend in recent years. They explain:

“Electric generators report that they plan to retire 8.1 GW of coal-fired capacity in 2025, or 4.7% of the total U.S. coal fleet that was in operation at the end of 2024. Coal retirements decreased to 4.0 GW last year, less than the 9.8 GW of coal capacity retired in each of the last 10 years.”

 

 

     The table below from Global Energy Monitor and the graph below from Statista also show U.S. coal retirements.

     I think we have made great progress in reducing the burning of coal resulting in better air quality, less carbon emissions, and less overall environmental and health impacts. That should continue, but not at the expense of reliability, where applicable.

 

Energy Demand Growth Due to AI and Electrification: Is it Overestimated?

     Most AI developers say that energy use will be high during the early period of AI development when models are being trained but then it should level out and as processes are streamlined further to use less energy the demand should stabilize. It is still unclear what the total demand increase will be and there is debate about how significant it will be.

     Evan Caron, a longtime energy and commodities expert, and co-founder and CIO at Montauk Climate, told Power Magazine:

“The AI [artificial intelligence] revolution and manufacturing reshoring are creating unprecedented electricity demands. A single AI data center can require over 1 GW of power—equivalent to a large coal or nuclear plant. These facilities can’t risk intermittency or weather-dependent sources for their 24/7 operations.”

     He also noted that coal is attractive for several reasons:

“While coal faces environmental pressures, its ability to provide reliable, scalable baseload power at a known cost is proving essential for America’s industrial renaissance. Natural gas price volatility and transmission constraints for renewables make existing coal infrastructure increasingly valuable. The plants are paid for, the fuel is domestic, and the reliability is proven.”

     Thus, coal power is looking good for powering AI and the so-called and as-of-yet unconfirmed re-industrialization of America. The risks and logistics include dealing with new EPA emissions and coal ash rules.

     Another wildcard is Trump tariffs, which could cause huge problems for domestic coal production and exporting. As Power Magazine notes:

“Trump’s actions, meanwhile, could have an impact beyond just extending the life of coal-fired power plants. Officials in West Virginia are concerned about the president’s tariffs, particularly a trade war with China, which put an additional 15% tariff on imports of coal from the U.S. in response to Trump’s tariffs on goods from that country. West Virginia exports about 6 million tons of coal to China annually, or about half of all U.S. coal exports to that country.”

Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, told local media the tariffs “could “have a dramatic impact … they could evolve to the point where even furloughs of mining operations are considered.” Hamilton noted several other countries, including Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa, could replace the coal from West Virginia.”

 

 

Some Coal-Fired Plant Retirement Delays Are Due Simply to Lack of Pipelines or Approvals for Them to Deliver Natural Gas That Will Replace Coal

     Pipeline cancellations such as the Atlantic Coast Pipeline no doubt resulted in delaying some coal-fired plant retirements, in that case in the Southeast. The slowness by FERC in approving pipelines, even short ones to supply gas directly to power plants also delays coal plant retirements. A case in point is the FERC delay of a 32-mile pipeline to deliver gas to a proposed TVA natural gas plant in Tennessee that was set to replace a coal-fired plant. The Sierra Club and other opposers cited NEPA, as usual. The delay of pipelines based on climate effects alone is nearly always unwarranted and only serves to prolong the burning of coal instead of gas. Nonsensical demands to replace baseload coal with renewables instead of gas are mostly without merit, though groups like the Sierra Club would disagree. Permit reforms that fast-track common sense planning should be implemented to prevent delaying or canceling needed and desirable pipelines on the basis of climate effects alone.

 

References:

 

Planned retirements of U.S. coal-fired electric-generating capacity to increase in 2025. Energy Information Administration. February 25, 2025. Planned retirements of U.S. coal-fired electric-generating capacity to increase in 2025 - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

US Should Stop Closure of Coal-Fired Power Plants, Wright Says. Ari Natter, Bloomberg. February 11, 2025. US Should Stop Closure of Coal-Fired Power Plants, Wright Says

DOE Secretary Wright: Coal is Critical to Meeting Energy Demand. Institute for Energy Research. February 18, 2025. DOE Secretary Wright: Coal is Critical to Meeting Energy Demand - IER

U.S. Coal Plants Get Reprieve as Market and Policies Change. Darrell Proctor. Power Magazine. February 6, 2025. U.S. Coal Plants Get Reprieve as Market and Policies Change

Global Coal Plant Tracker. Global Energy Monitor. Global Coal Plant Tracker - Global Energy Monitor

Nearly a quarter of the operating U.S. coal-fired fleet scheduled to retire by 2029. Energy Information Administration. November 7, 2022. Nearly a quarter of the operating U.S. coal-fired fleet scheduled to retire by 2029 - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

U.S. on track to close half of coal capacity by 2026. Seth Feaster. Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. April 3, 2023. U.S. on track to close half of coal capacity by 2026 | IEEFA

Where Coal Is Retiring, and Hanging On, in the U.S. Austyn Gaffney and Mira Rojanasakul. New York Times. February 6, 2025. Which Coal Units Are Retiring, and Which Plants Will Continue Operating - The New York Times

TVA may delay 2,470-MW coal plant shutdown over FERC pipeline inaction. Ethan Howland. Utility Dive. January 4, 2024. TVA may delay 2,470-MW coal plant shutdown over FERC pipeline inaction | Utility Dive

Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Treatment: Standards and Contaminants, Including Emerging Contaminants, Trends, and Compliance

     Protection from waterborne diseases from sewage is the main goal of municipal wastewater treatment. In addition to raw sewage, wastewater treatment plants may receive stormwater runoff, agricultural runoff, and industrial wastewater that may contain chemical contaminants. According to the University of Michigan:

“Almost 15,000 POTWs {publicly owned treatment works} treat and discharge over 34B gal/d of wastewater into U.S. waterways. 1.3M mi of piping flow toward POTWs provide wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal service to more than 238M people.”

     Along with protection from waterborne diseases, there is protection from industrial contaminants, including contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Mitigating these contaminants may require new treatment processes.

     The basic wastewater treatment process is shown in the graphics below. Primary treatment involves screening, sand and grit removal (these can damage pumps and equipment), and primary clarification via sludge digesters.  Secondary treatment includes aeration, clarification via activated sludge, and disinfection via chlorination and/or ultraviolet (UV) light. Tertiary treatment includes nutrient removal and discharging the treated effluent back into the environment. 

     The graphic below shows modern wastewater treatment challenges. 

 

Municipal Wastewater Contaminants and Their Impacts

     Microbial contaminants are the most common contaminants in municipal wastewater. These include fecal coliform bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens of several types. These contaminants are classified by the EPA into five types:

·        Oxygen demanding substances: These utilize the dissolved oxygen in the wastewater and are measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Organic contaminants and ammonia have high BODs. These substances use up the available oxygen supply in the water over time.

·        Pathogens. These infectious microorganisms can cause waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery. Those diseases have largely been eliminated, at least in developed countries like the U.S.

·        Nutrients. These are basically carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen. Secondary treatment only removes a tiny amount of them so further treatment may be desirable. When discharged into the environment these can lead to eutrophication and harmful algal blooms and if they get into local water supplies they can cause undesirable odors and tastes. Therefore, nitrogen and phosphorous recovery is often employed in tertiary treatment.

·        Inorganic and synthetic organic chemicals. These can include many different chemicals including household chemicals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides & herbicides, industrial chemicals, and heavy metals, These can be harmful and can also cause taste and odor problems if present in local water supplies.

·        Thermal pollution. Heat reduces the capacity of water to retain oxygen. Hot weather can be a factor. Water used for cooling in thermal power plants may be discharged at high temperatures, which negatively affects some aquatic species, altering the ecology

 

 

Screening and Filtration

     Primary treatment involves screening and solids (mainly (grit and sand) removal. The grit and sand, which mostly come from stormwater sewers, are collected in a sedimentation tank and periodically removed and trucked away for disposal. The EPA notes some details about screening strategies and dealing with large floating objects in sewers by grinding and shredding.

“Screens are generally placed in a chamber or channel and inclined towards the flow of the wastewater.  The inclined screen allows debris to be caught on the upstream surface of the screen, and allows access for manual or mechanical cleaning.  Some plants use devices known as comminutors or barminutors which combine the functions of a screen and a grinder.  These devices catch and then cut or shred the heavy solid and floating material.  In the process, the pulverized matter remains in the wastewater flow to be removed later in a primary settling tank.”

 

Primary Coagulation and Sedimentation

     This process is often part of primary treatment but is also used in nutrient control in tertiary treatment. In primary treatment, the process may involve sedimentation or gravity settling, chemical coagulation, or filtration. This primary sludge is removed mechanically, either while the plant is running or after shutting down or bypassing the tank.

 

Aerobic Treatment: Aeration and Activated Sludge

     Secondary treatment is basically biological treatment followed by disinfection. Aerobic treatment of sewage-laden wastewater includes aeration in order to increase oxygen availability and the use of aerobic bacteria in activated sludge to decompose the waste. According to the EPA:

“Activated Sludge is a suspended growth process for removing organic matter from sewage by saturating it with air and microorganisms that can break down the organic matter.”

This process removes up to 90% of the organic matter. Thus, one might refer to it as carbon removal. There are two main types of aerobic treatment: attached growth processes and suspended growth processes. In attached growth processes microbial growth occurs on the surface of stone or plastic media. The wastewater passes over the media along with air to provide oxygen.  Attached growth process units include trickling filters, biotowers, and rotating biological contactors. According to the EPA suspended growth processes biodegrade

“…by converting ammonia nitrogen to nitrate unless additional treatment is provided. In suspended growth processes, the microbial growth is suspended in an aerated water mixture where the air is pumped in, or the water is agitated sufficiently to allow oxygen transfer. Suspended growth process units include variations of activated sludge, oxidation ditches and sequencing batch reactors.”

This process speeds up biodegradation. In aeration, air is added mechanically or pressure pumped into the aeration tank via small openings as shown below to increase oxygen as the process proceeds.

     The graph below shows that over time wastewater treatment in the U.S. has gotten more effective at reducing BOD, with removal efficiency doubling since 1960.

 

 

Sludge Removal

     It is estimated that one-third of the electricity used in a municipal WWTP is used for treating and removing sludge. Sludge treatment is basically secondary treatment or aerobic treatment.  Aeration and clarification tanks collect sludge that needs to be removed. In the past the plants had to be taken offline, or sections bypassed in order to remove sludge but new methods include removal of sludge during plant operation by robots. Company Sciphyn offers robotic sludge removal:

“Our robots drive along the floor removing the sludge which is then dewatered on-site prior to disposal. By avoiding the shutdown or bypass of your normal operations, our method can result in significant cost savings.”

 

Disinfection

     Disinfection is a part of secondary treatment that basically is used to kill pathogens. This step is essential for protecting people. Chlorine is the most common method of disinfection, but UV light is also common, and both may be utilized together. Since any remaining uncombined chlorine after treatment would be dangerous for aquatic life the wastewater is often dechlorinated before discharging into the environment. Dechlorination typically involves the use of a reducing chemical such as sodium bisulfite (NaHSO³) or sulfur dioxide (SO²). Ozone is sometimes used for disinfection but is not economical. UV light, typically provided by mercury arc lamps, is an effective means of disinfection but must be provided at adequate levels to fully neutralize pathogens. UV treatment has the advantage of not producing toxic byproducts. 

 

Urine Diversion: Opportunities for Nutrient Recovery and Urine-Derived Fertilizer Production

     Urine diversion is simply diverting and collecting the urine component of municipal wastewater to be converted into fertilizer and/or mitigated through aerobic (usually) bioreaction. Urine diversion has been proposed as an approach for producing renewable fertilizers and reducing nutrient loads to wastewater treatment plants. A 2021 study in Environmental Science and Technology concluded that urine diversion has great potential for helping WWTPs in several ways. In the study, two methods were analyzed: a urine concentration alternative and a struvite precipitation and ion exchange alternative.

“Both urine diversion technologies had better environmental performance than the conventional system and led to reductions of 29-47% in greenhouse gas emissions, 26-41% in energy consumption, approximately half the freshwater use, and 25-64% in eutrophication potential, while acidification potential ranged between a 24% decrease to a 90% increase. In some situations, wastewater treatment chemical requirements were eliminated. The environmental performance improvement was usually dependent on offsetting the production of synthetic fertilizers. This study suggests that urine diversion could be applied broadly as a strategy for both improving wastewater management and decarbonization.”

     An August 2023 paper in Desalinization noted:

“Source separation of urine can be one of the most effective solutions for nutrient recovery as a fertiliser, transforming the conventional linear economy into a circular economy. The urine diversion from wastewater can improve conventional wastewater treatment plants to be energy-efficient and cost-effective, as a considerable quantity of nutrients in wastewater is derived from urine.”

     In August 2022 Australian researchers published a paper in analyzing the impacts of urine diversion on treatment capacity, process design, and capex of a WWTP. The highlights from that paper and a graphic that shows the nitrogen and phosphorus that can be diverted are shown below.

     These papers show that urine diversion can be effective for increasing treatment capacity and reducing capex for WWTPs. If I am reading this correctly, this is important because it can help prevent the need to expand WWTP treatment capacity, where applicable.

 

Nitrogen, Ammonia, and Phosphorus Control

     As noted, secondary treatment does not remove nitrogen and phosphorous. Thus, advanced or tertiary treatment for nutrient removal requires physical and chemical methods including adsorption, flocculation/precipitation, membranes for advanced filtration, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis.

“…nitrifying bacteria present in wastewater treatment can biologically convert ammonia to the non-toxic nitrate through a process known as nitrification.  The nitrification process is normally sufficient to remove the toxicity associated with ammonia in the effluent.  Since nitrate is also a nutrient, excess amounts can contribute to the uncontrolled growth of algae.  In situations where nitrogen must be completely removed from effluent, an additional biological process can be added to the system to convert the nitrate to nitrogen gas.”

The conversion to nitrogen gas is accomplished by bacteria in a process known as denitrification.

     Phosphorous removal involves a coagulation-sedimentation process along with chemical additives. A process known as biological nutrient removal (BNR) can remove both nitrogen and phosphorous. The EPA explains the process of chemical coagulation-sedimentation for phosphorous removal:

“A process known as chemical coagulation-sedimentation is used to increase the removal of solids from effluent after primary and secondary treatment. Solids heavier than water settle out of wastewater by gravity. With the addition of specific chemicals, solids can become heavier than water and will settle.”

   “Alum, lime, or iron salts are chemicals added to the wastewater to remove phosphorus. With these chemicals, the smaller particles ‘floc’ or clump together into large masses. The larger masses of particles will settle faster when the effluent reaches the next step--the sedimentation tank.  This process can reduce the concentration of phosphate by more than 95 percent.”

     The recovery of ammonia from wastewater via biochemical processes is an emerging technology. Since ammonia is a desirable chemical and can even be used as an energy source, this may be practiced more in the future. Ammonia recovery is a form of nitrogen recovery. According to MDPI and a 2022 paper in Environments, the following are methods of ammonia and nitrogen removal from wastewater.

·        Bioelectrochemical system (BES)

·        Membrane electrosorption (MES)

·        Electrochemical stripping (ECS)

·        Electrodialysis (ED)

Other technologies for recovering nitrogen from wastewater include air stripping, zeolite adsorption through ion exchange, struvite precipitation, electrodialysis and reverse osmosis, and gas-permeable membrane (GPM) technology.

      New research from Sweden indicates that phosphorous-rich sewage sludge can be converted into biochar. Biochar is made via pyrolysis or burning in an oxygen-free chamber. The researchers combined the sludge with agricultural residue at different amounts and temperatures. The result is a phosphorous-rich carbon source that can improve soil fertility and add phosphorous along with the known soil-building qualities of biochar. The agricultural residue-biochar mix can also reduce the amount of heavy metals in the final product. The lead researcher noted:

"By testing different compositions of materials and different temperatures, I have been able to investigate the properties of biochar to see how it can be improved to remove heavy metals, recover phosphorus and ensure the long-term stability of biochar for applications in the agricultural and environmental fields," explained Vali.

 

Odor and Corrosion Control

     Odor control is an obvious need at WWTPs and most of the odor derives from sulfides, primarily hydrogen sulfide (H2S). This highly poisonous gas stinks. Odor control, or sulfide control is typically achieved chemically with iron salts, calcium nitrate, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). H2S is also highly corrosive so odor control is also corrosion control. The basic oxidation reaction for H2S via H2O2 is:

H2O2 + H2S → S0 + 2H2O

Challenges to using H2O2 for odor control include providing adequate reaction times. The process needs to be tweaked often.

 

Management of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs)

     According to the 2022 volume Wastewater Treatment:

“Emerging contaminants (ECs), termed contaminants of emerging concern, emerging pollutants (EPs), micro-pollutants, or trace organic compounds (TrOCs) are derived from different natural as well as anthropogenic sources that extensively influence water quality. They are termed as emerging not because they are new but due to enhancement in the level of concern. These contaminants are generally in small concentrations, ranging from nano-gram per liter (ng L−1) to micrograms per liter (μg L−1) in the atmosphere. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) describes ECs as new chemical compounds that have the potential to cause harmful effects on individual health and the surroundings. It is essential to treat and recycle wastewater to an acceptable standard to fulfill water demands.”

These compounds may include many different chemicals and sources as shown below.

Some of the treatment methods along with their benefits and challenges are shown in the table below.

     A 2021 paper in Science of the Total Environment concluded that ozonation and activated carbon are the best-performing tertiary treatments available for treating emerging contaminants. 

Biosolids Management: Anaerobic Treatment for Methane Recovery and Fertilizer

     According to the EPA:

“Biosolids are processed wastewater solids (“sewage sludge”) that meet rigorous standards allowing safe reuse for beneficial purposes.  Currently, more than half of the biosolids produced by municipal wastewater treatment systems is applied to land as a soil conditioner or fertilizer and the remaining solids are incinerated or landfilled.  Ocean dumping of these solids is no longer allowed.”

Biosolids are dewatered and then stabilized by composting, heat treatments, drying, or the addition of lime or other alkaline materials. Land application of biosolids is currently being criticized and reevaluated due to the presence of concentrated emerging contaminants such as microplastics and PFAS/PFOS.

     Biosolids are basically a peat-like product that can add carbon, nutrients, and desirable structure to soils.

     In addition to land application and incineration, biosolids may be added to anaerobic digestors (ADs) to produce both usable methane and fertilizer. These ADs may occur at WWTPs with the methane being used to power plant processes. The basic method is the two-stage acid/gas phase system.

 

Industrial Wastewater Treatment

     Industrial wastewater has quite variable composition depending on the type of industry producing it. The petrochemicals industry produces different wastewater than the food & beverage industry, the metals processing industry, the solar panel industry, or the pharmaceutical industry, for example. According to the 2023 book Anthropogenic Environmental Hazards:

“Contaminants can be grouped into different classes such as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, heavy metals and metalloids, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and microplastics. Each contaminant upon exposure possesses a specific health impact on humans and animals as well as on marine life when mixed in the sewer.”

     UK company Anguil notes that wastewater can be challenging to treat due to high pollutant volume, complex composition, and unpredictable variability. They also note that automated treatment has driven innovation in recent years. Changes in industrial operations due to new chemicals, increasing production volumes, or changing processes are the most common reasons industrial effluent treatment facilities fail compliance. Other factors include lack of maintenance, adapting to regulatory changes, aging equipment, and upgrading issues. They note that some companies opt to pay fines and fees for non-compliance rather than maintaining equipment. Sometimes companies are not prepared to adapt to regulatory changes such as updated contaminant limits. Aging equipment may become less effective at removing contaminants. Upgrading equipment is costly and may be delayed, triggering non-compliance.

     Industrial effluents vary in difficulty of treatment and each type and instance of wastewater has its own challenges. They note that common industrial wastewater contaminants include: total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved metals, fats, oil, grease (FOG), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), color, inorganic/organic compounds, pH, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and solids handling. They recommend water reuse where applicable, for example, treating water to certain standards to be able to run similar or other operations, such as boiler feedwater. This is a good way to reduce total effluent discharge volumes. Anguil fits solutions to problems by leveraging all existing wastewater treatment methods to find the best option for each application according to client capabilities. They note:

“The industrial wastewater treatment solutions we offer are developed from a collaborative process with our customer to understand their needs, then validated through lab or pilot testing.”

     The U.S. consumes about 322 billion gallons per day. About half of this consumption is in industrial applications. Anguil notes that industrial effluent contaminant management is costly, whether that is through fines, which don’t address the issue, or through added remediation and associated transportation costs, which do address the issue. Typically industrial wastewater must be pretreated before it can be further treated at municipal wastewater treatment plants. They also note that the relationship between municipal and wastewater treatment plants and industrial wastewater producers can change:

“Municipalities find it more cost-effective to tighten standards for industrial clients rather than expand their own facilities. This approach helps reduce the burden on the municipal treatment system. Industrial companies then face the challenge of finding economical ways to meet these new criteria to avoid penalties and surcharges.”

     They also note that in-house or on-site treatment options can save money on transportation costs. They note that costs are important:

“The primary focus of most wastewater treatment solutions is to discharge wastewater in compliance with national and local regulations. The secondary goal is to be as cost-effective as possible when treating wastewater.”

     Treating industrial wastewater involves contaminant-specific technologies. Anguil lists the major ones below:

• Heavy metals/dissolved metal materials can be removed through pH adjustment and clarification, ion exchange, and carbon technologies.
• Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) and oil-water separators remove fats, oils, and grease from wastewater.
• Filter presses, belt presses, rotary vacuum drums, and rotary screw presses squeeze water from sludge to achieve dewatering.
• Cartridge filters, ballasting, parallel plate clarifiers, DAF, and bag filters remove suspended solids.
• MBBR, MBR, anaerobic, anoxic, bioreactor, and oxidation treatment eliminates soluble biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).
• Total dissolved solids (TDS) are the measurement of the total dissolved amount of organic and inorganic solid materials present in wastewater. Reverse osmosis, ion exchange systems, and nanofiltration facilitate the removal of TDS.
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are often present in wastewater, requiring removal via air stripping, granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, or oxidation.
• Ultra-pure water requires the removal of minerals and other contaminants from relatively clean water. Reverse osmosis (RO), deionization (DI), ion exchange, ultrafiltration (UF), and microfiltration are a few technologies that can be leveraged to create ultra-pure process waters.

     Their process evolves from assessment to lab testing to pilot project and finally to final project design and construction as shown below.

     The table below shows industrial wastewater treatment technologies and equipment in more detail.

 

Industrial Wastewater Evaporation

     Another way to reduce industrial effluent volumes is through evaporation. Company ENCON Evaporators offers several high-tech evaporators. Several types are shown below. Their applications vary according to the composition and amount of wastewater. The goal is to minimize the amount of wastewater to be treated. They explain wastewater evaporation below:

“In its simplest form, the evaporator converts the water portion of water-based wastes to water vapor, while leaving the higher boiling contaminants behind. These wastewater evaporation solutions greatly minimize the amount of waste that needs to be hauled off-site.”

“The evaporation process itself involves both a thermodynamic and mass transfer phenomena.”

“The thermodynamic phenomenon of evaporation nvolves providing enough heat energy (waste oil, off-spec gas, natural gas, propane, oil, diesel, electricity, or steam) to convert water to water vapor.’

“The mass transfer phenomenon of evaporation can best be described as the “carry off” of small droplets of water. These droplets are created at the surface of vigorously boiling water and are “carried off” by oversized blowers or unfiltered water vapor.”

“This “carry off” is problematic with wastewater applications since the droplets of water may have contaminants such as soaps, metals, or oils entrained in them, thus causing an environmental impact outside the building.’

“This “carry off” of droplets is minimized on all ENCON wastewater evaporators through use of a mist eliminator and other design considerations.”

     They note that if the waste stream is over 70% water, then it is likely a good candidate for evaporation. To determine if it is suitable requires some preliminary chemical laboratory analysis.

 

References:

 

Challenges with Industrial Wastewater Compliance. Anguil. Challenges with Industrial Wastewater Compliance | Anguil Environmental Systems, Inc.

Understanding Wastewater Treatment Challenges & Solutions. Anguil. Understanding Wastewater Treatment Challenges & Solutions | Anguil Environmental Systems, Inc.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions. Anguil. Industrial Wastewater Treatment Solutions

U.S. Wastewater Treatment Factsheet. University of Michigan, Center for Sustainable Systems. U.S. Wastewater Treatment Factsheet | Center for Sustainable Systems

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Nutrients in a circular economy: Role of urine separation and treatment. Weonjung Sohn, Jiaxi Jiang, Sherub Phuntsho, Yeshi Choden, Van Huy Tran, and Ho Kyong Shon. Desalination. Volume 560, 15 August 2023, 116663. Nutrients in a circular economy: Role of urine separation and treatment - ScienceDirect

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