Pelmanco Recycling recover plastic from landfill sites which they then recycle into raw plastic materials. The recovered plastics are washed before they are fed into the recycling process. This washing process was using a substantial amount of water. Furthermore, Pelmanco were being penalised by the City of Cape Town for discharging effluent that did not comply with its bylaws.
A2V were appointed to design a system that would clean the water to a level where it could be reused to wash more recovered plastic before being discharged to sewer.
The system implemented comprises the following key elements:
- Screening to remove coarse solids from the effluent
- Coagulant dosing equipment
- A Tube Settler to remove flocculated particles
- Sand filtration to remove any particles carried over from the settling process
The project successfully reduced the wash water consumption by 70%, a significant saving on Pelmanco’s operational costs. Screened solids are now removed to landfill and the council is satisfied that the settled sludge can be discharge directly to sewer.
The flocculator and tube settler at Pelmanco