Study to determine if treated wastewater mixed with water from public supply can be used as make-up water for cooling towers

Abstract

The integration of the environmental variable in the source for decision making in modern society has forced companies to revise their concepts of environmental resources management and to seek conservation practices in their operations. Currently a widespread practice for conservation, in this case for water resources, is the reuse of wastewater, reducing the extraction of water from natural sources and the costs related to its use. But the activity must not be committed prior to the completion of a detailed study to understand the quality requirements required by the application that will receive the reused water. The objective of this study is to determine if the secondary wastewater generated at Delphi Automotive Systems can be reused in cooling towers, but without having to apply advanced techniques for adjusting its quality parameters. By knowing the functional characteristics of the company’s cooling tower and the existing wastewater it was possible calculate through a mass balance, using the total dissolved solids as the contaminant to be diluted, that no percentage of mixture of water from public supply and wastewater would allow the desired reuse.