Phosphorus removal from wastewater is a widespread challenge. Many wastewater treatment plants have problems achieving and maintaining low phosphorus levels required by today’s standards.
How do wastewater plants treat phosphorus?
Three traditional chemicals for treating phosphorus are ferric chloride, ferrous chloride, and aluminum sulfate (FeCl3, FeCL2, and Al?(SO?)?).
One plant told us that in order to knock down phosphorus they’re using a full tote of ferric chloride every day. If that sounds like a lot of chemical, that’s because it is!
While feeding large amounts of commodity chemicals to battle phosphorus might be a common practice, there are ways to use significantly less chemical and get better plant performance at the same time.
Why haven’t many wastewater treaters tried alternative solutions?
The simple answer is that many wastewater treaters don’t know that better phosphorus removal options exist. Unfortunately, over the last several decades, the good old plant-specific way of buying chemical solutions has mostly gone the way of the dinosaurs.
In the past, plants were serviced by subject matter experts and thought leaders—people with real water treatment experience. Nowadays, water treaters buy chemicals from ‘order takers’ whose lack of expertise renders them devoid of useful advice on dosing, alternative treatments, etc. And all too often, these commodity retailers just continue to sell plants the same thing they’ve been selling them for 30 years—with no thought of potentially useful new chemical strategies or developments.
Unfortunately, without expert knowledge to guide them, water treaters aren’t aware of technological and chemical advancements that could really benefit their phosphorus removal from wastewater and other processes.
A better approach to phosphorus removal from wastewater
At ATS Innova, we understand that the application of chemicals is almost as important as the chemistry itself. We believe in maintaining an old-fashioned approach to selling chemistry that is personal and consultative—and very different from the common approach of selling commodity products without tailored recommendations. ATS Innova prides itself in providing customized advice based on the experience of water experts to help our customers find the best solution and fine-tune it until you achieve optimal performance.
Get answers fast with ATS Innova’s consultative approach
We also believe that the proof is in the pudding, so whenever possible, we’ll send one of our water experts out to your plant to meet with you and do jar testing—for free.
We’ll talk with you about the challenges and situations at your plant, perform jar testing, including phosphate tests. Within just a couple hours of walking in your door, we’ll both know a lot more about what’s going to work best for your plant to do phosphorus removal from wastewater, among other things.
To learn more or to inquire about free jar testing, give us a call at 855-215-4600.
