Demonstrations and pilots:
Complex Laboratory Waste:
The ability to withstand and work in difficult environments was proven in a recent pilot demonstration at a large public university laboratory waste management facility. Waste is received at this facility from over 400 sources with minimal description of constituents. Due to variation in chemistry and the presence of multiple chemicals, organic, inorganic and complexes, the university regularly shipped the waste as hazardous material to an off site vendor for treatment and safe disposal.
When Tusaar MetaHold was put to use the only requirement was the adjustment of the influent pH to be between 2 and 5. This brought the solution into the Tusaar media working range and also caused the precipitation of some metals that were in concentrations of over 1000 ppm. The media was contained in columns in series and the solution pumped though once.
The effluent metal concentrations were below the local city discharge limits. Organics were reduced over 75%. This followed by a simple GAC process to reduce organics further and the neutralization of acids the waste could be discharged into the public water treatment system.
Use of MetaHold resulted in reduction of waste volume of over 95% and a similar reduction in cost for the university.
Industrial Waste:
Another pilot was run as a printed circuit board manufacturer where the waste stream contains, copper, nickel, silver, lead tin, and zinc in a solution containing multiple acids, organics and chelating agents like EDTA. A 5 kg Tusaar MetaHold column was used as a demonstration model. 25 cycles of operation and regeneration were run. Results showed that the Tusaar technology performed better than the existing ion exchange in use and required fewer pre and post treatment steps. Residence time required for MetaHold was less than that needed for Ion Exchange. Regeneration of the Tusaar media was also simpler than the ion exchange media in use at the facility.
Acid Mine Drainage:
Tusaar MetaKlear media was tested against Acid Mine Drainage from a disused uranium mine. Current treatment systems installed are incapable of reducing metal concentrations enough to meet city, state and Federal uranium concentrations levels. Laboratory testing showed that MetaKlear reduced the uranium levels to parts per trillion levels and Tusaar is currently working to run the trials at a pilot scale.
