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RDO Springs: Productivity increase thanks to VACUDEST Clearcat evaporator The VACUDEST 2.100 Clearcat evaporator of H2O can process up to 6 m³/day, allowing to also satisfy all the quality and automation criteria of RDO Springs.
L
ess maintenance, better quality and more automation – that is what
Operation and initial feedback
RDO Springs, a French company that designs, manufactures and
After more than a year of operation, the evaporator is delivering very
markets billions of stainless steel or steel metal springs internationally,
satisfactory results. Mr. Sohier, production manager at RDO Springs,
wanted to achieve with their new wastewater treatment. The decision was
would make the decision for an H2O solution again and again: “The
made in favour of an energy-saving VACUDEST system from H2O GmbH.
commissioning of the unit went very quick, and the training was
In its production site in Bresles, the company manufactures two types
comprehensive. We can now even reuse the distillate because the quality
of products: carbon steel springs which undergo a surface treatment by
allows it. H2O’s customer service is both competent and responsive.
vibratory finishing – the water produced by this process contains oil and
We are called back within an hour or at the latest within 24 hours. To
is stored in a tank until it is treated – and chemically passivated stainless-
refine the settings and stabilize the process, H2O sent an experienced
steel springs. The acidic rinsing water produced by this latter treatment
technician on site for a week. In addition, the fully automated operation
is stored in a separate tank before being neutralized with sodium
and easy maintenance of the machine allowed us to make better use of
bicarbonate. The baths are emptied at weekly intervals and stored in the
our resources and concentrate fully on production.”
same tank. Treatment of the wastewater was already done by evaporators using a
For further information: www.h2o-de.com
competitor unit supplied three years ago. After storage, the distillate was returned for vibratory grinding and passivation. The search for a solution to replace the existing evaporator involved several criteria, such as the quality of the extracted water, an easy maintenance and simple operation (the existing plant required up to 40% of the machine operators’ working time) and sufficient processing capacity for the entire wastewater stream: to cope with the increase in production, the machine must be sized accordingly. The experts for wastewater-free production at H2O GmbH then drew up a complete balance sheet of the wastewater flows and the corresponding volumes, compiled a list of all the products used to identify and possibly isolate products or flows that could be critical or limiting for the proposed solution and carried out extensive laboratory tests to determine the relevance of the groupings. The tests demonstrated that 316Ti stainless steel, the standard material grade at H2O, is sufficient and most appropriate. After also having checked that the existing tanks had sufficient capacity, H2O determined that a post-treatment was not required for recycling and suggested the installation of a UV lamp to prevent the growth of microorganisms upon storage. Finally, the standard evaporator throughput was determined based on the flows involved and via the concentration factor achieved. The requirements were met by the VACUDEST 2.100 Clearcat evaporator, which can process up to 6 m³/day at a concentration factor of at least 33% or a maximum of 3% concentrate. RDO Springs opted for this vacuum evaporation solution and replaced the previous plant.
© H2O
The VACUDEST 2.100 Clearcat evaporator.
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N. 78 - NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 - international PAINT&COATING magazine