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Zero Liquid Waste & Brine Management

ZERO LIQUID WASTE (ZLW) FACILITY - NORTHERN WEST VIRGINIA, USA The coal mining industry is now faced with new regulatory requirements that limit the discharge of chlorides into receiving streams. The project was undertaken to meet a new regulatory limitation imposed by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for chlorides discharged to surface waters.
Business case listing

Veolia concluded a DBO (Design, Build, Operate) contract with a mining company for its mine water treatment facilities. The system included in Veolia’s scope of activities was a 3,500 gpm centralized Zero Liquid Waste (ZLW) system using advanced treatment technologies.

The system generates clean water for reuse in various energy endeavors or for discharge to the environment, with no residual waste from the treatment process leaving the site. It is designed to treat a maximum flow of approximately 5 million gallons per day of mine water from six remote sites to comply with a monthly average discharge limit for chlorides.

Veolia uses a combination of water softening, chemical precipitation and multimedia filtration with reverse osmosis and evaporation/crystallization to treat 1.83 billion gallons (6.96 billion liters) per year.

Solid waste from the operations is non-hazardous and is disposed in an on-site landfill.

 
 

Customer benefits:

  • The process utilizes state-of-the-art membrane treatment to achieve the discharge criteria, and evaporation and crystallization technology to manage the brine from the water treatment process. As a result, the system creates clean water for discharge while generating zero liquid waste. The desalinated water can be used for various energy endeavors or discharged back to the receiving stream.
  • The residuals from the treatment process, including softening sludge and mixed salts, are concentrated into a solid waste that is disposed in a landfill on site. As a result, no residual solid waste from the water treatment operations leaves the property. 
  • To provide an accurate measure of the benefit provided by the facility, the Water Impact Index was applied. The Water Impact Index is a comprehensive water footprint indicator developed by Veolia. It integrates all the aspects of the water cycle, including water quality, water availability in the local environment, and volume to provide an accurate measure of environmental benefit.  The study showed that the treated discharge from the facility will ultimately improve the water quality of the Monongahela River.

5M gallons per day of mine water

9,300 tons/yr of Chloride removed

6.4MG/yr  water withdrawn for treatment