Development and Operation of an
Aeration Waste Treatment Plant
JAMES L. HERIN, Plant Engineer
LOUIS H. MARLOW, Project Engineer
CLIFFORD T. STIGGER, Project Engineer
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Jeffersonville, Indiana
INTRODUCTION
In 1952, an article appeared in the Magazine Section of the Louisville Courier
Journal recounting the battle between a fisherman on the Ohio River, below the
dam, and a large glob of detergent foam from the Colgate sewer outfall. This article
was humorous to some, but it did point out what one mistake in a runoff or a bad
sewer discharge could do for the public image of the Colgate-Palmolive Company in
this area. In 1952, the public was made conscious of the outfall problems of the
Colgate-Palmolive Company at the Jeffersonville Plant. Today, 18 years later, we have
one of the few, if not the only secondary biological treatment plant for industrial
waste in this section of the Ohio River. Just how has this come about?
PLANT OPERATIONS
Before proceeding, let me outline the magnitude and the diversification of
operations at our Jeffersonville Plant. We are the second largest of the four domestic
plants of the Colgate-Palmolive Company. Our production consists of the overall
gamut of our company's products with diverse formulations, materials, and chemical
components. This includes toilet and industrial soaps, such as, Palmolive, Vel Beauty
Bar, Cashmere Bouquet, etc.; detergents (Palmolive Liquid, Rose Lotion Vel, Ajax
Liquid); cleansers; glycerines; a complete line of toilet articles, i.e., Aerosol Shave
Creams, Colgate and Ultra Brite Dental Creams, Halo and Lustre Creme Shampoos;
and many other items. Each has its own distinctive formulations and accordingly its
own respective contribution to the complexity of our process waste system (Figure
1).
In the late '40's and early '50's we became conscious of the effect of our
outfall on the river, and we began studying the plant in an effort to control the
individual constituents in our outfall. First, with agreement from the Indiana
Pollution Stream Control Board, we separated our sanitary waste system from our
process system so that the sanitary waste could be treated in the Clarksville, Indiana,
Municipal Sewage Treatment Plant. Next, a study was made throughout the plant to
determine the sources of the bulk of our process waste, and what could be done
about them. This investigation brought to light that much of the effluent from the
plant was essentially non-contaminated in that it consisted of river, well, and city
waters that were being used primarily for cooling and thus had no pollutants added
in the plant, which would necessitate treatment. We also made qualitative analysis of
the daily outfall and evaluated the variations in pH, alkalinity, chlorides, sulfates,
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