Planning and Execution of Industrial Waste
Treatability Studies
JAMES D. WESTFIELD, Senior Sanitary Engineer
PAUL D. KOCH, Engineer-Scientist
Engineering-Science, Inc.
Washington, D. C.
PAUL T. BISHOP, Plant Engineering Manager
S. C. Johnson and Son, Inc.
Racine, Wisconsin
INTRODUCTION
Every industry no matter how small nor specialized has a waste control and
handling program. This program may be as minimal as one man handling the
collection of refuse and trash or as extensive as a corporate division headed by a vice
president that involves technical, legal and management personnel and extensive
amounts of equipment. Irrespective of the nature or size of the industry, certain
information needs are common to all waste control programs. These needs can be
described as follows: 1) To know what regulations and restrictions exist covering the
disposal of wastes to the environment; 2) To know what wastes are being and will be
produced; 3) To know what wastes must be altered before disposing of them; 4) To
know what wastes can be recycled and/or reused to some economic or environmental
benefit; 5) To know how to alter wastes so they meet internal (corporate) and
external (local, state, etc.) requirements; 6) To know what corporate resources are
needed and available for waste handling and control; and 7) To know how the waste
control program is functioning.
The collection and analysis of information covering the first three categories
has been the subject of numerous books, papers and studies, many of which have
been reported on at this conference. Moreover, these needs can often be satisfied by
utilizing available company resources and information.
The fourth category has been less widely probed, and though interests and
efforts have recently intensified, it still remains an area where there are only
scattered solutions to specific problems. Little attention has been given to developing
a general approach to waste recycle/reuse that was not specifically directed at one
problem.
The fifth category is the subject of this paper, and its history is a combination
of the two extremes of development described above. There is a wealth of
information on processes for accomplishing waste treatment and a number of
industrial waste treatment books are available. Although treatment methods are
adequately described, very little information is available on the planning and
execution of industrial waste treatability studies. Information is available on the
technical tools used in treatability studies (i.e. sampling devices, analytical methods,
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