49    THE APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE SEPARATION
TECHNOLOGIES TO INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES
Peter S. Cartwright, President
C3 International, Inc.
Roseville, Minnesota 55113
INTRODUCTION
The indiscriminate discharge of industrial and agricultural effluents is becoming extremely difficult, if not impossible, throughout the world. This can be attributed to the following forces:
• governmental regulations
• potential liability to the discharger
• public attitude
Many discharges contain contaminants considered to be toxic or hazardous. In the United States,
the Environmental Protection Agency either has classified or is in the process of classifying approximately 375 chemicals as hazardous, and thereby severely limiting the method or location of
discharge.
In 1986, 270 million tons of hazardous wastes were generated in the United States. 60% is dilute
aqueous effluent containing from 0.1% (1000 mg/L) to 1.0% (10,000 mg/L) of hazardous constituents. Industry alone is estimated to spend up to 12 billion dollars per year to treat these wastes, and
this spending is expected to grow at the rate of 8-9% per year.
Heretofore, the traditional method of disposing of aqueous wastes containing hazardous contaminants has been to chemically form an insoluble sludge for transport to a hazardous landfill. New
regulations have severely curtailed the number of landfills and significantly increased the liability and
licensing requirements of these landfills as well as the generators and transporters of the waste. In
addition, various local regulatory agencies are affixing the charges for landfill deposit to cover costs
of regulation and enforcement. The spiraling increase in costs of landfill disposal is summarized in
Table I.
In addition to the environmental pressures affecting dischargers of hazardous wastes, economic
considerations are making "point-of-source" recovery more and more attractive. Costs of both chemicals and water are steadily increasing; therefore, even where no discharge restriction exists, the
application of technology to recover both solute and solvent may be justified.
Water-borne contaminants can be classified as follows:
• suspended solids
• dissolved solids
organic (non-ionic)
ionic (inorganic)
• microorganisms
Table I.    U.S. Landfill Costs (S/Ton)
1978 1987 1990 (est)
Disposal Fee $2.50 $200-1200 $400-1800
(excluding transportation)
State Fee $1.00 $30.00 $50-80
(Varies by State —California used here)
43rd Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, © 1989 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Printed in U.S.A.
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