27    CASE STUDY: EFFECTIVE WASTE MINIMIZATION
USING ION EXCHANGE TECHNOLOGY
Kenneth E. Kaszubowski, Manager
Engineering Services
Sigma Environmental Services, Inc.
Oak Creek, Wisconsin 53154
James A. Bilgo, Senior Environmental Chemist
Kohler Company
Kohler, Wisconsin 53044
INTRODUCTION
Kohler Co. is a world-wide manufacturer of commercial and household plumbing products, small
internal combustion engines, generator sets, furniture and other household goods. The manufacturing
facility located in Kohler, Wisconsin, produces vitreous china, enameled cast-iron fixtures, brass
plumbing fittings and internal combustion engines.
The Brass Division of the Kohler Wisconsin facility manufactures brass plumbing faucets and
fittings, which are finished by a wide variety of processes. These metal finishing processes create
several wastewater streams which must be effectively managed in order to maintain compliance with
established regulatory limits and minimize operating costs within the Brass Division. These wastewater streams are highly variable in terms of composition, volume and flow rate. Management of
these wastewaters presents significant challenges with respect to pollution prevention, optimization of
treatment methods, and compliance with effluent discharge limits. The Brass Division employs a
conventional metal hydroxide precipitation treatment process train for a majority of the wastewater
streams generated in the facility. Some streams are shipped off-site for treatment and disposal. A
simplified schematic of the Brass Waste Treatment (BWT) facility is presented in Figure 1.
The Brass Division requested the assistance of Kohler's Corporate Environmental Engineering and
Safety Department and Chemical and Metallurgical Laboratory to assist them in reducing cost associated with managing their wastewater streams while continuing an outstanding record of regulatory
compliance.
The goals of this paper are to present a case study of a waste and cost reduction project which:
• illustrates the decision process to select an appropriate waste and cost reduction
technology
• describes the selected technology and the interaction with the existing metal finishing and
waste treatment operations
• describes the anticipated and actual benefits achieved
The paper is organized as follows:
• Background and Previous Work
• Evaluation of Alternatives
• System Selection and Description
• Anticipated and Realized Benefits
• Summary
BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS WORK
Analysis of Waste Sources and Costs
A comprehensive operations audit was conducted in order to identify the specific manufacturing
operations generating wastewater streams and also to identify the major sources of operating costs
incurred by the BWT facility. A summary of the relative percentages of the major wastewater sources
47th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
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