When water is used in homes or industry, it isn’t used up. A little of it may pass into the atmosphere by evaporation, eventually reappearing as rain, and the rest of it becomes wastewater. When wastewater is cleaned of its undesirable impurities, it once again becomes perfectly good water, able to be reused endlessly. Natural processes have done much of this cleaning since the beginning of life, but modern society and industry require the help of chemical technology to keep up with increasing demand.

The impurities in municipal wastewater are largely biodegradeable, so biological treatment methods are commonly used for its cleaning. This is what Publicly Owned Treatment Works -- POTW’s -- do. They use naturally occurring microbes to convert sewage wastes to simple harmless materials, by creating an environment where the microbes can work efficiently. The plant’s efficiency and so its economy often depends on chemicals to speed up and improve the processes. The chemicals -- coagulants, flocculants, oxidants, and disinfectants -- and the know-how to apply them are the contribution Fort Bend Services’ wastewater engineers can make to help these water factories produce their clean water product.

Wastewater from some industrial and agricultural activities cannot be cleaned effectively in a POTW. Meat and poultry processing, food preparation, and even chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturing often produce this kind of waste. Though the impurities may be mostly biodegradable, their concentration may be too high for these biological plants to process efficiently. These wastewater streams need Fort Bend Services’ chemical technology and products. Oxidation or other chemical reactions can convert dissolved impurities to insoluble ones, and coagulants and flocculants can help separate the suspended solids from the liquid. The almost clean water can then go to a POTW or a similar producer operated system. With further chemical help, the solid part of the waste can be made acceptable for disposal or may even be recycled into useful material.

Some industrial operations produce wastewater which isn’t biodegradable and is potentially harmful to our environment. These waste streams may require innovative combinations of chemical and physical processes to remove their contaminants. Classical treatments like oxidation, coagulation, flocculation, and flotation may be supplemented by centrifugation, ultrafiltration, or reverse osmosis. Fort Bend Services’ waste treatment engineers are experienced in the application of all these methods. Whatever the wastewater problem, we can help.