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Leachate Treatment for Dairy Farm

Two-Step Reverse Osmosis (TSRO)

Client Overview

  • Industry: Dairy Farm
  • Location: Wisconsin
  • Year: 2020

Challenge

Our client, a Wisconsin-based dairy farm, faced significant challenges with their lagoon water management:

  1. Lagoon water did not meet standards for discharge into water bodies
  2. High costs associated with land application of nutrient-poor runoff
  3. Complex logistics for storage and hauling of leachate
  4. Need for a solution to concentrate nutrients for efficient storage and later land application

Solution: Two-Step Reverse Osmosis (TSRO)

We implemented our advanced Two-Step Reverse Osmosis (TSRO) system to address these challenges.

Project Approach

  1. Site Assessment:
    • Collected lagoon effluent samples
    • Treated samples using our TSRO system
  2. Performance Analysis:
    • Conducted comprehensive analysis of lagoon effluent, clean water output, and concentrate

Results

1

Water Recovery

Reclaimed approximately 93% of the lagoon effluent as clean water
2

Regulatory Compliance

Produced clean water meeting discharge standards
3

Nutrient Concentration

Created a nutrient-rich concentrate for efficient storage and land application

Detailed Analysis

Parameter Unit Lagoon Effluent Clean Water Concentrate % Removal by TSRO
Total solids mg/L 600 n.d. 6,600 >99.9%
Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) mg/L 72.2 5.5 86 92%
Phosphorus mg/L 17.2 n.d. 72.5 >99.9%
Potassium mg/L 62.1 n.d. 83.6 >99.9%
Conductivity mS/cm 1.3 0.216 9.39 N/A
pH S.U. 7.43 5.84 6.69 N/A

n.d. = not detected, N/A = not applicable

Key Benefits

  1. Regulatory Compliance: Produced clean water suitable for discharge into water bodies
  2. Cost Reduction: Lowered expenses for land application and transportation
  3. Nutrient Management: Concentrated nutrients for more efficient storage and application
  4. Operational Efficiency: Streamlined leachate management process
  5. Environmental Impact: Reduced risk of nutrient runoff into surrounding ecosystems

Process Insights

  • The TSRO system demonstrated exceptional performance:
    • 99.9% removal of total solids, phosphorus, and potassium
    • 92% removal of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN)
    • Produced very clean water with almost no detectable contaminants, except for 5.5 mg/L of organic nitrogen
  • A small amount of sodium was detected in the clean water, originating from the draw solution used in the process
  • The high concentration of sodium in the TSRO concentrate is a result of batch concentration and would not be expected in a commercial, continuous system

Liquid Pictures

Scroll the gallery to see pictures of the materials from our filtration equipment.

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