Nothing is more annoying for a company than to find that a supplier fails to respect agreements, thus jeopardising the continuity of the production process. Looking for a different and better solution, a plastic manufacturer from Spain called in Desotec. By guaranteeing a complete and high-quality service, we relieved this customer of many headaches.

For the treatment of waste water and polluted air, a plastics manufacturer localised in Spain had long been convinced of the added value of activated carbon. The company joined forces with a supplier who supplied a number of active carbon installations. Unfortunately the manufacturer found that the service offered by the supplier left much to be desired. The installations were not in good condition and moreover the customer could not count on quality support. In order not to jeopardise the progress of the business processes and the safety on the site, the company inquired about Desotec's services.

Solution

After a careful analysis of the situation on-site, Desotec proposed a total solution with an optimised layout of activated carbon filters and an improved configuration of the installations. This total concept consists of 40 to 50 mobile activated carbon filters, which form a mix of AIRCON and MOBICON filters. The AIRCON filters are responsible for the air treatment and the removal of polluting gases, while the MOBICON installations purify the waste water. The capacity of the installations varies from 2m³ to 20 m³ activated carbon.

Crucial to the service story was the possibility to reactivate the saturated carbon. The previous supplier did this on a very limited scale, while it is possible for Desotec to guarantee full reactivation. Considering the activated carbon has to absorb a great amount of chlorine, this is quite a challenge.

Results

The installations have been operational since the beginning of 2017 and provide the customer with a strong sense of satisfaction.  Whereas the manufacturer always used to be concerned about the reliability of the installations and regularly had to replace defective parts, Desotec’s proactive approach has only resulted in winners. The installation works without any problems and is therefore an essential added value for the production processes at the company. For safety reasons and in order to comply with all the legal regulations, the manufacturer cannot afford to allow certain installations to malfunction. Thanks to the total support provided by Desotec, the plastics manufacturer has since been able to sleep on both ears every night.

At DESOTEC’s facilities, all used carbon is analysed so the right measures can be taken for handling and removing the saturated carbon out of the mobile filters. All molecules that were adsorbed on the activated carbon at the customers’ site, are desorbed inside DESOTEC’s reactivation furnaces. These contaminants are then fully destroyed, in accordance with National and European legislation, by an incineration and neutralisation setup. The entire installation and it's emissions are under continuous on-line monitoring, which guarantees that only harmless water vapour is seen exiting the chimney.