Low Energy Recovery of Clean Ethylene Glycol (Antifreeze)

Description of Process

1. Contaminated glycol is filtered to remove suspended solids and free oil

2. Organic materials are removed by passing the glycol through activated carbon.

3. Using R-Vap Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) evaporators, glycol is concentrated to 60% or better. This process also creates a distilled water byproduct

4. Glycol is processed through an ion exclusion device creating clean glycol

5. Distilled water is used to regenerate the ion exclusion device creating dirty water for disposal

Benefits

• Very high glycol recovery
  • Wasting glycol is expensive. This process converts practically all the glycol in the wastewater stream to clean, reusable 50% glycol
  • No need to buy expensive virgin glycol to refortify
• Low operating costs
  • Glycol is processed for less than $0.05 per gallon
  • Since the system does not employ membranes, there are no costly membranes to replace
• Low BOD in sewer discharge
  • With little glycol waste, wastewater is low in glycol and will not contribute to high BOD
• Removes chloride ions
  • If glycol is reformulated into anti-freeze it will easily meet ASTM D3634
• Utilizes proven R-Vap technology

Removes

• Particulate
• Ash for ASTM D1119
• Ionic surfactants
• Color
• Hardness and Sodium
• Chloride ions for ASTM D3634
• Excess Water for ASTM D1120

Applications

• Automotive Engine Coolant Recycling (anti-freeze)
  • The product purified by this process can meet the requirements of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) for fitness to be used in today's automobiles.
• Airport Deicing Fluid
• Crude Petroleum collection Freeze Protection
• Electronics processing (tantalum capacitor production)