High BOD Wastewater Handled at Beverage Destruct Facility Turns Waste to Value
VIM Recyclers has been around for more than 20 years and operates in 30 states. It has a versatile product and packaging recycling facility near Chicago, IL. This facility handles a lot of beverage destruct work where it takes full product, crushes it and removes the fluid from the packaging. The aluminum and/or PET is then separated and recycled. Previously, the fluid was discharged from the contents of the beverage containers directly to the Fox Metro municipal wastewater treatment facility. This effluent, due to the nature of the beverage, typically has a sugar content of roughly 5 percent, which correlates to 50,000 ppm BOD (biological oxygen demand) and a pH of around three to four. This high-BOD effluent often caused operational challenges for the treatment facility in addition to the issuance of very high BOD monetary surcharges from Fox Metro.
The high-sugar effluent primarily receives either aerobic or anaerobic biological treatment, which requires high capital, land, building and operational resources. In this case, a similar treatment option would have an investment return of well over 10 years and require dedicated engineering and operational resources.