Life Science Firm

A life sciences firm with locations worldwide operates a manufacturing facility in New England. The company recently diverted a membrane manufacturing process from another location to the New England facility. Although the facility has an on-site wastewater treatment system, controlling the odor from this new waste stream posed a serious challenge.  Because the odor was carrying through to the local POTW, town leadership began exerting significant pressure on the firm not to include this new stream in their discharge.

The company had to find a cost-effective alternative to treating the stream on site – or risk costly permit violations and ultimately have to shut down or relocate the new manufacturing process. 

A consultant helped the company evaluate several options, and determined that hauling the water to NewStream would be the best solution.  NewStream was able to treat each load in a dedicated batch tank. Using oxidizing chemistry, the odors were neutralized and the strength of the waste was reduced. Further physical/chemical treatment removed solids and other contaminants. Ultimately, biological treatment reduced the organic loading within discharge limits.

The benefiting parties included:

• The local POTW who did not believe that they would be able to handle the odor issue at their plant
• The community leaders who were concerned that, if inadequately treated, the new stream would have generated offensive odors or caused POTW upsets
• The customer who was able to add the new process line to their operation on schedule without costly upgrades to their wastewater treatment system or negative impact on the local community.