Environmental recovery and pollution control

Metal Refinery Wastewater Peru

In Latin America, a large metal refinery and production complex uses mineral concentrates to produce copper, zinc, lead, silver, indium, and gold. But refining and casting the metals generates liquid effluents that can pose a threat to the environment. So, as part of a comprehensive environmental recovery and pollution control program, our client sought solutions for responsibly-processing slag wastewaters, acid wastewaters, and rainwater.

Our team completed designs for the wastewater treatment plant, which has the capacity to treat 50 cubic meters of industrial effluents per hour. We also provided procurement management services for plant materials, equipment, construction supervision, and start-up.

The treatment method is a physical-chemical process that’s designed to precipitate metal compounds from the water. The plant performs pre-treatment to remove sand and detritus from slag wastewater and rainwater, but it also equalizes the flows of the main industrial effluents, adjusts the pH of acidic wastewaters, manages the precipitates transferred from the equalization tanks, treats sludge, and establishes operational controls for the refinery.

Now complete, the treated industrial effluent successfully meets permit requirements in Latin America.