Water Conservation in the Chemical Industry

Case Study: Advantis Technologies, Inc.

Advantis Technologies has a mission. Located in Alpharetta, Georgia, Advantis, a recipient of the 2001 GW&PCA Industrial Award for Pollution Prevention, is determined to become the leader in production and distribution of pool & spa chemicals and Accessories and Surface Water Products by exceeding the expectations of their customers, providing a fair return to their shareholders, and protecting the environment. By focusing on wastewater generation and water conservation, Advantis is able to address all aspects of this important goal.

Wastewater Generation

As with many chemical companies, water was used to rinse out chemical tanks after the manufacturing process was complete. Advantis established a program to re-use all rinse water generated when cleaning a mix tank. After rinsing for a particular chemical, the rinse water is stored and then re-used as make-up water the next time that chemical is prepared. As a result, Advantis no longer discharges any industrial wastewater to the city sewer system. The end result was a reduction in wastewater generation of approximately 70,000 gallons per year since 1998.

Water Conservation

Advantis also made a concerted effort to conserve the amount of water used at the facility and in the manufacturing process. Some examples of their water conservation efforts are:

• Establishing a manufacturing plan to run similar chemicals back-to-back in order to reduce the number of cleanups and thus reduce the amount of water needed for rinsing.
• Modifying several formulations to make them fall into existing chemical groups to avoid special runs with unique waste streams.
• Installing a programmable irrigation timer with multiple time and zone settings.