Frequently Asked Questions

A wastewater treatment plant is an engineered facility that removes contaminants — suspended solids, oils, organics, nutrients and metals — from used water before it is discharged to sewer, surface water or reuse. Industrial plants differ from municipal ones: they are sized for a specific effluent profile, so the design starts with characterization of your process water, then combines stages such as screening, equalization, chemical treatment, clarification or flotation, biological treatment and sludge dewatering. In Canada, the plant must meet the discharge limits in your provincial permit or municipal sewer bylaw, which is why we pilot-test the treatment train before committing to full-scale equipment. A well-designed plant protects compliance, cuts surcharge fees and can recover water for reuse.

The most common coagulants in industrial water treatment are aluminum-based (alum, polyaluminum chloride) and iron-based (ferric chloride, ferric sulfate) salts. They neutralize the surface charge of fine particles and colloids so they can agglomerate and settle or float. Which one is right depends on your water chemistry — pH, alkalinity, the type of solids or emulsified oil, and your discharge limits for residual aluminum or iron. PAC is a frequent first choice because it works across a wide pH range and produces less sludge than alum, while ferric salts excel on phosphorus removal and sulfide control. We run jar tests on your actual effluent to select the coagulant and dose before sizing the dosing system.

Aluminum sulfate (alum) has historically been the most widely used coagulant, but in industrial applications polyaluminum chloride (PAC) has largely taken its place. PAC is pre-hydrolyzed, so it coagulates effectively over a broader pH range, consumes less alkalinity, performs better in cold Canadian water temperatures and produces a denser, lower-volume sludge — which matters when you pay to haul dewatered cake. Ferric chloride remains the workhorse where phosphorus removal or odour control is the driver. There is no universally best product: the right coagulant is the one that hits your discharge limits at the lowest total cost of chemical, sludge disposal and pH correction, which is exactly what a jar-test program establishes.

Synthetic polyacrylamide polymers are by far the most commonly used flocculants in industrial wastewater treatment. After a coagulant destabilizes fine particles, an anionic or cationic polyacrylamide bridges the micro-flocs into large, fast-settling or easily-dewatered flocs. Anionic grades dominate mineral and inorganic solids applications; cationic grades are standard for organic and biological sludges, including dewatering on filter presses, screw presses and centrifuges. Charge density and molecular weight are selected by bench screening, because an over- or under-dosed polymer wastes chemical and can blind filters. We supply make-down and dosing systems sized to your flow, and we screen polymers on your actual sludge so the flocculant is proven before the equipment ships.

Industrial wastewater treatment is the process of conditioning water used in manufacturing, food processing, mining or resource operations so it can be legally discharged or reused. Unlike municipal sewage, industrial effluent varies enormously — a dairy plant fights fats and BOD, a metal finisher fights dissolved metals, a mine fights suspended solids and sulfates — so the treatment train is engineered case by case. Typical building blocks include screening, equalization, pH neutralization, coagulation-flocculation, dissolved air flotation or clarification, biological treatment (MBBR, MBR, anaerobic), membrane polishing and sludge dewatering. The goal is consistent compliance with your provincial permit or sewer bylaw at the lowest operating cost, and increasingly, recovery of water back into the process.

An oil water separator is a tank engineered to remove free and dispersed oils, greases and fuels from wastewater before it reaches a sewer or storm drain. It exploits the density difference between oil and water: as flow slows inside the vessel, oil droplets rise, coalesce into a surface layer and are skimmed off, while cleaned water exits below. Designs range from simple gravity tanks to API separators and coalescing-plate units that capture much smaller droplets in a compact footprint. They are standard equipment at vehicle wash bays, fuel depots, machine shops, food plants and refineries across Canada, where sewer bylaws typically cap oil and grease at 15–100 mg/L. Sizing depends on flow rate, droplet size and oil type.

The two main types are gravity (API) separators and coalescing-plate (CPI/TPI) separators. An API separator is a long rectangular basin designed to Stokes' law: flow slows enough for oil droplets of roughly 150 microns and larger to rise and be skimmed. It is robust and easy to maintain, and remains the standard for refineries and high-solids streams. A coalescing-plate separator adds inclined plate packs or oleophilic media that intercept much smaller droplets — down to about 20–60 microns — so it achieves better effluent quality in a fraction of the footprint. Choosing between them comes down to droplet size distribution, solids load, available space and your discharge limit; many sites use an API unit followed by a coalescing stage.

A coalescing filter merges very fine, dispersed oil droplets — too small to rise on their own — into larger drops that can separate from water by gravity. Wastewater passes through oleophilic media or inclined plate packs; oil droplets collide with the media surface, stick, and grow until buoyancy carries them to the surface for skimming. This lets a compact vessel achieve effluent oil concentrations that a plain gravity tank cannot, often below 10–15 mg/L on free and dispersed oil. Coalescing filters are used downstream of machine shops, compressor condensate systems, wash bays and fuel handling areas, and as a polishing stage after an API separator. They do not remove chemically emulsified or dissolved oil — that requires chemical treatment or flotation.

It depends on the design. Plate-pack and media coalescers used in oil water separation are not consumables: the packs are cleaned rather than replaced, and with periodic washing to remove accumulated solids and biological growth they typically serve for many years — often the life of the vessel. Cartridge-style coalescing elements, by contrast, load up with solids and are replaced on a differential-pressure schedule, typically once or twice a year in industrial service. The biggest factors are upstream solids (a strainer or settling stage extends life dramatically), oil loading, and whether surfactants in the waste stream foul the media. We size the coalescer with realistic fouling margins and design for easy pack removal so cleaning is a maintenance task, not a shutdown.

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) combines biological treatment with membrane filtration in one process. Microorganisms in an aerated tank consume dissolved organics, and instead of relying on a clarifier to settle the biomass, ultrafiltration or microfiltration membranes physically retain it — producing an effluent that is essentially free of suspended solids and most bacteria. Because the membranes decouple solids retention from settling, an MBR runs at much higher biomass concentrations than conventional activated sludge, which means a smaller footprint and very stable performance on variable industrial loads. MBR effluent is typically clean enough for reuse in washdown or cooling applications, or for discharge to sensitive receiving waters. It is a strong fit for food and beverage plants, landfill leachate and high-BOD process water.

The honest trade-offs of a membrane bioreactor are cost and membrane care. Capital cost is higher than conventional activated sludge or MBBR because of the membrane modules, and energy use is higher too — air scouring to keep membranes clean is a significant load. Membranes foul: they need routine relaxation or backpulsing, periodic chemical cleaning, and replacement roughly once a decade, which must be budgeted. Fats, oils and abrasive solids upstream shorten membrane life, so good pre-treatment (screening at 1–3 mm, FOG removal) is non-negotiable. Where an MBR wins despite this is when footprint is tight, effluent limits are strict, or water reuse pays back the premium. If none of those apply, we will often recommend MBBR or conventional treatment instead — the right technology, not the fanciest one.

A moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) treats wastewater by growing bacteria as a biofilm on thousands of small plastic carriers that circulate freely in an aerated tank. The carriers — engineered for high protected surface area — give the biomass a home, so treatment capacity depends on carrier surface, not on settling sludge. Aeration keeps the media moving and supplies oxygen; a simple screen at the outlet retains the carriers in the tank. Because the biofilm is self-regulating, an MBBR needs no sludge recycling, handles shock loads gracefully and keeps working through the cold Canadian winters that slow suspended-growth systems. It is compact, easy to operate and simple to upgrade — often just by adding more carriers — which makes it a favourite for food processing, breweries and municipal upgrades.

Yes — MBBR is one of the best biological technologies for cold Canadian conditions, and that is a major reason it is specified across northern industry and remote sites. Biological reaction rates drop as water cools, but a biofilm process compensates: the attached biomass is retained on the carriers regardless of temperature, so the reactor holds a large, stable population instead of losing slow-settling sludge the way suspended-growth systems can in winter. Design handles the rest — carrier fill fraction and tank volume are sized for worst-case winter water temperature, and tanks can be insulated or covered. MBBRs operate reliably down to water temperatures of a few degrees Celsius, treating BOD and, with proper sizing, ammonia. We size every system to your coldest month, not the annual average.

Neither is universally better — they solve different problems. An MBR delivers the highest effluent quality: membranes physically retain solids and bacteria, producing water fit for reuse or discharge to sensitive receivers, at the price of higher capital, energy and membrane maintenance. An MBBR is the pragmatic workhorse: lower cost, minimal operator attention, no membranes to foul, excellent shock-load and cold-weather tolerance — but its effluent still needs a clarifier or DAF to remove sloughed biofilm, and it will not match MBR polish. Rule of thumb: choose MBR when reuse, tight footprint or very strict limits justify the premium; choose MBBR when you need robust, economical BOD and ammonia removal to sewer-bylaw or typical provincial limits. We often pilot both cases on paper first and let your discharge permit decide.

Anaerobic treatment uses bacteria that thrive without oxygen to convert dissolved organic pollution into biogas — a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. Wastewater flows through a sealed reactor (UASB, EGSB or anaerobic MBR) where granular or suspended biomass digests COD in stages: hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis. Because no aeration is required, energy use is a fraction of aerobic treatment, sludge production is up to ten times lower, and the biogas can be captured to fuel boilers or generate power. Anaerobic systems shine on warm, high-strength streams — breweries, dairies, food processing, distilleries — typically removing the large majority of COD, with an aerobic polishing stage finishing the job to discharge limits. For high-BOD effluent, it often turns a treatment cost into an energy asset.

Cooling tower water treatment protects the tower, chillers and heat exchangers from the three enemies of recirculating water: scale, corrosion and biological growth. As water evaporates, dissolved minerals concentrate, so the program combines controlled blowdown with chemical dosing — scale inhibitors and corrosion inhibitors matched to your water chemistry, plus oxidizing or non-oxidizing biocides to control Legionella and biofilm. Side-stream filtration removes airborne solids that the tower scrubs from the atmosphere. Increasingly, plants add softening, or membrane pre-treatment to raise cycles of concentration and cut both water purchase and blowdown discharge — often the fastest payback in the utility room. A proper program starts with a water analysis and a cycles-of-concentration target, then automates dosing and blowdown on conductivity control.

Mine water treatment targets the contaminants mining liberates: suspended solids, dissolved metals, acidity, sulfates, and in some ores ammonia, cyanide or selenium. The core train is chemical: lime or caustic raises pH to precipitate metals as hydroxides, coagulant and flocculant grow the precipitates into settleable floc, and a high-rate clarifier — often a lamella unit for footprint — separates them. The resulting sludge is thickened and dewatered with a filter press for stable disposal. Where limits are tighter, polishing stages follow: sand or membrane filtration for solids, ion exchange for trace metals, biological or membrane processes for sulfate and selenium. Canadian mines must meet the federal Metal and Diamond Mining Effluent Regulations plus provincial permits, so every system we build starts from the site's assay and its permit table.

A wastewater purification system is a treatment train that takes contaminated process water all the way to a defined water quality — whether that target is a sewer bylaw, a provincial surface-discharge permit, or full reuse inside the plant. The stages are selected to match your contaminants: physical separation (screens, clarifiers, DAF) for solids and oils, chemical treatment (pH correction, coagulation, precipitation) for metals and emulsions, biological treatment (MBBR, MBR, anaerobic) for dissolved organics, and membrane or ion-exchange polishing (RO, ultrafiltration, DI) when near-potable quality or zero liquid discharge is the goal. The right system is the shortest train that reliably hits your target — we characterize the water first, pilot the critical stage, then build turnkey with controls, commissioning and operator training included.