Ruhr-Zink GmbH, Datteln – removing heavy metals safely without using lime.

The project
REMONDIS Aqua built a wastewater treatment plant at Ruhr-Zink in Datteln that meets all requirements for comprehensively cleaning wastewater strongly contaminated by heavy metals. As the general contractor, we took on the entire management of the project – from drawing up the concept to financing and ultimately putting the plant into operation. Since then, REMONDIS Aqua has been responsible for the smooth operation of the plant using its own staff and has clearly fulfilled the treatment targets at all times.
 

 

 

The procedure
Ruhr-Zink used to treat contaminated wastewater with lime in accordance with conventional treatment procedures. This led to large quantities of gypsum waste contaminated with heavy metals, which, despite costly subsequent treatment, had to be disposed of. Thanks to a special wastewater management and treatment process developed by REMONDIS Aqua, this volume of residual waste has been reduced by 90%. The different kinds of wastewater are first collected separately and later brought together deliberately to make optimum use of their neutralisation potential – without the addition of lime.
 

 

 

The benefits at a glance

• No accumulation of heavy metal-contaminated gypsum waste
• Lower disposal costs
• Optimised process sequences
• Eco-friendly solution

 

Ruhr-Zink GmbH is part of the GEA Group and manufactured zinc and sulphuric acid until 2009. The company has devoted itself to recycling: using a zinc electrolysis procedure, it processed the largest proportion of secondary input substances from the steel industry in the world.