Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) is an advanced treatment process in which almost all wastewater from various industrial processes is treated and reused, therefore leaving behind zero effluent or liquid discharge. Because of increasingly stringent environmental regulations regarding industrial waste, ZLD is becoming a popular method to minimize industry’s environmental impact, providing the opportunity to recover valuable products from waste streams and reduce costs through the reuse of purified wastewater.

Figure 1 provides a general process flow overview of a ZLD system. ZLD processing typically involves the following phases: pretreatment, membrane filtration, evaporation, crystallization and solids recovery.

Figure 1: Diagram showing the various phases typically involved in ZLD processes.

Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technologies can help customers meet discharge and water reuse requirements by reclaiming high-quality water and generating solids(crystals) for further use or disposal. FTS offers complete solutions to treat feed water streams that are too challenging for conventional membrane systems. FTS delivers solutions that recover up to 95% of a plant’s wastewater while reducing the remaining brine as a product or solid. FTS uses innovative ZLD thermal and non-thermal technologies to help industry manage tough-to-treat wastewaters.