Selenium removal from wastewater is an issue that many industrial sites trying to achieve discharge requirements must address. Selenium is a naturally-occurring element, however certain industrial activities can elevate selenium levels in both waste and process water. These activities include mining, refining, coal combustion, and other processes that concentrate a water stream such as reverse osmosis. Elevated levels of selenium can pose risks to aquatic life and humans. Federal and state regulatory agencies have implemented effluent limits for selenium across various industries; as a result, treatment is often required prior to discharge.
Ground and surface waters may also need to be treated for selenium if they are used as drinking water sources or if removal is required ahead of a downstream process.
Among the Best-Available-Technologies (BAT) to remove selenium from wastewater are packaged bioreactor solutions of which Evoqua Water Technologies, now Xylem, provides.
Evoqua's SeHAWK® platform can be deployed for use in the mining industries, for coal power plant Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) wastewater, and ash pond closures, RO brine treatment and various other applications.
As snowmelt and rainwater passes through these deposits, selenium, nitrate, and other heavy metals can dissolve in the water to contaminating levels.
Evoqua's Frontier Water Systems SeHAWK® bioreactor is a prefabricated, efficient, advanced treatment solution. The SeHAWK removes nitrates and selenium with unparalleled equipment footprint and performance. Additionally, the intrinsic modularity of SeHAWK bioreactor equipment allows for turndown to meet seasonal flow variations.
We integrate membrane technologies upstream of the SeHAWK bioreactor to achieve low-level contaminant removal and higher treatment flows without compromising on equipment footprint.
