Today at EPSE Office, a water sample from a mining industry customer was delivered at midday. This is the second sample from this particular case; earlier this year our Laboratory experts carried out a Laboratory-scale Proof of Concept (PoC) test work on this customer’s wastewater. Next, we begin SCOPE Pilot PoC to further optimize our solution.
Why SCOPE?
Formerly, piloting the EPSE™ Method was only possible with the industrial-scale Mobile EPSE™ pilot units, or by utilizing equipment such as IBC containers at customer’s site. These larger pilots meticulously optimized the treatment process parameters to find the most cost-effective solution. By the end, we were able to provide customers with extensive data, accelerating the implementation of the EPSE™ Method in real applications. However, it was recognized that industrial-scale pilots aren’t practical for every scenario.
To address this, Technical Specialist Kimmo Hellsten developed SCOPE (Scalable, Continuous Piloting Equipment), which simulates the continuous piloting process with a more flexible and easier-to-implement system. SCOPE piloting can be done at the customer’s facility or at our own laboratory in Finland, provided the customer sends the water sample to us.
While SCOPE doesn’t fully replace industrial piloting—since the scale is still small and it can’t fully assess the real-life behaviour of the precipitate and lacks a separation system—it significantly streamlines the solution searching process, saving time and resources. SCOPE has already proven valuable in challenging situations, such as piloting in remote or high-altitude locations, and testing multiple wastewater samples with tight schedule.
Piloting with SCOPE
Let’s return to the mining industry sample in our lab: our laboratory experts have completed initial analyses of soluble metal contents and other inorganic parameters. The sample is consistent with the one tested earlier this year, so we can proceed with the SCOPE process as planned. However, this isn’t always the case; variations in sampling protocols or changes in the production process can cause significant differences in wastewater composition. If a sample differs significantly from the original, the pilot plan must be adjusted and sometimes additional testing is needed.
During SCOPE Piloting, multiple sets of 4-5 samples (each 500 ml) are treated, with each set undergoing specific chemical and pH optimizations. The process simulates the EPSE™ Method’s real-world operation: first, dosing the EPSE™ chemical under acidic conditions; second, raising the pH to precipitate the metals; and third, separating the metals from the treated water. Water samples are collected and analyzed immediately after each run to monitor efficiency and further optimize the process.
S.C.O.P.E Set-up and treated samples.
What’s the next step?
The entire SCOPE Pilot PoC takes less than a week. Within 10 days of completion, we deliver a final report to the customer presenting the optimized chemical consumption (OPEX) and analysis results before and after treatment at each optimization level. Following the SCOPE Pilot PoC, EPSE cooperates with customer representatives for the next steps: sometimes further testing in bigger scale is still required to acquire all necessary data for scale-up planning and production, known as the Basic Engineering stage. Further testing may be required in cases where the wastewater samples are heterogeneous and/or complex. We’ll cover next steps in the following part of our “On a Path to Our Process” series. Stay tuned!
This article was written by Anna Kivimäki.