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Waste treatment

We have 2-5 g/L o f acetic acid ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] in our waste water. How to get rid of it? Any suggestions. Thanks, Lev.

Lev Deresh
- West Lebanon, New Hampshire
1999

If the problem is the acidity, neutralize with caustic soda ⇦liquid caustic soda in bulk on Amazon [affil link] or some other alkali. The acetates are easily digested by the "bugs" in a POTW (publicly owned treatment works, AKA sewage treatment plant). If you can't have any acetate in the effluent you have a whole different problem. Ion exchange and reverse osmosis are two different possible solutions. However the acetate will remain in the IX regenerant or the RO reject. I don't know if there are any effective acetate oxidizers. Perhaps ozone. Finally, I do know that biological treatment works, but that is an engineering mess unless someone has some ready-made pre-packaged bio-organisms. Any other opinions out there?

Bill Vins
microwave & cable assemblies - Mesa (what a place-a), Arizona
1999

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