ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a study to conduct the wastewater generation and treatability from an aluminum die casting facility located in a small town in northwest Alabama. The melted aluminum is first transferred by a large traveling overhead ladle to a holding furnace located at each machine. A small ladle then automatically dips a measured quantity of molten aluminum from the holding furnace and pours it into a mold in the die casting machine. The chapter presents a case history of the design and operating experience of the new wastewater pretreatment system. The primary characteristics of the wastewater were: a relatively constant volumetric flow rate; high concentrations of dissolved, free floating and emulsified petroleum oils; and low metals, phenolics, and total toxic organics concentrations. Based on these characteristics, the treatment processes selected were simple oil-water separation followed by chemical precipitation and activated carbon.
