The Water Environment Federation (WEF) held its 90th annual meeting in Chicago on Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. The technical meeting was from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4, but many workshops and specialty topic and committee meetings were held during the several days before the conference. WEF is the organization of wastewater professionals. Historically, the primary focus of conferences has been on municipal wastewater treatment, but sessions included drinking water topics, water reuse, which links wastewater and drinking water science and technology, and several sessions on industrial wastewater treatment.
Interestingly, on Oct. 10, the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation announced a merger with the Water Research Foundation, which consolidates nonfederal water-related research formerly from those three organizations (drinking water, wastewater and water reuse) in one location, effective Jan. 1, 2018.
The Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference (WEFTEC) is the largest meeting of its type in North America and the largest annual water quality and technology exhibition. More than 22,000 attendees from around the world and more than 1,000 exhibitors covered water technology issues from A to Z.
Among the specialty workshops, two focused on industrial wastewater: refinery wastewater and water reuse in the food and beverage industry.
The following is a rundown of the industrial wastewater-related technical sessions with some selected topics from those sessions that demonstrate the content and range of technologies and applications described.
Session 204 Advanced Treatment Solutions for Difficult Food and Beverage Waste Streams
- Membranes-Based Water Recovery in Coffee Manufacturing
- Treating High Sugar Wastewater in the Food and Beverage Sector with New Biological Technology
- Recovering Fat as a Biofuel from Poultry and Rendering Wastewater
Session 205 Oil Refining Wastewater Treatment I
- Refinery Effluent Limitation Guidelines Study
- Evaluation of Tertiary Filtration Options for a Refinery Effluent Including Operation of Selected Disc Filter Option
- Upgrading Refinery Wastewater Treatment with Membrane Bioreactors to New Discharge Standards at Marathon Petroleum
- Design and Startup of an Upgraded Wastewater Treatment Plant Incorporating Nitrification/Denitrification
Session 304 Refinery Wastewater II
- Discharger Specific Variances under the Clean Water Act
- Phenol and Benzene Removal in Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors
- Utilization of Genetically Engineered Microflora for Treatment and Coal Gasification Wastewater in a Pilot Scale Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor
- Peracetic Acid Disinfection for Industrial Wastewater Treatment (Washburn Tunnel)
Session 303 Water and Wastewater Challenges in the Steam Electric Power Industry
- An Analysis of Energy Reduction Opportunities for Desalination Systems
- Evaluation of TDS Reduction Processes for Fast Track Upgrade of WWTF in Southern California
- Treatment of Selenium in Industrial Wastewaters by Passive Biological Treatment
Session 402 Anaerobic Treatment for Brewery Wastewaters
- Integrated Water Recovery for Brewery Wastewater
Session 502 Selenium Treatment Issues
- Selenium Removal in a High-Tech Manufacturing Facility’s Acidic and
Oxidizing Wastewater Matrices- Fluidized Bed Reactor Applications for Selenium Treatment in Mining,
Power and Refining WastewaterSession 503 Industrial Reuse Applications and Technologies: Preserving a Limited Resource
- Maximizing Water Recycling in Automotive Manufacturing
- Giving Oil and Gas Wastewater a Second Life: Advanced Wastewater Treatment for Agricultural Reuse
- Advanced Oxidation in Challenging Waters
Session 602 Upstream Oil and Gas Wastewater Treatment
- Optimization of Hybrid Biological and Membrane Systems for Treatment and Reuse of Oil and Gas
Session 603 Industrial Wastewater Treatment
- Combined Heat and Power: Concepts, Opportunities and Resources
A broad spectrum of industrial wastewater technologies was covered in the technical sessions, from food and beverage, to oil and gas, electric power, energy and heavy industry, such as automotive. If you did not attend, it would be worth considering speaking or attending next year if the topics are in areas that could help your job responsibilities and your industries.
The next annual conference, WEFTEC 2018, will be in New Orleans on Sept. 29 to Oct. 3. The call for papers has already been announced. Attendees will be notified of proceedings availability. You can find more information on WEFTEC at http://weftec.org and on WEF at http://wef.org. Conference proceedings for current and past conferences are available at http://wef.org/proceedings. WEF members have complimentary access to the “Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation” for WEF conferences. This access begins 12 months after the event, but others can purchase them.
