Treating 25 Million Gallons at a Michigan Power Generation Facility

Two 18,000-gallon weir tanks

Two 21,000-gallon frac tanks

4″ diesel trash pumps

SF-482 multi-media sand and gravel filter

Two LPV-2000 vessels with AIX resin

MWT-10K2 treatment trailer with GAC

CO₂ injection system for pH adjustment

Global Environmental was retained to design, build, and operate an on-site water treatment system for the full three-year demolition of a Michigan power generation facility. The demolition bid specifications required treatment for PFAS and suspended solids as a standard precaution, not because of a known release.

The treatment train ran an SF-482 multi-media sand and gravel filter, LPV-2000 vessels with anion exchange (AIX) resin, and an MWT-10K2 treatment trailer with granular activated carbon (GAC). The system was sized for up to 240 gallons per minute and typically ran at 180 to 240, in batches or continuously. The team added CO₂ injection mid-project as influent pH climbed and discharged treated water to a permitted outfall.

Global staffed the system daily for the first year and a half, then scaled to two or three site visits a week as on-site dewatering activity leveled off. After that, Global’s remote telemetry monitoring system alerted on-call operators whenever the system needed unscheduled maintenance. When monthly NPDES sampling showed an intermediate PFOA or PFOS result above the discharge limit and a follow-up sample confirmed it, the team scheduled a GAC change-out. Those change-outs totaled roughly 20,000 pounds a year. Coordination with the demolition contractor helped avoid costly shutdowns.

Global built an enclosed winterization system to protect piping and treatment equipment through multiple Michigan winters.

Over three years, the system treated and discharged 25,358,000 gallons without interruption and in continuous compliance.