Retention of penetrant agents

Purpose

The penetrant testing process consists of applying penetrant dyes to parts to be inspected, enabling cracks to be detected. Before inspection, all product parts are washed to remove excess dye. This washing process generates aqueous wastewater that is highly polluting and must be treated in a specialised facility (an expensive service).

Solution

The aim is to retain the majority of the polluting molecules and produce water containing only small traces of these contaminants, which can then be captured by activated carbon filters.

During treatment, the product is split into two phases:

• the filtrate, consisting of clear water that makes up more than 98% of the filtered wastewater, which can, after passing through an activated carbon filter, be discharged into a treatment plant or reused.
• the low-volume concentrate, containing the main proportion of fluorescent penetrant components, which can be disposed of by incineration.