Alumichem
Innovative and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Solutions

Industrial plants and municipalities usually approach wastewater treatment providers to address an immediate regulatory requirement or a pressing financial concern, like skyrocketing operating costs. Most solution providers come in and try their best to copy the current approach, rather than address the situation using a new strategy. This fixes the short-term issue but overlooks the long-term implications.

Alumichem, experts in both water and wastewater treatment, distinguishes itself by going above and beyond the call of duty. Its holistic wastewater treatment approach offers longer term benefits beyond solving immediate financial, technological, or regulatory concerns, carving a niche in the domain for 40 years.

Alumichem is a leading producer and distributor of functional aluminates and specialty chemicals, such as polyaluminum chloride, aluminum chlorohydrate, and polyacrylamide flocculants. It blends chemistry and technology to offer comprehensive and sustainable solutions for wastewater treatment. Alumichem is built on solid expertise in chemical and biological processes, with an established international network of partners.

The firm takes a customer-centric approach to solving problems by digging deep into a plant’s current and historical data. They test the dissolved oxygen level, mixed liquor-suspended solids (MLSS), sludge retention times, and other parameters to determine and eliminate the root cause. Alumichem doesn’t solve just one kind of issue; it looks at the big picture to create a tailored solution that addresses each potential cause of a plant’s challenge.

“We work hand in hand with our clients to offer advanced and sustainable products that help them tackle unique challenges,” says Tal Kooner, CEO of Alumichem Canada Inc.

For instance, a wastewater treatment facility approached Alumichem to address the problems with its dissolved air flotation (DAF) thickener. The client’s DAF had been performing poorly for months and in order to meet permit requirements, were having to grossly over feed polymer. Alumichem conducted different polymer jar tests and found a polymer that performed better than the competitive product, at a dosage approximately 70 percent lower. Their team conducted multiple trials over the course of a few days and successfully brought down the total suspended solids (TSS) value from 4000 milligrams to 20 milligrams per liter.

The polymer usage was reduced, resulting in significant time and cost savings. Alumichem also trains clients on the entire process to help them tackle any future challenges, by demonstrating jar test procedures and sharing diagnostic indicators for thickening and dewatering performance, which immensely improves long-term results.

“We have the benefit of working with different plants and process types, which gives us a lot of experience in how systems should perform under certain conditions. We take every challenge as a new opportunity to offer specialized solutions, tailored to each process and in alignment with all permit requirements,” states Mark Carey, director of sales and business, Alumichem Canada Inc.

We work hand in hand with our clients to offer advanced and sustainable products that help them tackle their unique challenges

An example of a new solution Alumichem is bringing to the market, is their Norfloc NF1 flocculant. This is a unique chemical in that it is an iron-based nanoflocculant, with interesting properties due to its chemical makeup. While traditionally iron-based materials are coagulants, this product is designed to imitate a petroleum-based polyacrylamide (polymer) flocculant. This product is well suited to wastewater applications for settling as it works well in cold water, but also in filamentous bulking scenarios. Traditionally operations staff will either spray a disinfectant to kill the filamentous bacteria causing the foam, at the expense of beneficial bacterial death, or add expensive defoamers to cut the foam without solving the core problem. Norfloc NF1 will cull the excess filamentous bacteria without harming the beneficial bacterial cultures, allowing the sludge to settle normally and treating the cause of the foam, rather than the symptom. As an added benefit, reports of improved denitrification in cold water and increased cake solids through dewatering systems have been reported as a result of adding the Norfloc NF1 into wastewater sludge.

Alumichem’s R&D team, along with its network of vendors and industry experts, helps it develop the best chemical solutions for wastewater treatment plants. The company is researching biopolymers to delve deeper into green technology and provide more sustainable solutions. With environmental, social, and governance statements increasingly coming to the fore, Alumichem strives to offer best in class sustainable solutions to its clients.