Product offerings for automobile and auto ancillary water reuse

SARTIME approaches automobile ZLD from the source first: reduce bath contamination, control sludge and oil, reuse water wherever possible, protect RO membranes, and reduce the final evaporator load.

Total Oil Separator

SARTIME's Total Oil Separator keeps alkaline soak and degreasing baths clean during production by continuously separating free oil and soil from the bath. The bath remains usable for longer periods, so plants avoid frequent draining, cleaning, reheating and fresh chemical makeup.

The offering improves pretreatment consistency before surface finishing. By removing oil at the source, SARTIME reduces oil carryover to later process baths, lowers chemical wastage, reduces oily wastewater generation and prevents day-to-day quality variation caused by contaminated degreasing baths.

2 months to 4 years soak / degreasing bath life increased with continuous oil removal 42 units TOS installations used for chemical bath management 100% oil removal free oil separated from the degreasing bath before carryover 10% chemical saving lower chemical wastage from longer bath operation 5% productivity gain surface finishing output improved through cleaner pretreatment 9 years continuous use at Super Auto Forge, Chennai for oil collection from degreasing tank
Total Oil Separator equipment
Oil and sludge separator diagram
Oil collected from degreasing tank at Super Auto Forge Chennai

Online Phosphating Sludge Separator

SARTIME's Online Phosphating Sludge Separator is offered for plants where phosphating sludge causes white powder, bath instability, cleaning stoppages and chemical loss. The system keeps sludge suspended in the phosphating bath, settles it in dedicated SS316 separation tanks and returns clearer phosphating solution back to the bath during production.

The client impact is cleaner phosphating chemistry, better deposit consistency, reduced powder formation, longer bath life and fewer production interruptions for tank cleaning. The separated sludge is collected independently, so the load does not move unnecessarily into the ETP.

1 week to 3 months phosphating bath life increased by SARTIME online VAT sludge separator 20 units installations used for online phosphating bath sludge removal 10-15% chemical consumption reduction from lower bath wastage and no weekly cleaning One shift cleaning loss removed production time recovered by avoiding weekly tank cleaning 5 tons/year phosphating sludge load kept out of normal ETP neutralization route 4-6% solids sludge compacted in the sludge chamber for easier collection Every 6-8 hours automatic sludge withdrawal reduces manual tank cleaning dependence 12 years breakdown-free operation at Brakes India, Padi 5 KL tank phosphating bath supported with online sludge removal
Operating phosphating sludge separator connected to phosphating bath
Phosphating sludge separator schematic diagram

Chrome Reduction System

SARTIME's Chrome Reduction System is an automatic online process for reducing Cr(VI) rinse water to Cr(III). Acid and SMBS are dosed through pH and ORP control, the reaction is carried through static mixing, flash mixing and flocculation, and the reduced chrome stream is neutralized before further treatment.

The offering replaces manual batch treatment in large collection tanks. It avoids carrying chemicals to the top of the tank, contains SO2 evolution within the process, starts with the transfer pump, alarms when ORP crosses the set value, and removes separate Cr(VI) collection and treatment tanks where the modified scheme is applied.

30 kg/day to 15 kg/day SMBS consumption reduced by half 30 L/day to 10 L/day HCl consumption reduced by 20 L/day 25 kg/day to 5 kg/day NaOH consumption reduced by 20 kg/day Rs. 3,865/day to Rs. 1,410/day chrome treatment chemical cost reduced by Rs. 2,455/day 7 sq. m to 3 sq. m equipment footprint reduced by 4 sq. m 48 m3 + 30 m3 tanks removed Cr(VI) collection and batch treatment tanks not required Manual dosing removed HCl and SMBS tank-top handling avoided Auto dosing with alarm pH / ORP meters control dosing and alert on set-point crossing
Chrome reduction dosing and control system installation

Cutting Coolant Treatment

SARTIME's cutting coolant treatment offering is aimed at machining and auto ancillary units that need to reduce coolant disposal difficulty. The treatment approach uses coagulants to de-emulsify oil from water, separate the treatable stream and reduce the volume of difficult coolant waste.

The treatment example is for a small-volume coolant stream of 1 KLD. SARTIME's role is to characterize the waste, review additives and contaminants, prevent mixing with solvents or other shop waste, and apply coagulant treatment where oil-water separation can reduce disposal burden.

Cutting coolant before treatment
Cutting coolant during coagulant addition
Cutting coolant reaction after coagulant addition
Cutting coolant after treatment
Cutting coolant treatment unit for small-volume treatment

Rinse Water Management

SARTIME's rinse water management offering reduces water use directly at the process line. The approach uses counter-current rinse flow and SARTIME's special pump arrangement so water is reused through the rinse stages before it becomes wastewater.

This is suited to blackening, zinc plating, zinc phosphating and manganese phosphating lines, where rinse water conservation reduces both fresh-water intake and wastewater load sent to treatment.

Up to 40% rinse water conserved through counter-current flow using SARTIME's pump arrangement 25% blackening line water consumption reduced 4 process lines applicable to blackening, zinc plating, zinc phosphating and manganese phosphating

STP Water Reuse

SARTIME's STP water reuse offering converts treated sewage into process and utility water for industrial plants. The treatment train is selected so final water can be reused in identified applications such as CED painting, cooling tower, AHU and plating tank makeup, instead of being limited to gardening or discharge.

The differentiation is the "one water" approach: fresh water is reserved for domestic and canteen demand, while sewage is treated through biological treatment, filtration, ultra filtration and RO for reuse inside the factory.

240 KLD sewage treated biological STP capacity converted into reusable process and utility water Fresh water reserved for people use CED painting, cooling tower, AHU and plating makeup served by treated sewage ACF to UF direct flow intermediate tank between carbon filter and ultra filtration removed Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited treated sewage reused for industrial water application 35 years reuse experience industrial STP recycling know-how applied to plant design and operation
Typical STP reuse flow scheme
STP water quality progression samples
STP water reuse plant

Pond Water Reuse

SARTIME's pond water reuse offering treats harvested rainwater or stored pond water for reuse within automotive manufacturing facilities. Pond storage becomes a planned plant water source after treatment, instead of remaining only as rainwater storage or overflow management.

The treatment approach enables pond water reuse after primary treatment, with treated water supporting non-potable use such as canteen hand washing. The operating history demonstrates that a pond water recovery plant can support industrial use reliably over multiple years.

95% pond water reused after primary treatment Operating since 2018 automotive pond water reuse system running without interruption Harvested rainwater reused pond storage converted into a plant water source Canteen hand washing non-potable use served with treated pond water
Pond water treatment system
Rainwater harvesting pond

RO Fouling Control

SARTIME's RO fouling control offering protects the RO plant where treated effluent is recovered as reusable water. When oil, chemicals, heavy metals, solvents, scaling, bio-fouling or organic fouling reach the membranes, permeate flow drops, operating pressure rises, cleaning frequency increases and more reject is sent to the evaporator.

SARTIME treats effluent RO as a different duty from raw-water RO. The offering combines source removal, stronger pretreatment, wastewater analysis, lab tests, pilot trials, conservative flux and recovery design, higher cross-flow velocity, application-specific membrane selection, pressure gauges, sampling points and planned chemical or flushing cleaning.

95+% RO recovery design target RO troubleshooting and design focused on recovering maximum water before evaporation Up to 100 NTU effluent feed spiral-wound RO design adapted for treated effluent instead of raw-water duty Reduced evaporator feed higher RO recovery sends less reject to the highest-energy step in ZLD Oil, chemicals, metals and solvents controlled upstream membrane fouling is reduced before it becomes a cleaning problem Conservative flux, recovery and cross-flow membrane operating conditions are selected to reduce foulant build-up Pressure drop, SDI, salt rejection and flow monitored sampling points and instrumentation support early diagnosis
RO membrane autopsy showing calcium precipitation
Fouled RO membrane element
RO membrane scaling close-up

MFTL Evaporator: Maintenance Free Tube Less Evaporator

SARTIME's MFTL evaporator is offered for the final ZLD concentration step after maximum water has already been recovered through source control, ETP and RO. The product is built for reject streams where conventional calendria evaporators face tube fouling, recirculation-pump seal failure and frequent maintenance.

The MFTL design removes calendria tubes from the evaporation duty and uses a mixing-blade arrangement to handle the remaining reject. SARTIME's approach is to reduce evaporator load first, then use a lower-maintenance evaporator for the unavoidable final concentration step.

2-20 m3/day MFTL capacity range for final ZLD reject concentration 24x7 operation routine operation without extra manpower requirement No calendria tubes tube fouling bottleneck removed from the evaporator design Recirculation seal issue avoided major conventional evaporator maintenance point removed RO reject minimized first evaporator feed reduced before thermal concentration 10-20x energy burden controlled high-energy evaporation reserved for the unavoidable final reject
MFTL evaporator equipment installation
MFTL evaporator mixing blade arrangement
Crystallized salt collected from evaporator

Existing Plant Revamp

SARTIME's existing plant revamp offering is for factories that already have ETP, RO or ZLD assets but need higher capacity, lower chemical use, lower footprint or more stable operation. The work starts by re-looking at the existing process, equipment, source segregation, source reduction and space limitations.

The revamp approach uses process intensification where the chemistry and plant condition permit it. Conventional tanks and stirring can be replaced by compact pipe-based arrangements, intermediate storage can be reduced, and UF, RO or two-stage RO systems can be consolidated into tighter skid layouts.

95% space saving conventional tanks and stirring replaced by pipe-based arrangement 40% less SMBS chemical wastage reduced through process intensification No electrical connections pipe-based intensified arrangement avoids powered mixing equipment Maintenance-free pipe arrangement conventional stirring equipment removed where intensified design is used PSF, ACF and UF combined intermediate storage tanks reduced in intensified layouts UF + RO in one skid plant footprint reduced through skid consolidation RO stage 1 + 2 combined two-stage RO footprint consolidated where the plant layout permits
Existing plant treatment modules for revamp
RO skid used in plant revamp

Copper Recovery

SARTIME's copper recovery offering is relevant where auto ancillary, skin pass, plating or metal finishing operations generate copper-bearing wastewater. The approach is not only treatment; it evaluates whether the copper-bearing stream can be handled as a recoverable resource.

The work starts with wastewater chemistry, technology screening and demonstration. SARTIME evaluates copper and iron concentration, recoverable product volume, recovered water pH, filtrate TDS, sludge generation, operating cost and full-scale plant cost before scale-up.

2 KLD copper bath wastewater recovery study based on copper-bearing stream 10 g Cu + 32 g Fe / kL copper and iron concentration identified before recovery selection 15 technologies screened recovery route selected after multiple technology trials 3 weeks demonstration delivery timeline identified for technology validation 300-600 L product volume CuSO4 / FeSO4 recovery deliverable estimated Rs. 3,800/day operating cost for copper recovery option Rs. 37.8 lakhs + GST full-scale copper recovery plant cost estimated 20-30 kg sludge sludge quantity evaluated during recovery study pH 7.5-8.5 recovered water quality achieved TDS 1000-1200 filtrate quality achieved