When Industrial Washwater Becomes Useful Again

By Siam Sukkhee Trading Co., Ltd — 2026-10-03 — Waste360 (recycling/scrap)

A facility in Freeport, Texas cleans industrial equipment for a living. Heat exchangers, tower trays, mesh pads—the kind of thing that collects scale and oil residue until it stops working properly.

That cleaning? It demands freshwater. Lots of it.

Water Works Industrial Services has been doing this work across the Texas Gulf Coast for years, but they finally got tired of the math. Bring in massive amounts of freshwater for each cleaning cycle, generate massive amounts of contaminated wastewater that has to be disposed of. The economics wear on you after a while, and more than that—the variability in wastewater composition, depending on what's being cleaned, kept creating operational headaches. Solids would block the nozzles. You're constantly replacing equipment that gets fouled.

So they brought in LiqTech International's QureFlow QF-6 system. It's a ceramic membrane filtration setup, more or less, built into the new facility design from the start rather than bolted on as an afterthought. The system handles around 150 to 200 gallons per minute of incoming wastewater. What comes out the other end—the permeate, if you want the technical term—goes straight back into the wash-water supply for reuse.

Ninety-five percent recovery. That's not a nice-to-have number.

Removing suspended solids before the water cycles back also means those nozzles stay clear longer. Actually, that's not quite right—it means the risk of blockage drops significantly. The equipment still needs maintenance, but you're not replacing clogged nozzles every other week.

WWIS already has experience with this technology. They've been running ceramic ultrafiltration at a facility in Geismar, Louisiana, so this wasn't a blind bet on new equipment. They knew it worked. The Texas facility is just the first time they've designed it in from day one rather than retrofitting it into an existing operation. LiqTech announced the order in August, and here we are now with a facility that shouldn't drain itself dry just to keep the cleaning running.

The reduction in freshwater requirements. The drop in disposal costs. The simpler operations. That's the actual story behind the 95% figure—it's not environmental theater. It's a company getting tired of waste and solving for it.

Source: "The system is expected to recover more than 95% of incoming wastewater for reuse as wash water, reducing freshwater consumption and wastewater disposal volumes." — Trade Arabia

Tags: ESG metals mining industry