Wastewater from skin care and beauty products manufacturing can be very difficult to treat due to the ingredients used. Makeup and other cosmetic products are primarily comprised of waxes, oils, and emulsification agents. Cosmetics also contain small concentrations of metals like Aluminum, Barium, Bismuth, Iron, Strontium, Selenium, Titanium, and Zinc. While these metals enhance the colours, functions, and performance of beauty products, they pose a problem for wastewater treatment. These metals can form difficult-to-remove complexes with other compounds found in solution.

After products are made, machinery and equipment are cleaned using aggressive soaps and cleaners resulting in difficult to treat wastewater with high solids, emulsified oils, and dissolved metals.

Some of the samples we received had over 140,000 ppm of Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and over 130,000 ppm of Total Fats, Oils, and Grease (FOG). Despite these high levels of pollutants, our JNE 2890 and 3003 products coupled with a newly designed and manufactured FS-5 Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) unit were up for the task.

The testing work was performed inside our mobile wastewater treatment pilot plant. Our chemicals and equipment were able to treat all the wastewater samples to within sewer compliance limits for FOG, TSS, pH, and all metals.