Overview
Arbok-Pulp is a vacuum cold-evaporation technology that eliminates hazardous wastewater discharge from heavy industry and converts effluent into reusable water and marketable by-products. Unlike RO or biological treatment — which only reduce pollutant concentration while leaving sludge, concentrate, and discharge — Arbok-Pulp removes the water phase itself, recovering ~95 % clean water with zero liquid discharge and no wet sludge, turning a high-OPEX cost center into a revenue-generating subsystem.
Applications
Primary use cases: pulp & paper mill effluent; chemical/petrochemical and mining wastewater; food-processing and industrial-park streams; internal water reuse loops.
Industries and users: heavy-industry water operators, mills, industrial parks.
Scale: modular, 100 m³/day to > 50 000 m³/day.
Operating Principle
Vacuum cold evaporation without membranes: under deep vacuum the water phase evaporates and condenses for reuse, while salts, organics, and mineral fractions separate physically by phase and density into dry/solid products. Continuous feed → phase separation → condensate reuse → solid recovery. No membranes, no concentrate, no wet sludge.
Limitations: stable industrial energy supply; feed equalization for variability; floor-loading and space for modules.
Key Parameters
Throughput (reference): 14.6 million m³/year; water recovery 13.87 million m³/year (~95 %).
Energy: ~0.7 kWh/m³ (60–75 % below conventional). Discharge: 0 m³.
Outputs: DOC 36 500 t/year; ammonium sulfate 2 800 t; sodium sulfate 400–500 t; mineral concentrate 1 000 t.
Scalability: 100 m³/day → > 50 000 m³/day. Service life > 20 years; fully automated, 24/7.
Architecture and Components
Modular vacuum evaporation chambers; heat-exchange module; condensate recovery system; solid crystallization/separation unit; PLC control. Single-module or multi-line cluster; retrofittable to existing treatment plants.
Advantages
Technical: no membranes, no wet sludge, no concentrate; physical phase separation; low moving parts.
Economic: material-recovery revenue ~€5.7 million/year (reference mill); replaces €18–27 million/year conventional OPEX baseline; lower TCO.
Environmental: zero discharge; eliminates 150 000–450 000 t sludge/year and 10 000–15 000 t CO₂/year; removes 830 t dissolved salts, 190 t sulfates, 6 t phosphates, 18 t organics annually.
Strategic: waste-to-value; regulatory resilience (EU Zero Pollution); ESG/investor confidence.
Integrations
Retrofits existing wastewater streams and internal reuse loops; SCADA/PLC; pairs with adjacent ARBOK water, energy, and material platforms.
Deployment & Operation
Steps: engineering → installation → integration → commissioning. Industrial environment, 24/7, minimal operators (predictive maintenance). Business model: BOOM / licensing / direct sale.
TRL
TRL 7 (confirmed by Michael). Prototype proven in operational environment on industrial effluent. Remaining to 8–9: documented operating mill installations sustained over time.
Market Potential
Heavy industry faces tightening discharge limits, sludge-disposal costs, and ESG pressure. Pulp & paper, chemical, petrochemical, and mining all generate large effluent volumes; zero-discharge + revenue is a strong fit under EU Zero Pollution and similar regimes.
Typical Project Economics
Conventional OPEX baseline €18–27 million/year (large P&P mill) plus sludge disposal (150 000–450 000 t/year). Arbok-Pulp: ~€5.7 million/year material-recovery revenue, lower OPEX, sludge eliminated → shift from cost center to revenue subsystem. CAPEX modular/project-dependent; payback via OPEX cut + product revenue.
Risk Factors
Stable energy supply; feed-variability control; by-product offtake/grade; conservative mill adoption; verification of field installs to support high TRL.
Related Technologies
ARBOK-PAT · Arbok-Dairy · ARBOK TEXTILE-WASTE · ARBOK-VC (Vacuum Cracking)