Separation Science - Equilibrium Unit

Suppose you are a chemist involved in developing a new product for a textile company. As part of the new process, a suspension of the compound lead phosphate will be used to treat the surface of the textile. The lead phosphate will end up in the waste effluent from your plant. This effluent will be discharged to the local municipal wastewater treatment plant. Unfortunately, from your standpoint (fortunately, from the standpoint of an environmentalist) the wastewater treatment plant faces strict requirements on the amount of lead that is permitted in their end products. (A wastewater treatment plant ends up with "clean" water and a solid sludge. Most lead ends up in the sludge, and the Environmental Protection Agency has set a limit on how much lead is permitted in the sludge.) Most municipalities will require you to enter into a pretreatment agreement, under which you will need to remove the lead before discharging to the plant. For example, the City of Lewiston will require you to discharge a material that contains no more than 0.50 mg of total lead per liter.