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"Each day, 2 million gallons of industrial wastewater are piped from Intel plants in Chandler, Arizona, to a facility a mile away where it’s treated, then retur
by potiuper 6y ago
"Each day, 2 million gallons of industrial wastewater are piped from Intel plants in Chandler, Arizona, to a facility a mile away where it’s treated, then returned to an underground aquifer. Intel, the city’s largest employer, recycles about 60 percent of its water" So, 40% is not recycled, which seems high? given that "the leftover effluent[s] or concentrated dissolved salts that result from making chips" are claimed to be filtered with reverse osmosis before being returned to the aquifer. It is also disappointing that it seems to be more cost effective to have the RO instead of an evaporation + optional vapor collection setup to get 100% recycled or at least to collect the salt waste given the hot dry ambient desert location would seem like the most cost effective place to do so.
- baq 6y agoyou sure you want heavy metal salts just laying around in a huge lake of brine? not sure if this is a workable proposition.
- potiuper 6y agoPersonally, I am not in a position to be cognizant of all the solution options and their considerations. I did not intend to imply that current solution was inappropriate, but only express my feelings towards the current in the face of likely alternatives. In regards to an evaporation pool, it too has risks such as the heavy metal salts being turned into dust and blown across the land if not contained and managed.