CAPSA has invested in a new VACUDEST vacuum evaporator water treatment system

Since 1951, it has been a passion for high-quality SWISS MADE products that has turned CAPSA into a constantly evolving company that has successfully applied its unrivalled know-how to the service of the watchmaking industry.

With 200 employees, a plant with over 400 machines including automatic lathes, a CNC machining centre, rework and assembly machines, CAPSA offers its clients a wide range of products and a great potential for production. CAPSA’s modern, efficient quality management system guarantees full implementation of the instructions provided by its clientele.

Watch movement and external parts

CAPSA offers an extensive know-how dedicated to external watch parts in specific areas such as profile-turning, milling, turning, assembly, folding, stamping and a range of treatment and finishing operations.

Its ample experience in microtechnology has enabled CAPSA to diversify production and make top-quality, high-precision components for watch movements. The integration of jobs such as cutting and burnishing provides an optimum finish on products such as:

• Fastening elements
• Transmission elements
• Rotating elements

Certifications and the environment

To ensure the sustainable development of the company, CAPSA undertakes to guarantee that ethical and environmental standards are met, as well as those regarding human and social rights. To this end, the company had its policies approved by becoming a certified member of the RJC at the start of 2015.

From this perspective, CAPSA places particularly high demands on standards regarding the treatment of waste from the manufacturing process.

The manufacturing of parts mainly entails polishing, removal of grease marks and scrubbing, for which water is used. This water contains metals, mainly copper, as well as hydrocarbons. This all flows into a collection tank and must be treated with optimum safety.

Until recently, CAPSA had been using an old system for several years, which involved a combination of different technologies to achieve the physico-chemical parameters required to be able to discard the water in accordance with the Swiss Water Protection Ordinance (OEaux).

The water treatment system

Using an ageing system becomes costly in terms of parts and usage time, especially because different equipment needs to be operated and coordinated. With controls by the authorities becoming more and more restrictive with more and more drastic limiting values, particularly in terms of residual metals, the sensible move was to look into the installation of a new system.

These constraints regarding metal discharge limits are well-known in the world of watchmaking and galvanoplastics and many Swiss enterprises are forerunners in the installation of the vacuum evaporator, setting both the enterprises’ and the authorities’ minds at rest as far as the consistency of results is concerned.

The Vacutouch control panel with parameter monitoring

Treatment techniques and control devices

In the end, a decision was made to install the VACUDEST vacuum evaporating system with a capacity of 5 m3/day. This evaporator mechanically compresses steam, enabling the effluents to be treated with a very low electricity consumption thanks to the exchanger, which allows up to 95% of the energy to be recovered. The modular system means that it can be customised to meet customer requirements:

• According to the OEaux, the discharge limits are 0.5 mg/l for copper and 2 mg/l for nickel. The distinctive characteristic of treatment by evaporation is the perfect reduction of the metals simply by the principle of evaporation itself. Metals and salts do not evaporate and are kept within the detection limits without having to add any products or subject them to physico-chemical treatment.
• The authorised pH level for wastewater is 6.5 to 9. To achieve this, the evaporator is equipped with the system Destcontrol. The water to be treated is generally pH neutral or alkaline, but variations are always possible and checks are necessary. The pH of the distillate is therefore continually measured in the evaporator and even at the condensation outlet. In the event of a deviation, a caustic soda dosage system automatically corrects the pH of the effluent to be evaporated. At the same time, the pH of the wastewater is continually recorded and logged.
• A third important parameter is the total hydrocarbon limit. The water is soiled by the machining oils, then washing/grease removal and scrubbing. An initial separation of the supernatant grease is carried out by a coalescer. The soluble oils are then simply separated by evaporation in the evaporator. However, slight residual fractions may be carried away by the distillate. These are then directly separated in the machine by the Clearcat system, which enables standards to be met.

The evaporator itself has a particularly compact design, which enabled it to be installed in the existing, very small room.

Operating the system

With a single treatment system, operation is of course greatly simplified. The monitoring of this more sophisticated machine requires a qualified operator trained by H2O and a good knowledge of the machine. This is the role that Mr Michel Wahli plays thanks to his experience. An in-depth knowledge of the production processes is also useful. For example, certain products may foam more heavily at certain times. It is therefore advisable to ensure that there is anti-foam in the tank or to activate a more intensive cleaning programme when more heavily loaded effluents arrive.

If necessary, help is available at any time from the H2O help desk.

Conclusion

After a significant familiarisation period and following calibration and fine-tuning, Mr Wahli now masters the system perfectly. Treatment on a single machine and in a single stage enables CAPSA to control operating costs more easily.

But, above all, constant results in the analysis of the wastewater by the authorities, always well below the limits, enable CAPSA to unequivocally validate their commitment to the environment.

Author:
Vincent Egmann
Area Sales Manager France Est
H2O GmbH