Industrial Waste Treatment Plant For
Allison Division of General Motors
Corporation
L.   I.   COUCH
President, Couch & Kulin
Indianapolis, Indiana
This paper deals with an industrial waste treatment plant which
is being built by Allison Division, General Motors Corporation, to
treat the process wastes from its Manufacturing Plant No. 5 at Indianapolis, Indiana.
Allison Plant No. 5 is equipped with three separate sewer collection systems, namely: sanitary, process wastes and storm water sewers.
The sanitary sewers discharge into the city sewer system and the storm
sewers drain to an abandoned gravel pit and thence into Eagle Creek.
The sewers for process wastes discharge to a battery of three oil-water
separation basins of the American Petroleum Institute type which, in
turn, discharge to the storm water outfall sewer and ultimately into
Eagle Creek. These A.P.I, basins are located immediately adjacent to
the manufacturing building.
In planning the industrial waste treatment plant it was determined
that the plant should treat one million gallons per day in a one-shift
day of 10 hours operating time. This being approximately the volume
of wastes resulting from a 20 hour period of manufacturing. The decision in favor of one-shift treatment was based upon high labor costs and
the desire to provide maximum flexibility. Any increase in wastes volume, resulting from manufacturing expansion, can be adequately handled
by a two-shift treatment operation. Also, this method insures against
the discharge of untreated wastes, since it allows ample time for maintenance work during the off-shift periods.
The wastes of this volume are the so-called rinsing or rinse water
wastes which result primarily from the use of coolants in metal cutting
operations, from the overflow of rinse tanks in plating operations and
from floor washings. The principal contaminants of the wastes are free
and soluble oils. It was further determined that the present oil skimming tanks should be continued in use, at least for the immediate future,
but that the treatment plant should have provision for free oil removal
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