D-Rainclean ®

D-Rainclean® Pollution Control System from Hoofmark (UK) Ltd

Heavy metal waste water pollution originating from vehicles is becoming increasingly recognised as a source of contamination of ground water.

Hoofmark (UK) LTD include a number of heavy metal pollution control products in the range which have been developed to remove or control pollution run off and the re-infiltration of hydrocarbons and some heavy metals.

The Problem Of Pollution Run Off From Vehicles
On heavily trafficked roads and adjacent parking areas, heavy metal waste water reaches critical concentrations and heavy metal waste water regularly exceeds acceptable levels for re-infiltration. Run-off from metal rooves, particularly zinc, copper and lead, can also be treated.

Composition Of Heavy Metal Waste Water
Exhaust gas, abrasion dust, losses due to drips and corrosion are the most important sources of pollution run off in road traffic. In the combustion chamber of engines a large number (up to 150) of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAK) are formed into pollution run off which requires heavy metal pollution control.

Apart from ‘PAK’, monocyclic aromatics such as benzene, toluene, xylene and phenol are given off. Petrol engines emit around 3mg/km of benzene, petrol engines with a catalyst around 0.5mg/km. Over and above the exhaust gases, chromium, zinc, copper and nickel are given out, in total around 0.1-1 mg/km plus around 0.05 mg/km of cadmium.

Tyre abrasion alone is taken as 120 g per kilometre of road per 100 vehicles, per year. Along with difficult to break down organic compounds, zinc, cadmium, lead, copper, chromium and nickel are emitted. Due to abrasion of brake linings the heavy metals nickel, chromium, lead, zinc and particularly copper occur.

With road wear on asphalt roads, it is predominantly mononuclear and poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that have to be reckoned with, particularly ‘PAK’.

Corrosion on bodywork releases heavy metals dependant on the paint mix and steel alloy used. Hydrocarbons, lead, zinc, chromium and copper have been found in coolant along with mineral oil. All these factors require a method for treating heavy metal pollution such as the D-Rainclean® pollution control system.