Print, Photographic

Industrial Waste Treatment, Dearborn Specialty Foundry, Ford Motor Company

Black and white diagram of the waste water treatment process at the Ford River Rouge Complex.
Caption reads: This artist's sketch shows the cleaning process of the new industrial waste water treatment facility at Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Specialty Foundry in the Rouge manufacturing area. Water containing foundry dust taken from the stacks by high-energy scrubbers is conveyed through an overhead gravity system (1) into primary grit-removal tanks (2). Water leaving these tanks is chemically treated and then transferred to two high-capacity clarifiers (3) for long-term retention and further settling of solids. The treated water leaves these tanks by overflowing them and moving to the Rouge River via storm sewer system (4). Meanwhile, sludge from the clarifiers is pumped into de-watering tanks (5) for further moisture removal, and the water is returned to the system for reprocessing. Final sludge treatment involves the mechanical separation of water from the solids by vacuum filtration (6). The resultant solid material is collected in truck bodies (7) and transported to land-fill areas.
Ford News Departments, Dearborn, Mich.