In battery production, foam in the wastewater treatment stage has long troubled many production line managers. Whether in cathode material washing, electrolyte preparation or electrode sheet rinsing, the foam generated not only affects level monitoring but also causes overflow, clogs pipes and even reduces the efficiency of the membrane separation system.
Common general-purpose antifoams on the market often struggle with the high-salt, high-alkali, high-surfactant environment of battery wastewater; either the foam knockdown is slow, or the inhibition time is short, and frequent top-ups actually drive up costs.
Addressing this pain point, Chemi Tech developed a dedicated battery wastewater antifoam. The product uses a special polyether-modified siloxane structure that disperses quickly under strongly alkaline, high-ionic-strength conditions, instantly breaking the foam film wall to achieve defoaming within 5 seconds, while providing foam inhibition lasting more than 8 hours and reducing the frequency of top-ups.
1. First dilute the antifoam with clean water at a ratio of 0.1%-0.3% (the concentrate can also be used directly, but it disperses more evenly after dilution).
2. Before the wastewater enters the equalization tank or dissolved air flotation tank, add it by continuous dripping with a metering pump, or dose it directly into the area where foam accumulates.
3. Adjust the dosage according to the on-site foam level; the usual initial dosage is 50-100 g per ton of wastewater, with fine adjustments afterward based on the foam condition.
A lithium battery cathode material manufacturer in East China has a wastewater treatment station handling about 500 tons per day, with foam mainly generated in the equalization tank and the coagulation tank. It originally used a certain brand of general-purpose antifoam that had to be topped up every 2 hours, and foam still overflowed from time to time. After switching to Chemi Tech antifoam, a single dose keeps the whole shift (8 hours) free of foam overflow, level monitoring returns to normal, and the cleaning cycle of the downstream membrane system is extended from once a week to once every two weeks, directly saving maintenance cost and labor hours.
Chemi Tech antifoam is non-corrosive, leaves no residue and does not affect downstream wastewater treatment processes, and its optimized formulation reduces its impact on water quality. If battery wastewater foam is giving you a headache, it is worth giving this solution a try.