Floor scrubber and mop water from industrial environments typically contains: oil and grease (often in the 500–5,000+ mg/L range), total suspended solids from dirt, metal fines, and debris, detergents and surfactants from cleaning agents, and — depending on the facility — heavy metals such as zinc, copper, nickel, and chromium picked up from machining or surface finishing operations. pH can range widely from alkaline (cleaning chemicals) to neutral or mildly acidic.

The specific composition depends heavily on industry and operations. A metal fabrication shop generates very different scrubber water than a food processing plant or warehouse. ENCON's lab analysis characterizes your specific stream before recommending a solution.

In most cases, untreated floor scrubber water cannot be legally discharged to the sanitary sewer. Oil and grease concentrations alone typically exceed local pretreatment limits by an order of magnitude or more. In production and process areas at metal finishing facilities, it is explicitly regulated under 40 CFR Part 433. Even in non-manufacturing areas, the oil and grease content is almost always above the 50–200 mg/L limits that most sewer authorities enforce.

Discharging to a storm drain is illegal under the Clean Water Act and carries potential fines and enforcement action. The safest compliance path is pretreatment before sewer discharge, hauling, or evaporation — which eliminates the liquid discharge problem entirely.

During evaporation, water vapor rises and exits the evaporator as steam through a vent (or optionally through a condenser to recover clean water). Oils, solids, metals, and other non-volatile contaminants remain behind in the evaporator vessel and concentrate as the water volume decreases. When the cycle is complete, a small volume of concentrated residue — a fraction of the original liquid volume — is removed for disposal. This residue is dramatically less expensive to haul than hundreds of gallons of liquid waste.

In most cases, no. One of the advantages of evaporation is that extensive pretreatment is generally not required. However, very high oil concentrations can affect evaporator performance and may benefit from oil skimming before loading, and certain chemical compositions can affect materials of construction selection or require pH adjustment. ENCON's free bench-scale analysis determines exactly what, if any, conditioning is needed before evaporation proceeds.

For most small-to-medium facilities generating 55 gallons or less per day or per cleaning cycle, the ENCON Drum Evaporator offers the lowest cost and simplest operation — it processes a standard drum in place with no plumbing required. For larger facilities with multiple scrubbers, higher daily volumes, or continuous generation, the ENCON Thermal Evaporator scales up to handle hundreds of gallons per day with automation and minimal operator intervention. Your ENCON Sales Engineer will recommend the right fit after reviewing your volume and waste stream characteristics.

Requirements vary by state and municipality. Many ENCON installations qualify for permit exemptions, particularly at smaller operating scales. ENCON offers air permitting and permit-exemption services to help navigate this process — it is a routine part of our project support. Your Sales Engineer will address this during the qualification process.