New Jersey town switches to peracetic acid wastewater treatment

Berkeley Heights is the first municipality in New Jersey to permanently switch its wastewater treatment plant from chlorine to peracetic acid. Berkeley Heights had been testing the new method since February 2017. Wastewater director Tom McAndrew says the plant spent 10–12% less on chemicals during the pilot stage compared with the more common chlorine-based process. Peracetic acid is safer and more environmentally benign, decomposing to water, oxygen, and acetic acid. In early February, PeroxyChem started up a peracetic acid plant serving Memphis, Tennessee, that the firm describes as the largest in the world.