After bankruptcy in 1998, a major Brazilian zinc producer – Cia. Mercantil e Industrial Ingá – industrial site was abandoned for about ten years. As a result, raw materials and industrial waste were disposed in an inappropriate way for one decade, creating one of the biggest environmental liabilities in the State of Rio de Janeiro – Brazil. The company s waste dam contained around 430.000 m3 of effluent with high concentrations of zinc (824 mg/l) and cadmium (2,9 mg/l), even though it was not conveniently sealed. Besides de risk of contamination of underground reservoirs of water, the possibility of a dam breakdown became evident, especially during the raining seasons. In 2004, the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) was hired by the authority Massa Falida – legally responsible for managing the assets and liabilities of the bankrupted company – to propose urgent measures to repair the environmental damages caused by the mining company. In 2008, The Catholic University team developed a liquid effluent treatment system which increased the previous treatment capacity from 24.000 m3/month to 160.000 m3 /month. This increase eliminates any risk of a dam breakdown. Based on this important achievement, the present work intends to develop and systematize the conceptual approach applied to the Cia. Mercantil e Industrial Ingá case, in order to give birth to a compact e efficient pilot project, capable to be adjusted to different types of effluents.