Faced with rising operational costs due to increasing energy and chemical prices, as well as stricter effluent permit limits, many operators and engineers are turning to performance optimizers and controls automation to enhance treatment processes and reduce operating costs while limiting capital expenses.
Arlington County’s Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) in South Arlington, VA, is located on 35 acres of land squeezed into a commercial/residential neighborhood less than a mile west of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The facility treats flows from nearly all of Arlington. In addition, nearly 20 percent of the plant’s flow comes from neighboring localities such as Alexandria, Fairfax County, and Falls Church. Effluent from the plant is discharged into Four Mile Run to the south, which feeds into the Potomac River and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2007, Greenville, SC-based Western Carolina Regional Sewer Authority (WCRSA) conducted a rigorous performance test on a new tertiary treatment technology to assess its ability to effectively remove nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) without using excess amounts of methanol at its Lower Reedy Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).
As a result of China’s rapid economic development in recent years, the country has implemented more stringent environmental standards. Local environmental protection departments now require most urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) to apply strict enforcement measures to meet Class IA effluent discharge standards according to the Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (GB18918-2002).
It’s the call no water treatment plant superintendent wants to receive, especially not while on vacation. Andy McClure, Superintendent of Toledo, Ohio’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant, answered his phone to hear his head of operations report that the level of microcystin in the finished water was high, caused by a large harmful algal bloom (HAB) that was impacting the plant’s Lake Erie intake.
Henry N. Wochholz Regional Water Recycling Facility (WRWRF) consists of primary, advanced biological secondary and tertiary treatment with advanced total nitrogen removal. Always interested in enhanced treatment performance, the staff members recently examined the polymer use of the existing dewatering belt filter presses.
A fish flour and fish oil processing company produces 100 tons of flour a day from fish waste resulting from the broth concentration plant and from drying of flour, washing water, boiler blowdown and cooling towers. The company needed to treat its wastewater and to reduce its water supply costs.
An MABR is essentially a biological wastewater treatment process that utilizes seemingly passive aeration through oxygen-permeable membranes. Oxygen transfer through the MABR membranes is diffusion based: driven by concentration differences such that oxygen passes from air at atmospheric pressure into water at a higher hydrostatic pressure. This oxygen transfer mechanism, wherein air is supplied to the process at very low pressure, is the reason MABRs have significantly lower energy consumption compared to other wastewater treatment processes, such as conventional activated sludge (CAS), that utilize diffusers. This energy savings is one of the key reasons MABRs are gaining traction in the municipal wastewater industry.
The city of Black River Falls in Wisconsin used chemical treatment with ferric chloride (FeCl3) to achieve their effluent total phosphorus (TP) permit of 1.0 mg/l. Historically, the chemical dosing rate was manually adjusted on a daily basis based on the measured effluent TP concentration. The plant was upgraded with an OSCAR process performance optimizer control system with phosphorus controller, which uses continuous measurement of orthophosphate. Read the full case study to learn more.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are facing many challenges. Permits on nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent water are progressively becoming stricter in order to protect surface waters from eutrophication. At the same time, plants are required to reduce both energy and chemical consumption and are often challenged with limited time and staff. In total, they are required to do more with less. In order to meet these challenges, a plant with a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) in Green Lake, Wisconsin was upgraded with an advanced process control system – the OSCAR process performance optimizer with NURO controller.
This paper helps to understand the efficacy of BakerCorp Electrocoagulation (EC) technology and treatment process in treating selenium-contaminated mine effluent. Two mine effluent samples were treated by Baker EC. Selenium constituent concentrations in both water samples were reduced significantly to below reporting qualification limits. Based on the results of the effluent samples, electrocoagulation is an effective treatment option for waste streams found to contain selenium.
When the Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority (CCMWA) anticipated the need to upgrade the Hugh A. Wyckoff water treatment plant, they turned to granular activated carbon (GAC) technology after vetting several alternatives. The plant, a wholesaler in a two-plant system, processes up to 72 million gallons per day and serves about 350,000 people. Comprising of Wyckoff and the James E. Quarles treatment plant, CCMWA is the second largest water provider in Georgia.
SUBRE, a highly effective upgrade solution for wastewater treatment plants, intensifies the biological nutrient removal process and increases plant's capacity with no added footprint and reduced energy requirements. SUBRE utilizes Fluence’s Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology to achieve a stable and high quality effluent.
The DE NORA TETRA™ Denite® system combines denitrification and filtration for the effective removal of nitrate-nitrogen and suspended solids in a single treatment step. Unique SNAP-T® Block underdrain provides superior distribution of backwash air and water, resulting in more efficient bed cleaning and reduced filter operating costs. Revolutionary interlocking grid design has no moving parts and resists uplift without the need for grout or anchors.
Evoqua's OMNIFLO® SBR MAX system with Jet Tech technology combines the benefits of a true-batch SBR with the benefits of a continuous fill batch reactor process to treat wastewater influent flows to over 5 times design. The OMNIFLO SBR MAX system optimizes hydraulic handling during storm flows, reduces equipment sizing and cost, and can trim energy costs over 15%!
Aspiral™ is a smart, packaged wastewater treatment solution based on the Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology.
Often times the biosolids management portion of the treatment plant may not be optimized, resulting in inefficient operation of the entire treatment plant. For instance, did you know that aerobic digestion is the second largest consumer of energy after biological treatment aeration at a wastewater treatment plant? Or, do you realize that up to 50% of the nutrient loading on any given day may be coming from the biosolids process?
The benefits of an OSCAR system are clear. The OSCAR control system is a customizable, integrated system comprised of hardware, software, and services. Designed to be used with Sanitaire biological treatment solutions, OSCAR helps plants meet their performance requirements and operating budgets.
The TITAN MBR QUBE™ is a complete, factory-built, packaged wastewater treatment system featuring a compact design for simple shipping and mobility. Equipped with the same TITAN MBR™ technology that has made S&L an industry leader in pre-engineered treatment systems, the TITAN MBR QUBE™ provides simple, economical and efficient plug and play treatment in a much smaller footprint than conventional treatment systems. The TITAN MBR QUBE™ is a 40-ft long cube shipping container; delivered directly to the job site, minimal assembly required.
The AquaNereda® Aerobic Granular Sludge System is an innovative biological wastewater treatment technology that provides advanced treatment using the unique features of aerobic granular biomass. The unique process features of the AquaNereda system translate into a flexible and compact process that offers energy efficiency and significantly lower chemical consumption.
Filtration has been around for a long, long time, so it may be that most treatment plant operators feel pretty informed about its capabilities. But hearing from Brian Frewerd, Director of Application Engineering with Parkson Corporation and Water Talk guest, will likely prove enlightening. Frewerd provides background on sand filtration for tertiary treatment applications, followed by insight on notable technology improvements and performance milestones
Many wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are facing stricter limits on nutrient discharges, yet each plant and situation is different and solutions are not one-size-fits-all. Bryce Figdore, Wastewater Process Engineer with HDR and Water Talk podcast guest, talks about another tool at utilities' disposal — nitrification bioaugmentation using granular sludge.
The need to recycle wastewater has grown dramatically in various markets. Due to the increasing drought, rural villages suffer from lack of water for agricultural needs. Fluence delivers a revolutionary aerobic wastewater treatment solution is modular and reduces energy usage by up to 90% compared to conventional treatment.
Local and decentralized wastewater treatment and reuse is known to be a cost-efficient resource, which is why more and more communities are adapting this planning approach.
Changing effluent demands are a common challenge for wastewater treatment plant operators. The AquaSBR sequencing batch reactor provides an adaptive solution, delivering enhanced biological nutrient removal (EBNR) with flexible design and process control. Watch this video to see a 3D animation of the system’s five-phase operation.
The Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) process is typically installed as a retrofit solution for conventional activated sludge systems that are at or beyond capacity.
This video demonstrates the advantages of using OpenCEL technology for the pretreatment of secondary waste-activated sludge generated during advanced biological wastewater treatment. OpenCEL employs high frequency electrical pulses to break open biomass cell membranes, releasing soluble material that is more readily digested. Learn how the chemical-free technology can cut costs and recover energy.
About Nutrient Removal
Nutrient removal from wastewater consists of treating wastewater to remove nitrogen and phosphorus before it reenters natural waterways. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in wastewater cause eutrophication, a process where excess nutrients stimulate excessive plant growth such as algal blooms and cyanobacteria. The decomposition of the algae by bacteria uses up the oxygen in the water causing other organisms to die. This creates more organic matter for the bacteria to decompose. In addition, some algal blooms can produce toxins that contaminate drinking water supplies.
As authorized by the Clean Water Act, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program regulates point sources, such as municipal wastewater treatment plants, that discharge pollutants as effluent into the waters of the United States. In recent years, many of the States’ environmental bodies have lowered nutrient limits to arrest eutrophication. Maryland’s effort to protect the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries is perhaps the most notable example of nutrient removal in the US. Nutrient removal continues to be a growing area of focus for wastewater treatment throughout the world.
The removal of nitrogen and phosphorus require different nutrient removal processes. To remove nitrogen, the nitrogen is oxidized from ammonia to become nitrate through a process called nitrification. This process is then followed by denitrification where the nitrate is reduced to nitrogen gas which is released to the atmosphere and removed from the wastewater.
Nitrification is a two-step aerobic process which typically takes place in aeration tanks. Denitrification requires anoxic conditions to encourage the appropriate biological conditions to form. The activated sludge process is often used to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas in anoxic or denitrification tanks.
Phosphorus can be removed biologically using polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) which accumulate large quantities of phosphorus within their cells and separate it from treated water. Phosphorus removal can also be achieved by chemical removal. Once removed as sludge, phosphorus may be stored in a land fill. However, many municipalities and treatment facilities are looking to resell the biosolids for use in fertilizer.
