Sewage Filtration And Water Treatment

Interesting new water treatment technology that has been patented in the UK. According to the press release, the process would not produce practically any sludge at all.

BioShaft is a green innovative wastewater treatment technology based on Bio-Filtration utilizing biomass carriers. These plants are made using the BioShaft Turbo Reactor that is at the heart of the wastewater technology. The plants have many benefits over traditional wastewater treatment, including the virtual elimination of sludge and odors and requires significantly less land. It is patented in the UK and the patent is pending in the United States. To date there are more than 30 waste water treatment plants throughout the world using this technology.

“The unique BioShaft fixed film process virtually eliminates sludge. Bioshaft is a biological treatment process that uses thousands of special carriers designed to create a large surface area for biofilm growth. This enhances the wastewater treatment process while reducing the footprint of the plant. By collecting and reintroducing this biofilm in to the process again, it allows us to virtually eliminate sludge!”

[Press release]

Waste water treatment systems can be divided into biological, physical and chemical processes. The microbiological processes can be separated into aerobic and anaerobic processes.

The purification of waste water produces large amounts of organic sludge, which has to be thickened, treated and disposed of. This is one of the most expensive parts of waste water treatment. This sludge is usually a inconvenient product as it will rot in the air, causing odor problems. Anaerobic processes rely on microbiological processes where organic material is degraded and biogas (composed of mainly methane and carbon dioxide) is pro­duced. Anaerobic processes take place in the absence of oxygen and produce much less excess sludge in a more stable (non-rotting) condition.

Conven­tional, aerobic waste water treatment has been exten­sively applied in industrialized countries, but has the reputation of being expensive and requiring specialist supervision. Aerobic waste water treatment is characterized by a high conversion ratio of soluble BOD into biomass, and thus sludge. Sludge is produced in large quantities, it is composed of mostly water, requiring relatively expensive de-watering, and it may contain pollutants, notably patho­gens and heavy metals, that render the use as fertilizer impossible or difficult. The excess sludge from aerobic treatment however, can be easily digested, yielding sufficient amounts of biogas to make the plant energetically autonomous and lowering operational costs.

Anaerobic waste water treatment has been introduced on full scale on various types of in­dustrial waste water for three decades, both in cold and warm climates. Results have been in most cases successful. Anaerobic processes, carried out in specially designed concrete or steel reactors, result in high quality and short retention times which generally equals reduced con­struction costs. An additional advantage of anaerobic treatment is that it produces a well-digested and stable sludge, which will not rot when exposed to air. It has favorable dewatering characteristics when compared to the “fresh” sludge from aerobic plants.

The former superintendent of the Binghamton Water Department and another former employee are facing charges they illegally discharged sewage sludge into the Susquehanna River.

A grand jury said former superintendent Kevin Transue and former plant employee Daniel Rose discharged sludge - sediment and chemicals left over from the purification process - into the source of drinking water for Binghamton and surrounding communities.

No one was harmed in the alleged dumping of sludge, officials said. Robin Baker, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s executive deputy for criminal justice, refused to say how much sludge was dumped into the river. Baker also declined to say what chemicals were in the sludge.

Rose and Transue were accused of discharging sludge between March 24, 2006, and Nov. 3, 2007, the grand jury said. Additionally, Transue was accused of failing in his duty to monitor and report discharges and to comply with state Department of Environmental Conservation reporting requirements.

[Read the article]