Biothane secures deal for wastewater treatment plant in Indonesia
The firm, part of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies (Veolia), said the upgrade would produce biogas which could be used as an energy source, typically in a boiler.
The plant will enable the processing of 1,032 m3/d of wastewater with a daily load of 7,000 kg COD (chemical oxygen demand).
Anaerobic from aerobic
Biothane is providing its UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) system to convert from the manufacturer’s current aerobic wastewater system.
The principle of anaerobic treatment is the utilization of anaerobic bacteria (biomass) to convert organic pollutants or COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) into biogas in an oxygen free environment.
In the pre-treatment process, suspended solids, together with fats, oils and greases (FOG) will be removed through screening and purification and then the wastewater is biologically treated.
After pre-treatment, the conditioned wastewater is pumped into the Biothane UASB reactor where the conversion from COD to biogas takes place and is separated from the water and settles back to the reactor bottom.
Michel Otten, technical director for the Asia region at Biothane, said wastewater management had become more of an issue due to a number of factors.
“Companies need to comply with legislation to reach discharge limits and consumer perception is becoming more and more important.
“It is forcing industry to take care of environment, their image and economic factors. The worst case scenario is a factory could be blacklisted and shut down.”
He added that the firm has around 10 projects a year in Asia Pacific and more than 500 globally.
Activated sludge aerobic treatment is used after the Biothane UASB step, to obtain an effluent that meets regulatory standards for discharge. The removed and produced surplus sludge is dewatered in a centrifuge.
Growing importance
The growing importance of wastewater treatment for food and beverage manufacturers can be seen by the Canadian government recently investing CA$95,000 for a project to test a water recycling system.
The onsite bio-digester for Weston Food Canada will allow water to be reused or disposed of without being discharged to municipal sanitary sewers.
