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Reference project
Unique micropollutant solution at wastewater treatment plant
Introduction.
Unique solution using advanced oxidation, adsorption and nano-filtration achieves purification levels close to 100% at a municipality wastewater facility
We are heading to one of the municipalities in southwestern Sweden for this project!
The municipality that we are helping out operates a top performing wastewater treatment plant that is absolutely necessary for maintaining the sensitive ecosystem in nearby recipients. The plant also provides clean water to all 10,000 individuals in the nearby city.
The problem.
While the treatment plant had excellent treatment performance exceeding official treatment demands, it still struggled with treating micropollutants, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (API). According to tests conducted by Mellifiq, the wastewater contained API concentrations exceeding 100,000 ng/L, which is more than 40 kg annually.
APIs have very detrimental effects on nature in the long run, and since the municipal council prioritizes keeping the recipients as clean as possible, they were looking for a treatment solution that could successfully treat APIs.
The solution.
We at Mellifiq were approached to design a complete treatment solution for the municipality. The requirements were straight-forward: we needed to deliver a future-proof solution that could remove as many APIs as possible—exceeding expected future legislation demands—for the lowest possible operating costs.
In order to adapt the solution to the specific conditions of this particular treatment plant, we needed to evaluate various technical solutions and conduct a pre-study that would analyze the API concentrations in the effluent. Using our obtained data, we designed two potential multitechnical treatment solutions for the plant. The first solution consisted of a turn-key RENA Tellus X ozonation system combined with a Water Maid FlexKarb-C system serving as an adsorption step. The second solution consisted of a Water Maid N-series nanofiltration system. All systems were integrated in mobile containerized units, with the complete treatment solution functioning as a tertiary treatment step.
A pre-filtration step to ensure maximum uptime and performance was also implemented using our Water Maid FlexKarb-S systems.
Mellifiq delivery
Contracting, Ozonetech RENA Tellus X80, Water Maid FlexKarb C and S, Water Maid N-series, containerized units containing the system solutions
Performance
API removal at 95% at a cost of less than EUR 0.02 per m³ of treated water
Capacity
Up to 120 m³ /hr for full scale implementation
Dimensions HxWxD (m)
3x6x2
Evaluation.
After our solution was in place, Mellifiq conducted a comprehensive performance evaluation for both solutions where we also looked at how APIs were being treated.
The evaluation showed that our oxidation and adsorption solution managed to remove more than 95% of the APIs in total, for a low operating cost of EUR 0.02/m³.
In turn, the Water Maid N-system removed more than 95% of the API for a low operating cost of EUR 0.09/m³. We could also observe that key API markers— including Diclofenac and Paracetamol— had been completely eliminated.
“We have removed 95 procent of all pharmaceutical residues. Our goal was 80 procent.” ― Technical manager at the municipality
