Contextualization of available technologies in wastewater

treatment: from BIODISC to MBR

Eng. M. GaldiEng. K. Al ZeerEng. R. Ruggiero

CANNON GroupItalian groupInternational, present in 40 countriesIndustrial engineering900 employees200 m€ turnover

Fields of ActivityPlastics Processing (59%)Heat & Power (24%)Water Treatment (13%)Automation Machine (4%)

ARTES Ingegneria S.p.A. was founded in 1975 as the

Company within the BONO Group in charge of the waste

water treatment market

Peschiera Borromeo Milano

Oliveto Citra Salerno

Salerno Headquarter

Total Area : 30.000 m2

Covered Area : 8.900 m2

Workshop : 7.800 m2

Office : 1.000 m2

Technical Dept. 25

Sales & Marketing 15

After Sales Services 5

Purchasing & Warehouse 3

Administration Dept. 3

Production Supervisors 3

Quality Dept. 3

Workshop 33 +15

Total Employees 105

Quality Control Personnel:• Quality Assurance manager• Quality control inspectors• Quality control assistants

• ISO 9001:2008 certified• ISO 14001 & OHSAS 18001 in progress• ASME Authorisations – “U”, “S”, “R”

code stamps

OUR CERTIFICATES

OUR CUSTOMERS (OIL&GAS)

OUR CUSTOMERS (POWER GENERATION)

OTHER CUSTOMERS

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 20110%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

50%

60%65% 66% 68% 70% 70%

75%80%

92%

% T

urno

ver

Export

South Est Asia &

Oceania

Europe, Russia and CIS Countries

Middle East & Africa

America

20%

6%

48%

26%

• Food and Beverages

SECTORS

• Textile & Laundry

SECTORS

• Paper

SECTORS

• Pharmaceutical and Chimical

SECTORS

• Building & Construction

SECTORS

• Tourism & Recreation

• Potabilization

TECHNOLOGY

BRC +DCl

BRC + MF + DUV

AS + MF + DUV

MBR + DUV

Where:BRC = BIOLOGIC ROTATING CONTACTORDCl = DISINFECTION WITH CHLORINEMF = MICROFILTRATION DUV = DISINFECTION WITH UV LAMPAS = ACTIVATED SLUDGEMBR = MEMBRANE BIOLOGICAL REACTOR

BRC = BIOLOGIC ROTATING CONTACTOR

water

tank 

BRCsubmerged for about

40%

rotation

airtight lid

shaft

gear motor

pannel

BRC

BRC

Advantages:• Easy to absorb overload without failure in the treatment process• No bulking problems, no filament bacteria• Easy to expand and upgrade, it is a modular plant• Ability to process a very low organic loads; Unlike the activated sludge plants• Less space occupied for the oxidation step and the step of final sedimentation• Reduced need for energy consumption (about 40% less than the activated sludge

plant)• Automation and ease of use• Very low levels of noise• Limited environmental impact. There are no problems with troublesome odors and

/ or aerosols. Since each unit is fitted with an airtight lid• No need to recycle sludge, self-regulating plant

Handicaps:• Possible mechanical problems• Limited efficiency: Compared with AS or MBR  

BRC

MBR = MEMBRANE BIOLOGICAL REACTOR

A membrane bio reactor is...• a combination of biological waste water

treatment and membrane filtration• a membrane filtration which separates

biomass from water• a membrane filtration which is based on

ultra or micro filtration

conventional Activated Sludge process

anoxic step

Aerobic stepFrom preliminary treatments

Sand filter

MBR process

Anoxic

anoxic step Aerobic step

Q

5Q

4Q

Q

membrane

Qm

4 Qm

Qm

5 Qm

blower

blower Recirculation pump

Suction pump

PROCESS DIAGRAM MBR

Why to use an MBR1. Recycling Possibility

Safe rejection of biomass, solids and bacteria Pre-treatment for following treatment steps

(reverse osmosis, nano filtration, UV and ozone)

2. Plant size Place saving installation due higher sludge concentration Increasing of capacity in an existing plant

3. Effluent Quality Enhanced quality of treated water Constant quality of treated water Conformance of enhanced standards of hygiene

(EC guidelines for bathing water) Higher efficiency due increasing concentration of biomass in

the activated sludge tank

What is …ContextualizationMeans:

• plants with easy maintenance and management, reliable, and simple installation

to be served for small, medium and large rural settlements;

• plants that are technologically "state of the art" of higher cost, but performance

significantly better in terms of quality of produced water, to be served in

settlements where the environmental impact is important, where the presence of

skilled personnel is possible, where the quality of treated water is particularly

important (settlements in bathing areas, Hotel, resorts, etc.);

The parameters that we will consider are :

• Efficiency

• Installation cost

• System's complexity (difficulty in finding qualified

personnel)

• Enviromental impact

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

effic

ienc

y

installation cost

0,0

0,2

0,4

0,6

0,8

1,0

syst

em's

com

plex

ity

installation cost

environmental impact

inst

alla

tion

cost

0,00,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0

syst

em's

com

plex

ity

efficiency

By "contextualize" we define four areas with different needs (about water quality and environmental impact) and different resources (about financial resources and specialized personnel):1. rural areas (low economic resources, low availability of specialized

personnel, where the environmental impact and the water quality are not very important)

2. inland areas (where the environmental impact is not very important, there isn’t specialized personnel, the water quality is important enough and there are sufficient economic resources)

3. coastal areas (where the environmental impact and water quality are important enough and you can find both the economic resources that qualified personnel)

4. touristic areas (where the environmental impact and water quality are very important and to find financial resources and qualified personnel is not a problem)

intersecting the defined areas and the needs/resources above described on we obtain a value “V”

1 = LOW IMPORTANT/ NO AVAILABLE4 = VERY IMPORTANT/ AVAILABLE

rural areas

inland areas

coastal areas

touristic areas

environmental impact 1 1 3 4

specialized personnel 1 1 3 4

water quality 1 2 4 4

economic resources 1 2 3 4

With “V” = 4

BRC + DCl

With 4 < “V” < 6

BRC + F + DUV

With 6 < “V” < 12

AS + F + DUV

With 12 < “V” < 16

MBR + DUV

Eng. M. GaldiEng. K. Al ZeerEng. R. Ruggiero

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!