HUBER ReportInternational

WASTE WATER Solutions

News for Customers and Friends of HUBER TECHNOLOGY September 2010

CONTENTSMech. Wastewater Treatment 2 – 3

IFAT 4 – 5

Mech. Wastewater Treatment 6

Sludge Treatment 7 – 9

Filtration & ReUse 10 – 12

Stainless Steel Equipment 12

Industry 13 – 15

Research & Development 16

Global Service 16 – 17

Miscellaneous 18

IN BRIEFMechanical wastewatertreatment

With the HUBER RoDisc® Rotary MeshScreen we have risen to the challen-ge of increased requirements on futu-re wastewater treatment. New tech-nical developments combined withinnovative manufacturing technolo-gy ensure the HUBER RoDisc® RotaryMesh Screen is ahead of future requi-rements in wastewater treatment.

Page: 6

Sludge treatment

When we speak about the future ofsewage sludge disposal today, regio-nal and supraregional differences areevident. Everyone seems to talkabout agricultural or thermal utilisati-on and phosphorus recovery buteveryone also seems to interpret the-se topics most differently. What allthese disposal ways in discussionhave in common, however, is theneed for efficient sewage sludgedewatering and drying.

Page: 7

Filtration & ReUse

The demand for centralised sewagetreatment plants has become nearlysaturated in industrialised countries.A huge development potential stillexists, however, in many other partsin the world, such as Africa, Asia, Rus-sia, Middle East, South America, andeven South and East Europe. Due topopulation growth especially in theconurbations of these regions adap-ted and sustainable local watermanagement solutions are urgentlyrequired. “Water is life“ in this con-text means the supply of drinkingwater as well as sanitation and irriga-tion solutions in these by nature aridregions.

Page: 12

Dear Reader,

IFAT 2010, the major internationaltrade fair, casts its shadow before.Exhibitors and visitors from all overthe world are expected to come toMunich in September to see and dis-cuss new products and solutions tobe applied and implemented in thecoming years. It may be debatablewhether it makes sense to reduce theinterval from three to two years. Onthe one hand, this means additionalcosts and enormous expenditure ofextra work. On the other hand, inno-vation cycles of products and soluti-ons, also of industrial goods, havebecome much shorter in recent deca-des. What has not changed is ourambition to offer our customersaffordable innovative, high-qualityproducts and solutions for their ownbenefit and the benefit of the envi-ronment. In this HUBER Report issuewe give you a taste of what you canexpect from us at IFAT and in theyears to come. I look forward to see-ing you at IFAT and will be pleased toreceive your comments and suggesti-ons for improvement.

We always hope to remain your reli-able partner when it comes to solvingproblems.

Very sincerely yours,

ED I T OR IA L

Georg Huber

Environmental disasters, such as theoil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, theglobal economic crisis and everdecreasing resources remind us thatwe urgently need a safe, eco-friendlyand financially attractive energysource. Right below the ground, insewers, is an unnoticed hidden sour-ce of energy that fulfils all these crite-ria: municipal wastewater. TheHUBER Heat Exchanger RoWin hasbeen developed especially for thisapplication.

Heat pumps use environmental ener-gy sources, normally groundwater orair. But both elements have the dis-advantage that their energy leveldecreases in winter whereas in sum-mer the air and groundwater tempe-rature rises. This makes it difficult touse them as energy source or sink forthe climatisation of buildings, whilewastewater possesses a huge heatpotential even during cold months.The intake of shower and wash waterensures that the temperature level inthe sewer rarely falls below 12 °C.

In summer, the soil serves as isolati-on against the warm sun and ensuresthat the maximum temperature doesnot exceed approx. 20 °C. This nar-row range between minimum and

A HUBER Heat Exchanger RoWin installation on the Côte d´Azur

IFAT (International Trade Fair forWater – Wastewater – Refuse – Recy-cling) is the biggest and most impor-tant international trade fair for inno-vations, novelties and services on theenvironmental sector. About 2,620exhibitors from 44 countries will showtheir products and innovations forsustainable water management inindustrial nations and adapted tech-nologies for developing and emer-ging countries.

Conferences, symposia, workshopsand forums will be organised to com-plete the program. Every two yearsMunich is the centre and pivotal pointof international environmental tech-nology. From 13 to 17 September2010, everything in the city will beabout environment again. HUBER hasexhibited at IFAT for many years andalways presented one of the biggeststands.

This year, HUBER will show its pro-duct portfolio on an area of 1,100 m2.With its worldwide reputation, thetrade fair is of great importance alsofor HUBER. HUBER is opening newmarkets in the fields of “Green Buil-

HUBER stand at IFAT 2008

ding“ and “heat from wastewater”.IFAT is the optimal platform to pre-sent further developments andnovelties. For easy orientation on our

stand (in hall A2, stand no. 329) withoutspending too much time on findingexhibits or your contact partners, youwill find a site plan on page 4 – 5.

International trade fair for water – wastewater – refuse – recycling

HUBER exhibits at IFAT Entsorga 2010

HUBER ThermWin® and HUBER RoWin

Heat recovery from raw sewage

maximum values makes municipalwastewater the ideal medium for theoperation of heat pumps. The reasonwhy wastewater heat recovery hashardly been used by now is probablythe fact that the coarse material and

contaminants contained withinwastewater impair the function ofheat pumps, and clarifying the waste-water would mean an unjustifiableexpense.

For more information read page 3.

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Mechanical Wastewater Treatment Seite 2

Reliable separation of solids from wastewater

L-shaped HUBER RakeMax® Multi-Rake Bar Screencompletes the product range

The HUBER RakeMax® Multi-Rake BarScreen for preliminary mechanicalwastewater treatment was develo-ped by HUBER in 2003 and presentedto the public for the first time at IFAT2005. Due to its versatility the Rake-Max® has since very well proven itsefficiency and become firmly estab-lished in the global wastewater tech-nology market.

On the basis of the successful Rake-Max®, another new screen type forheadworks has been developed inthe course of continuous furtherdevelopment, the RakeMax®-hf. It is a

L-shaped multi-rake bar screen andlike the RakeMax® screen belongs tothe MAX family of HUBER screens.This screen has a flat and thereforehydraulically advantageous bottomsection that transitions into a steepconveying section.

This combines the benefits of the wellproven RakeMax®, reliable solidsseparation and high screeningsdischarge capacity, with a low head-loss due to a big effective screen rakesurface. Material removal from thescreen starts right at the bar rackmounted flat to the channel bottomso that any accumulation of distur-bing material is eliminated. Thecleaning elements, attached to thechain system, can easily be adjustedto different requirements. This isespecially favourable for high solidsloads.

Depending on the bar spacing, thebar rack design is either a flow-opti-mising bar or non-blocking wedgewire profile. Both ends of the cleaningelements are connected to drivechains. Each chain is driven by asprocket on a common shaft and aflange mounted gear motor. At theend of the bar rack cleaning cycle thecleaning elements are positivelycleaned by a pivoted comb which reli-ably discharges the removed scree-

nings into a downstream transport ordisposal unit. The easy to access andmaintain drive unit is installed abovethe channel.

Due to the screen’s compact designits height above floor is very low.Especially in existing screeningplants minimum requirements onsolids retention in the inlet are notreliably met so that the passage ope-ning at the bar rack must be reduced,frequently with the result of growinghydraulic loads.

These conditions make it inevitablynecessary to provide for a biggerhydraulic passage area, and this nor-mally means that the size of the exis-ting channel has to be extended oreven a new building erected for thescreen, with the result of high con-struction costs.

With the new L-shaped RakeMax-hf®screen HUBER offers another type ofinlet screen in order to be able to bet-ter meet customer requirements interms of specific constructional andhydraulic site conditions and reduceinvestment and operating costs.

BU Mechanical TreatmentThe RakeMax®-hf screen consists of a flat and therefore hydraulicallyadvantageous bottom section and a steep conveying section.

Copenhagen

Longest HUBER Belt Screen EscaMax® units ever manufactured supplied to Copenhagen

WWTPs Lynetten and Damhusaen receive six HUBER EscaMax® screens each

The two WWTPs Lynetten and Dam-husaen are situated directly atCopenhagen harbour. Lynetten isScandinavia’s showcase plant parexcellence and counts a large num-ber of numerous international visitorgroups every week. The sewer sys-tem of the Danish capital is very oldand flat with the result of enormousamounts of deposits being present inthe sewers. In the event of heavyrainfalls, these deposits are carriedalong into the sewage treatmentplant. The previously installed screenpumps with 10 mm bar spacing hadgreat problems to cope with thissituation.

The plant operators, Lynettenfalless-kabet l/S, were therefore looking foran alternative solution. At IFAT 2008,the customer thoroughly examinedvarious screening system and likedthe HUBER solution with the perfora-ted plate belt screen. He preferredthe HUBER EscaMax® screen not leastfor its sturdy design, unique cleaningsystem and good experience madewith it in applications of similar size.The positive experience the custo-mer had made with the two HUBERGrit Washers RoSF 4 supplied in 2000was another key to success.

We bidded together with our long-time partners Dansk StahlmontageA/S and won the tender. In April 2009,we received the order to supply six ofthe longest size of HUBER EscaMax® HUBER Belt Screen EscaMax® on WWTP LynettenHUBER Belt Screen EscaMax® on WWTP Damhusaen

screens (size 9000 x 2252) and twoWash Press units type WAP 6 SL.While HUBER manufactured and deli-vered the technical equipment requi-red to meet the process require-ments, our Danks Stahlmontage A/Stook over the installation of themachines. On WWTP Lynetten, a flowrate of 2080 l/sec is cleaned perscreen, which is a plant capacity of750,000 PE. Owing to the Wash Pres-

ses the hygienic situation inside thescreen room has significantly impro-ved. Also downstream clarificationprocesses profit because process-relevant materials, such as faeces,etc., are washed out and returned.

The screenings are transported to theWash Presses by 32 m long launderchannels, which very reliably workalready with only a minor slope. Theinteraction of WAP/SL and launderchannel leads to enormous savings inoperating costs as screened waste-water is used as transport medium,very much to the delight of theDanish plant operators.

The customer is enthusiastic aboutthe alternative launder channel tech-nology which has eliminated opera-ting problems previously caused byclogged or even worn screenings con-veyors. Installation of the machineswas not only a technical but alsologistic challenge for HUBER becausethe six screens had to be mountedwithout interrupting the WWTP ope-ration. All six screens were therefore

replaced one after the other over aperiod of three months. The firstscreen was put into operation in Sep-tember 2009. Initially, the order con-ditions had included several guaran-tees but due to the high satisfactionof the operator with the HUBERequipment these were cancelledduring the three-month installationphase.

Customer satisfaction was also one ofthe main reasons that we receivedanother order in January 2010 for thesupply of two Sludge AcceptancePlantsto WWTP Lynetten. Moreover,the order for the project Damhuseanwas included in the Lynetten project.Lynettenfallesskabet I/S are the plantoperators also in this case and siterequirements were similar. We sup-plied again six HUBER EscaMax®screens and two WAP 6 SL Wash Pres-ses. Only the WWTP capacity of250,000 PE is smaller than that of theLynetten plant so that screen size6000 x 1752 mm with 8 mm perfora-ted plate was sufficient. Each screenmust be able to handle a flow rate of

1,305 l/sec. The great challenge forHUBER in this project were the extra-ordinarily high amounts of grit. ButHUBER had the optimal solution alsoin this case. In collaboration withDansk Stahlmontage A/S the custo-mer showed himself impressedthroughout the entire course of theproject.

Owing to the innovative HUBER solu-tion failure of screens under stormconditions, transport problems withconveyors and disposal problems dueto insufficient screenings washingand compaction have definitely beco-me a thing of the past. It was experi-enced in both projects that theamount of screenings separated bythe 8 mm perforated plate screenshad increased by up to ten times. Avolume reduction of up to 70% isachieved through intensive scree-nings washing in the two Wash Pressunits that receive the screeningsfrom two launder channels.

International Sales

WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 3 Mechanical Wastewater Treatment

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Continued from page 1: A solution to heat and cool schools, hotels, etc.

Heat recovery from raw sewage

The HUBER Heat Exchanger RoWinhas been developed by specialistswith a completely different approach:transfer of the energy containedwithin the wastewater to a mediumthat is suitable to operate heatpumps. The patented HUBER Therm-Win® system includes not only thewastewater heat exchanger HUBERRoWin but in addition optimisedextraction of wastewater from thepublic sewer.

A tangential shaft installed near thewastewater collector both ensuresthat wastewater can flow by gravityinto the shaft and serves as interme-diate storage tank for the pump fee-ding the HUBER Heat ExchangerRoWin.

A HUBER ROTAMAT® Pumping Stati-ons Screen RoK 4 ensures preliminaryclarification of the wastewater andprotects the HUBER RoWin® systemagainst coarse material. The coarsematerial retained by the RoK4 screen

contained within the wastewater, theHUBER Heat Exchanger RoWin isequipped with a cleaning systemwhich periodically cleans the surfaceof exchanger pipes and therefore pre-vents the growth of fouling. Such pre-ventive cleaning guarantees a conti-nuously high heat transfer.

The coarse material contained withinthe wastewater settles in the HUBERHeat Exchanger RoWin and can bedischarged from the system bymeans of a screw conveyor. The coreof the HUBER wastewater heatexchanger RoWin lies inside the sys-

tem: Specially manufacturedexchanger pipes guarantee the idealheat transfer and the compact designensure an optimal flow around thepipes. The basic HUBER HeatExchanger RoWin version consists ofa tank that integrates the pipe modu-les. It can be installed virtuallyeverywhere. The resulting processengineering advantages are benefici-al especially on industrial plants.

As an option, the modules can beinstalled directly in a channel or tank.In this case, no additional energy isnecessary to pump the wastewater.

The energy-rich water flows directlyaround the pipes giving off its energyto the cooling medium. No additionalfloor space is required. Due to itsmodular design the HUBER HeatExchanger RoWin can be adapted tomeet specific site requirements.

The pipe modules can be installed ina tank; this keeps all options open.Wastewater is available in many pla-ces. Due to its energy level it is anideal possibility to heat and coolschools, hotels, sports halls or indus-trial facilities.

BU Mechanical Treatment

HUBER ThermWin® System consisting of a HUBER Heat Exchanger RoWin andROTAMAT® Pumping Stations Screen RoK 4

Large-scale screenings treatment projects

Major projects successfully executed in England and Russia

Four large projects could successfullybe completed in the course of thepast years: Dublin Bay (UK), Knostrop(UK), Mitchell Laithes (UK) and SaintPetersburg (Russia). The machinessupplied were primarily big washpresses, screens, septic sludge andsewage sludge thickening machines,conveyors, and grit washers for flowrates from 20 to 30 m3/s.

Dublin Bay is a delta shaped inlet ofthe Irish Sea off the east coast of Ire-land. The bay is approximately 10 kmin width at its north-south base and 7

km in length to its apex at the centreof the city of Dublin, stretching fromHowth Head in the north to DalkeyPoint (at Dún Laoghaire) in the south.The metropolitan area of the city ofDublin almost completely surroundsthree sides of the bay (the north,west, and south), while the Irish Sealies to the east.

Dublin is the largest city and the capi-tal of Ireland and counts approx. 5million inhabitants on an area of70,000 km2. The wastewater treat-ment plant Dublin Bay is designed for

HUBER Wash Press WAP SL, Dublin Bay (UK)

HUBER Wash Press WAP 12 SL, Mitchell Laithes (UK)

a population equivalent of 2 million,i.e. a maximum flow rate of 30 m3/s.

The following HUBER machines areinstalled on WWTP Dublin Bay:

➤ 7 HUBER RakeMax® Multi-RakeBar Screen units, 2452 width

➤ 7 HUBER Wash Press WAP/SLunits, size 12, with launder chan-nel

➤ 4 ROTAMAT® Sludge AcceptancePlants

➤ 6 sludge thickeners

Another large project is Knostrop (UK)designed for 2 million PE and a flowrate of 20 m3/s. Three HUBER WashPress WAP/SL units, size 12, for inter-mittent operation and another threeWash Press units of the same seriesare installed on this site.

The following HUBER machines weresupplied to WWTP Kostrop (UK):

➤ 6 HUBER Wash Press WAP/SLunits, size 12, with launder chan-nel

Mitchell Laithes, Dewsbury is anotherproject in the UK. Dewsbury is a mins-ter town within the MetropolitanBorough of Kirkless, in West York-shire, England. It is to the west ofWakefield, to the East of Huddersfieldand south of Leeds, and lies by theRiver Calder and the Calder and Heb-ble Navigation canal system.

The local wastewater treatment plantis designed for 250,000 PE and ascreenings volume of 24 m3/h.

The following HUBER machines areinstalled at Mitchell Laithes:

➤ 3 HUBER Wash Press WAP/SLunits, size 12

➤ 2 HUBER Wash Press WAP/SLunits, size 6

Saint Petersburg, located on the NevaRiver at the head of the Gulf of Fin-land on the Baltic Sea, has more thanfour million inhabitants and is Rus-sia’s second biggest city and one of

the biggest cities in Europe. The SaintPetersburg wastewater treatmentplant is dimensioned for 3.5 millionPE and flow rates of up to 22 m³/s.

The following machines are installedat Saint Petersburg:

➤ 4 HUBER Wash Press WAP units,size 6

➤ 4 comminuters

➤ 2 belt conveyors

➤ 8 COANDA Grit Washer RoSF 4units

These installation examples provethat HUBER has the expertise todesign and supply the optimal soluti-on for any customer’s wastewatertreatment plant, whether small or lar-ge-scale plants.

BU Mechanical Treatment

Ua SewerUb Wastewater shaft with screen and

delivery pumpUc HUBER Heat Exchanger RoWinUd Heat pump

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HUBER Wash Press WAP 12 SL, Knostrop (UK)

Functional drawing of a HUBER Heat Exchanger RoWin

is returned downstream to the seweralong with the cooled down wastewa-ter. To prevent negative influences ofbiofouling caused by microorganisms

Dublin BayKnostropMitchell Laithes

IFAT Seite 4

sludge treatment

screenings andcollected grit treatment

industrial solutions

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micro-screening

small onsitesewage treatment systems

stainless steel products

global

catering

kitchen

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meeting

HUBER exhibits at IFAT 2010 from 13 to 17 September in hall A2, stand no. 329.

Our motto this year: HUBER looks beyond the obvious

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WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 5 IFAT

creens

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filtration and reuse

automationtechnology

service

sewerageprogram

energy from wastewater

green building

entrance

Water shortage and the lack of was-tewater disposal systems in manycountries in the world combined withincreasing raw material and disposalcosts call for future-proof innovationsand intelligent solutions. In times ofclimate change the development ofsuch solutions needs to take intoaccount the aspect of energy efficien-cy. HUBER has risen to this challengeby developing innovative productsand presents its product range, inclu-ding future-oriented solutions toincrease water and energy efficiency,to the visitors of IFAT Entsorga 2010fair where HUBER exhibits on 1,100m2 in hall A2, stand no. 329, from 13to 17 September.

aa 1.Heat recovery from waste-water

HUBER has broken new ground in thefield of heat recovery from wastewa-ter and opened new application pos-sibilities. “We are experiencing livethe birth of the market of heat reco-very from wastewater”, says busi-ness unit manager Christian From-mann pointing to the huge potentiallying there. Solutions of this kind area low-cost and sustainable alternati-ve to gas and oil. HUBER early recog-nised this and is now able to presentat IFAT its innovative heat exchangerRoWin as the core of the ThermWin®system for energy recovery fromwastewater.

bb 1.Green Buildings for the Cityof Tomorrow

Wastewater heat utilisation willincreasingly be applied also in thefield of building technology. For largebuilding developments, such as high-rise buildings or shopping centres,HUBER offers the possibility to usetheir wastewater as a regenerativeheat source. Since HUBER has deve-loped also groundbreaking solutionsfor wastewater treatment and reuseof treated wastewater, HUBER is inthe position to implement trendset-ting concepts for buildings that willbe important building blocks for the“City of Tomorrow”.

cc Optimisation and extension ofthe product range for mecha-nical treatment

The HUBER RakeMax® Multi-Rake BarScreen, well-proven and highly valu-ed in the market, has been comple-ted with another space-savingmodel, the RakeMax® high flowseries. This innovation allows toinstall the bar rack of the screen at anextremely flat angle even with mini-mum hydraulic losses while scree-nings are discharged at a very advan-tageous steep angle. For small sewa-ge treatment plants with small gritamounts HUBER has developed a gritwasher for connection to the well-proven ROTAMAT® Complete PlantRo5. This combines all functions inone single plant – screening, scree-nings treatment, grit removal and gritwashing – and ensures cost-efficientoperation. The HUBER RoDisc® RotaryMesh Screen presents itself with animpressively improved performance.Up to 30 individual filter discs increa-se the throughput by approx. 50%compared to the previous model butwith still the same low pressure los-ses and therefore maximum energyefficiency. This micro screen is offe-red for advanced wastewater treat-ment with mesh sizes from as smallas 10 µm. The new RoK 2 StormScreen combines two major functi-ons: throughput measurement withan integrated measuring weir andscreening in one single step. Thetechnology used permits the mostaccurate measurement even with lowflow rates. The measuring weir itselfis sturdy, reliable and inexpensive.

dd HUBER membrane systemsmake wastewater a resource

Innovative HUBER membrane biore-actor systems provide valuable watergenerated from wastewater. They arealready applied to ensure water sup-ply in arid regions. But HUBER offersperfect solutions also for applicationswith space constraints and/or specialwastewater treatment requirements.The new HUBER BioMem® system hasbeen developed to complete theHUBER product range. This innovati-ve system operates according to theSMBR principle. The scouring air isused for both membrane cleaningand biological oxygen supply. Forsmaller applications, the system isavailable as a compact containerisedunit.

ee Sludge disposal – a problemof the future solved today

“The sludge disposal issue and ener-getic utilisation of sewage sludge aregaining in importance worldwide”,says Klaus Martin, HUBER businessunit manager for the sludge treat-ment sector. HUBER has used this asmotivation to expand its product ran-ge for mechanical sludge treatmentand sludge drying. The HUBER sludgethickening program has been com-pleted by a newly developed drumthickener, which is advantageousdue to its high thickening degree andespecially economic efficiency. TheHUBER Solar Active Dryer SRT andthe HUBER belt drying system thatutilises exhaust heat show impressi-vely that even sewage sludge dryingand energy efficiency do not have tobe contradictory.

ff Stainless steel equipment

HUBER stainless steel products arethe best for use in water supply ormunicipal and industrial wastewatertreatment. For their production,HUBER SE has modern technologiesof production. This standard of pro-duction is yielded by well-trained andhighly motivated employees in com-bination with the most modernmachinery. To ensure continuouslyhigh quality for our customers, ourcompany pursues the philosophy of ahigh vertical integration in producti-on. According to our philosophy toexcel in stainless steel, we processthis material solely. As potable wateris our most important resource andshould sufficiently be available for allpeople, Huber considers it especiallyimportant to offer innovative treat-ment techniques particularly for thisfield.

gg Global lifecycle service

Qualified HUBER staff offers experti-se in service for every customer, anyHUBER product, on any site in theworld. This is ensured by our interna-tional local service centres and expe-rienced service engineers on site. Weare always at the side of our custo-mers and their machines and plants,worldwide and a product life long.

Use your chance to experience live“HUBER solutions for today andtomorrow” with their products. Visitus in hall 2 at IFAT 2010.

We look forward to having you as ourguests.

Novelties and innovative products on the HUBER stand

Innovative solutions to increase water and energy efficiency

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WASTE WATER SolutionsWASTE WATER Solutions WASTE WATER Solutions

Mechanical Wastewater Treatment Seite 6

One-hundredth millimetre screens filter 8.43 cubic metres of wastewater per second

28 RoDisc® Rotary Mesh Screens clarifyAsian Games’ wastewater

The 16th Asian Games will take placeat Guangzhou (Guangdong provin-ce), China, from 12 to 27 November.They are the biggest sport event inAsia and held every four years. AllAsians, in a fever of excitement, arewaiting for the Games to begin. Forsuch a major sporting event as theAsian Games the local infrastructureneeds to be modernized and expan-ded. This includes also wastewaterdisposal and treatment plants, thecapacity of which needs to be exten-ded and their technical standardimproved to state-of-the-art.

HUBER received the order for thesupply of 28 RoDisc® Rotary MeshScreens for the largest WWTP in thecity Lie De. The screens will treat thedaily produced wastewater of in totalmore than 2.15 million inhabitantsfrom a connected area of 150 squarekilometres. The peak load will be 8,43cubic metre per second (!). The was-tewater filtered by the 10 micronscreens is virtually solids-free anddischarged into the Pearl River.

The RoDisc® Rotary Mesh Screen is amicro filter and in this project used topretreat the wastewater prior to itstreatment in a UV disinfection plant.Reliable retention of the activatedsludge flocs and fine suspended mat-ter not retained by the secondary cla-rifier is the precondition for a trouble-free and efficient operation of the UVdisinfection plant. The virtuallysolids-free effluent from the disc filterreduces current consumption andincreases the efficiency and life of theUV disinfection plant. The screens

consist of 24 horizontally arrangedrotating filter discs installed on a cen-tral shaft and are submerged by up to60 % while in operation. The filterdiscs remain in rest position duringthe filtration process, which results inlow operating costs. The solids settleby gravity on the filter surfaces them-selves, which leads to gradual blin-ding of the mesh with retained solidsas the filtration process progresses,resulting in an increasing pressuredifferential. When the predefinedmaximum pressure differential hasbeen reached, the solids are removedfrom the filter surfaces by the slowrotation of the filter discs combinedwith a spray nozzle bar. The spraynozzles are pump fed utilising someof the filtered wastewater. The remo-ved solids are washed into a trough

8 RoDisc® 24 screens in the factory just before delivery with the clearly visiblediscs consisting of individual plastic segments

Continued from page 1: New application possibilities

HUBER RoDisc® Rotary MeshScreen ready for the future

Maximum corrosion protection is anindispensable prerequisite in waste-water treatment. HUBER has used apickling bath for many years alreadyto achieve the optimum passivationof stainless steel surfaces. Increasingrequirements (chemicals in filterinlet) and increased use of the DiscFilter for filtration in coastal areas(salt water) made it necessary to gonew ways. HUBER has thereforedeveloped a new type of discs with ahigh-quality polypropylene baseframe.

In addition to increased corrosionresistance, this new type of discs hasother positive effects that open upnew market chances: Due to their sig-nificantly reduced weight the maxi-mum possible number of discs forone machine can be increased from20 to 30. The resulting 50% increasein throughput per machine makes themicro screen affordable also for theoperators of big treatment plantswho want to upgrade their plants.The new design also permits easyreplacement of the filter mesh (stain-less steel or optionally polyester).The filter mesh is attached to the flatframe and can be replaced withoutthe need to dismount the discs.

The method of how the mesh is fixedto the flat frame should be pointedout especially. In contrast to othercommon micro screening technolo-gies on the market, the mesh of theRoDisc® screen is not glued onto theframe but attached and embeddedby means of a special patented ther-mal process. At the point of attach-

Plastic segments of a HUBER RoDisc®screen

ment the mesh is completely sheat-hed by the plastic flat frame materialso that a form-locked connection andthus 100% protection of the attach-ment point against external influen-ces is achieved. Reliable and perma-nent mesh fixture is guaranteed inde-pendent of the use of chemicals forthe reduction of phosphate or endo-crine substances. The innovativemanufacturing technology appliedwith the HUBER RoDisc® screen sets amilestone in disc filter technology.

BU Mechanical Treatment

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HUBER RoDisc® Rotary Mesh Screen

The solution for upgrading a wastewater treatment plant to cope withincreasing loads

Due to the increasing hydraulic loadsand changing settling behaviour ofthe activated sludge, secondary clari-fiers are frequently unable to reliablyensure the solids retention required.The increased COD, BOD and phos-phorus load of the effluent will finallylead to higher wastewater fees andthe loading of the receiving water-course with oxygen-consuming sub-stances. An efficient, economical andfast to implement solution that achie-ves a virtually solids-free effluent ispresented and described below.

The situation on WWTP Winsen

The German municipality Winsen(Aller) is situated in the county Cellein Lower Saxony and counts a total ofabout 13,000 residents in six dis-tricts. Originally built in 1986/87,WWTP Winsen was expanded in2000/2001 including nitrification anddenitrification to be able to handle22,000 PE. The wastewater is deliver-

ed to the wastewater treatmentplants via pump stations. The treat-ment plant consists of a compact unitwith screen and grit trap and ananaerobic settling tank for biologicalphosphorus elimination. The aerationstage consists of two tanks aeratedintermittently and two secondary cla-rification tanks. Simultaneous preci-pitation is possible if required toremove residual phosphorus. The cla-rified water is discharged into theriver Aller, a water of quality class II.The excess sludge simultaneouslystabilised in the aeration stage is thi-ckened mechanically and stored priorto being used in agriculture. The exis-ting aerobic-thermophilic sludge sta-bilisation plant is not operated. Afterthe shutdown of a sewage treatmentplant in one of the neighbour munici-palities also these wastewaters areplanned to be treated on WWTP Win-sen. The new equivalent connectionvalue is therefore 25,000 PE. A recal-culation after this expansion showed

that the existing secondary clarifierwould not be able to reliably meetthe required effluent quality in caseof peak flows of nearly 520 m³/h.Several possibilities were then takeninto consideration, such as addinganother secondary clarification tank,intermediate storage tank at the inletor a downstream filter plant. Themunicipality finally decided in favourof the filter plant because it reliablyclarifies even peak flows and, moreo-ver, is able to take over the functionof a “police” filter in the event of dis-turbances and therefore, all in all, isthe most versatile solution.

Technical description of the HUBERRoDisc® Rotary Mesh Screen

The HUBER RoDisc® Rotary MeshScreen works on the basis of the well-proven drum filter principle. Thescreen consists of horizontally arran-ged rotating filter discs installed on acentral shaft and are submerged byup to 60 %. The disc segments arecovered with a woven polyestermesh (alternatively stainless steelmesh). The wastewater to be treatedflows through the segments frominside to outside and the filtrate isdischarged over a weir at the inletend of the screen. The advantages ofusing such a mesh are in particular

Winsen

situated below the segment openingsprior to being discharged to theWWTP inlet and the filtration processruns on continuously whilst the filterdiscs are being cleaned. One filterdisc consists of 12 individual filtersegments made of high-quality poly-propylene. The filter mesh is in thisproject a stainless steel mesh. Inno-vative thermal embedding has beenapplied to fix the mesh on the filterplates.

The advantages of this sort of meshare in particular its defined separationsize, long life and stability. Thermalembedding achieves the form-lockedconnection of the mesh with the filterplate so that the mesh is durably pro-tected and safely fixed. HUBER hasequipped other large projects in Chi-na with RoDisc® Rotary Mesh Screens.Disc filters have been supplied also tothe WWTPs Shi Jing(6 RoDisc® 30), Jiang Ning I (2 RoDisc®20), Jiang Ning II (4 RoDisc® 26) andWuxi (2 RoDisc® 20). Due to its lowpressure loss and space requirement,the disc filter could be integrated wit-hout the need to change the WWTPconcept but with the result of a signi-ficantly improved and reliable efflu-ent quality that contributes to theprotection of waters in China.

BU Mechanical Treatment

HUBER RoDisc® Rotary Mesh screen installed in a concrete tank

its defined separation size, two-dimensional structure, long life andstability. The filter discs remain in restposition during the filtration process,which results in low operating costs.The solids retained at the screeningsurface lead to water back-up andcause thus the water level to rise withinthe discs and central pipe. When thepredefined maximum water level hasbeen reached, the solids are removedfrom the filter surfaces by the slowrotation of the filter discs combinedwith a spray nozzle bar. The spraynozzles are pump fed utilising someof the filtered wastewater (internal

wash water circulation), this elimina-tes the need for external water sup-ply. The removed solids are washedinto a trough situated below the seg-ment openings prior to being dischar-ged and the filtration process runs oncontinuously whilst the filter discs arebeing cleaned. The resulting level dif-ference between the water levelinside the central shaft and inside theconcrete tank is the driving forcewithin the filtration process and ren-ders unnecessary wastewater liftingor sucking off.

BU Mechanical Treatment

Guangzhou

WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 7 Sludge TreatmentWASTE WATER Solutions

Berching

Continued from page 1: General overview

Sewage sludge treatment, quo vadis?

Sewage sludge is continuously gene-rated on municipal and industrialwastewater treatment plants duringthe process of organic pollutantdegradation. In the past years, the

annual volume of municipal sewageexceeded 10 million tons dry sub-stance in Europe alone, and the trendcontinues upward. Due to the verydifferent rates of connection in the

a Sludge Acceptance Plant b sludge screening c dewatering d drying e exhaust air treatment f thickening

Ua

Uc

Ud

Uf

Ub

Ue

Uc

Sludge drying plant supplied to Shenzhen, South China

Start-up of the biggest sewage sludge drying plant in the world

Start-up work of the drying plantin Shenzhen, South China is infull swing. After the planningphase and delivery & installati-on, start-up of the in total fourdrying lines type BT+ 5-4 is pre-sently carried out. In cooperationwith the customer, even difficultproject phases could be mana-ged so that two lines can alreadybe operated.

The contract for the large-scale pro-ject Shenzhen was signed more thantwo years ago. After the relatively

short but intensive planning phase,the manufacture of the dryers in theHUBER factory started still in 2008and also the purchase parts wereordered at that time. In January 2009,the first part delivery comprising theequipment for two of the treatmentlines was sent to Shenzhen. A total of137 seawater-resistant boxes werenecessary to ship the equipment.Delivery of the equipment for line 3and 4 took place three months later.

Installation was carried out by a localcrew supported by HUBER service

staff. Two lines were ready to be ope-rated after only six months installationtime (including buildings). When thefirst test runs of line 1 and 2 started,line 3 and 4 were ready to be instal-led. At the end of 2009, the first twolines were started up with sludge.They dry 200 tons per day with a DScontent of 18 – 22% to 70% DS.

During the start-up phase of theother two lines the plant operation iscontinuously optimised to most per-fectly meet the specific requirementsof the Chinese sewage sludge, whichis significantly different from Europe-an sludge. Sludge testing beforehandwas impossible as the complete was-tewater treatment plant of the 13 mil-lion city Shenzen was expanded andupgraded while the drying plant wasinstalled.

In the course of project planningdiverse assumptions had to be madeand corrected during the start-upphase. Owing two the many years ofexperience of the start-up team andHUBER process engineers, optimisa-tion of the drying plant on site willpresumably be completed by Octo-ber 2010.

We will try to completely finish thisproject and give it over to the custo-mer by the end of the year. About 400tons of sludge per day will then bedried by this HUBER belt drying plant.

BU Sludge Treatment Condensation stage of line 1

Typical sewage sludges: liquid – pasty – solid

individual countries, with e.g. a rateof virtually 100 % in the EU memberstates, and therefore regionally verydifferent sewage sludge volumes it isonly understandable that there arecontroversial approaches as regardssludge disposal ways.

In some countries, due to new legisla-tion and eco-political consideration,some disposal methods have beenprohibited or at least restricted, suchas landfilling of sewage sludge. Formany states the recovery of materi-als contained within sewage sludgestill plays an important role. Thisapplies to both landscaping and slud-ge spreading on agricultural land.The fertilization effect of sewagesludge and especially its phosphoruscontent is normally sufficient to coverthe nutrients demand of typical agri-cultural land.

On the other hand, there are a lot ofcountries where the agricultural

application of sewage sludge is metwith much scepticism due to itspotential heavy metal pollution andcontent of organic pollutants, such asPFT. In these countries there has beena clear trend towards concepts forthermal sewage sludge treatment forsome years already, partly combinedwith the approach to recover thephosphorus contained within sewagesludge.

Against this political and economicbackground it is understandable thatthe sewage sludge disposal issue canbe discussed quite controversially.Even if there is no generally acceptedconcept for future sewage sludge dis-posal existing presently, adequatesludge pre-treatment is required withall concepts described above.

A major pre-treatment step is to redu-ce the water content of the sludge.Sewage sludge generated on waste-water treatment plants typically

shows a DS between 1 and 5%depending on where exactly it isgenerated. The average DS contentof digested sludge is 4 %. This meansthat one cubic metre of digestedsewage sludge contains 960 l, whichwould permanently have to be trans-ported without prior dewatering.

The major benefits of dewatering anddrying are weight and volumereduction and the increased thermalvalue. Consequently, the processchain that allows for later thermal uti-lisation of dried sewage sludge com-prises the steps of prior screening,thickening and drying.

Screening – thickening – dewate-ring – drying – utilisation – allfrom one source

BU Sludge Treatment

Line 3 during installation

Shenzhen

WASTE WATER SolutionsWASTE WATER Solutions WASTE WATER Solutions

Sludge Treatment Seite 8

HUBER ROTAMAT® Screw Press demonstrates its efficiency

HUBER Technology, Inc (HUBER USA) is accomplishing capture of anincreasing market share of the municipal solids dewatering market

The North American subsidiary,HUBER Technology, Inc (HUBER USA)is accomplishing capture of anincreasing market share of the muni-cipal solids dewatering market. Initi-ally, the RoS 3.2 Inclined Screw Pressdemonstrated that simplicity, reliabi-lity, and unattended operation of adewatering press were possible. Thedominant technologies in the USA fordewatering have historically been

solid foothold into the Municipal mar-ket was realized. Starting small,HUBER USA picked up single ordersannually the following couple ofyears until 2005. Through solid salesand marketing effort backed byHUBER competence, quality and ser-vice, HUBER has seen a steadyincrease in the volume of orders forthe RoS 3 technology.

As HUBER USA was getting moreinvolved earlier in the design andselection it became increasinglyapparent that the RoS 3.2 technologycould match performance of the com-peting FKC technology but not showany great improvement over thecompetitor in terms of performanceof cake solids produced. Other factorssuch as, smaller size, quality con-struction, superior capture ratesgave the RoS 3.2 an edge on thescrew press competition. However,the real key to establishing increasedmarket share was going after theCentrifuge in matching performanceand exceeding it with chemical andelectrical efficiencies.

The breakthrough came with intro-duction of the RoS 3Q Inclined ScrewPress technology. Initially data provi-ded with the RoS 3Q technology didnot really show any appreciable diffe-rence in the capabilities as comparedto the RoS3.2 and the FKC designs.Much of the data available at thattime for the RoS 3Q did not have ade-quate enough understanding on howthe system would behave on WasteActivated (WAS), Aerobically Diges-ted Secondary, and Membrane BioReactor (MBR) sludges. This type ofsludge makes up a majority of theplants in the United States.

HUBER USA understood the impor-tance and the timeliness of the intro-duction of the RoS 3Q to the NorthAmerican market. It was decided toproactively invest in a pilot programto gather and accumulate an extensi-ve database representative of thebiological thin sludges representativeof a majority the USA treatmentplants. Through a series of planningmeetings with the Sales and Techni-cal departments it was determinedthat a pilot tour of weekly demonstra-tions to be developed and manned byproperly trained HUBER technicians.This has been, at first glance a costlyundertaking, which has proven overtime to be highly effective. HUBERUSA has been able to collect the tar-geted database while simultaneouslydemonstrating HUBER competence,quality, and service. With a headstart for FKC well underway, this wasa key strategy for HUBER to providehands-on direct experience for thecustomer. To date this work is resul-ting in direct procurement orders andpreferential positioning for contract

tenders. A recent order and installati-on of two RoS 3Q 440 units for Kenne-bunk, Maine was the direct result ofthis strategy. This project involvedthe replacement of an existing 2meter Belt Filter Press. The two RoS3Q 440’s fit in smaller footprint thanexisting 2M BFP. Much to the delightof the operators at Kennebunk, it wasshown that once the unit was com-missioned and put into service theunits were able to have higherthroughput then originally designedfor.

Of even more significance was thediscovery that the RoS 3Q wasdemonstrating results on thin biologi-cal sludges (0.5% DS – 2% DS) thatmet or surpassed Centrifuge techno-logies. We observed a marked impro-

Distribution screw for dewatered sludge, Kennebunk

Dewatered sludge

Two RoS 3Q 440 units installed on WWTP Kennebunk

Willis T. Emmons, manager of WWTP Kennebunk (left) and Greg Claffey ofHUBER Technology Inc. (right)

the Belt Filter Press (BFP) and theCentrifuge. It has been the introducti-on of the RoS 3Q Inclined Screw Pressthat has created a driving force tomove HUBER to the forefront in muni-cipal solids dewatering.

North America’s initial impression ofthe Screw Press was tainted by apoorly designed and inadequatelysupported vertical screw press intro-duced in the early eighties known asthe Somat (http://www.somatcompa-ny.com). It never performed well withmunicipal biological sludges. After a

comparable results to Belt Filter Pres-ses and not able to achieve resultsthat could match Centrifuge techno-logy. However, it was the simplicityand automatic unattended operationthat secured the market for ScrewPress technologies.

Even though HUBER USA can traceinitial installations of the RoS 3.2Inclined Screw Press as far back as1996 with sales of RoS 3.2 units toHydroxyl in Canada, it wasn’t untilthe breakthrough installation at OldTown WWTP in Maine in 2003 that a

long quiescent period, through care-ful specific sales and marketingefforts, FKC Ltd through its subsidiaryin the USA made major in-roadstowards the acceptance of screwpress technology as being a viablechoice in the municipal solids dewa-tering market. While the design wasgreatly improved from the Somatdays, the performance of the FKCtechnology was only able to produce

vement of the performance of theRoS 3Q over the RoS 3.2 design. Notonly did this mean that we surpassour primary screw press competitor(FKC) in performance of cake solidsand capture rate; it also opened thedoor to direct competition to the Cen-trifuge. Similar to the Kennebunkdecision, a decision by PACE Enginee-ring was made to purchase a RoS 3Q800 unit for their new Santa PaulaWWTP in California as a direct resultof a pilot at another one of their faci-lities. They had previously standardi-zed on centrifuges for their plants.However, the pilot showed them theycould achieve similar results with asignificant savings in chemical costsas well as maintenance and energycosts.

Two important tests recentlyunderscored this breakthrough. Upuntil recently we had not been direct-ly compared to Centrifuge testing.Indirectly our testing had shown com-parable results. However, recentlycompleted testing side-by-side with amajor Centrifuge manufacturer forthree weeks at Orange County, Flori-da facilities demonstrated that the

to a large well publicized FKC installa-tion at Monterey Bay, California. Afterobserving the results of the LakeArrowhead trials the engineer had acomplete change of attitude andbegan to cooperate with HUBER onthe design details for the client.

Some of the lessons learned alongthis journey are; it is important to beinvolved in the supply of entire “sys-tem”. There are many variables thataffect the performance that producethese reported results. The entireprocess needs to be known. Specialattention needs to be considered forpolymer mixing and proper operation.

The other lesson learned is that weobserved a much higher performancecapability for thin sludge (WAS, MBR)than initially reported. If we had notconducted this extensive pilot strate-gy HUBER USA would most likely nothave any appreciable installationbase due to lack of experience and amachine sized too large to be compe-titive.

HUBER USA

RoS 3Q technology could match theperformance of a Centrifuge on thinbiological sludge. Immediately follo-wing the Orange County testing thepilot was brought to a test at LakeArrowhead, California. The same Cen-trifuge manufacturer followed imme-diately after the RoS 3Q west testedin California.

Similar results to what was observedat Orange County, FL were observedat the facility in California. What wassignificant about this testing at LakeArrowhead was that; it was overseenby a major engineering firm whichwas convinced that a screw presscould not handle “fines” (capturerate) well and could not produce thesame cake solids as a centrifuge. Thiswas primarily due to their exposure

ArrowheadOrange County

Kennebunk

WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 9 Sludge TreatmentWASTE WATER Solutions

Reliably operating ROTAMAT® Screw Press RoS 3Q

Sludge dewatering on the Caribbean Islands

“I would say we chose it because it'sclean, efficient and best value formoney”, says Sam Neilands, projectmanager in reference to the purchaseof Huber’s highly successful screwpress RoS 3Q. Three units were pur-chased for the dewatering of MBRsludge on the islands of Barbadosand St.Vincent. Stringent effluentregulations make MBR technologythe preferred technology to treatwastewater in this region.

To date most sludge generated bythese MBR units is picked up by lor-ries and then transported to the locallandfills. However increasing trans-port and disposal costs and space

restrictions on these relatively smallislands are making wast water treat-ment plant owners in the Caribbeanregion understand the necessity ofhaving to treat and dewater theirsludge. The initial investment costsare guaranteed to be compensatedwithin a very short period of time.Sludge dewatering with our sludgescrew press completes the packageHuber can provide for one of the mostadvanced wastewater treatment sys-tems, pretreatment – MBR units –sludge dewatering.

HUBER’s RoS 3Q is a simple yet veryefficient system which consists of ascrew rotating at slow velocity, enclo-

ROTAMAT® Screw Press RoS 3Q installation on the Caribbean Islands

sed in a cylindrical sieve. The equip-ment transports and dewaters thesludge as it reaches a pressure coneat the end of the screw where thedewatered sludge is then discharged.The excess water is collected in thebottom of a housing which surroundsthe screw and sieve unit. This hou-sing also keeps odours in and anydangerous objects out.

As testing of the RoS 3Q was verysuccessful at the plant of Monheim inGermany we recommended using thesame model for our applications inthe Caribbean. To date three RoS 3Qhave been sold in the Caribbeanregion. All projects were acquired byNewwater Inc, HUBER Latin Ameri-ca’s local representative for theCaribbean region. Coverley Plantation,a national housing development onthe island of Barbados was our firstscrew press sold.

The treatment plant with membraneunits is planned to handle an averageof 1016 m3/d of wastewater in itssecond phase. We expect it to gene-rate 33 m3/d of sludge which will bedewatered by one of our RoS Q440’s.St. Vincent is where our second RoSQ440 unit will be installed. This luxu-ry estate project called BuccamentBay will produce a wastewater flow of

1706 m3/d. The third RoS 3Q willcome completely pre-installed on atrailer including the polymer unit andall additional equipment necessaryfor sludge dewatering. This screw

press is a mobile “plug and play” unitwhich will be let to dewater many ofwastewater treatment plants on theisland of Barbados.

HUBER Latin America

HUBER supplied sewage treatment equipment to a site in Oman

BS belt filter press for MBR sludge dewatering in Oman

Not for the first time, HUBER SEequipped a sewage treatmentplant in Oman with sludge dewa-tering machines. The belt filterpress BS Combi delivered to AlAnab New STP proves its extraor-dinary efficiency in membranesludge dewatering.

The first HUBER belt filter pressestype BS supplied to Oman wereinstalled on STP Darsait in 2003. STPDarsait is one of several wastewatertreatment plants in the Omani capital

Muscat. In 2005, HUBER submittedoffers for the tender for another STPin Muscat, Al Ansab New STP, and in2006 received the order for three beltfilter presses, type BS Combi. Thespecific feature of Al Ansab STP isthat it is not connected to a sewersystem, i.e. the wastewater, approx.52,000 m³ per day, is delivered to siteexclusively by tanker vehicles.

After mechanical pretreatment thewastewater is further treated in aMBR plant. This treatment process

Convoy of tanker vehicles delivering wastewater to Al Ansab New STP

generates a daily rate of approx. 680m³ sewage sludge with 16 g/l DSsolids content. This sludge is thicke-ned in one single process step by theBS Combi belt filter press that disch-arges a spadeable press cake. The BSCombi system consists of a belt thi-ckener directly installed on a belt fil-ter press. The belt thickener separa-tes approx. 80% of the inflow beforethe belt filter press further reducesthe prethickened sludge volume byanother 70%.

The advantages of combined thicke-ning and dewatering:

➤ Minimal space requirements

➤ Individual adjustability of thicke-ning and dewatering

➤ No additional conveying units orbuffer tank required between thi-ckening and dewatering system

➤ No additional flocculant dosingsystem required prior to dewate-ring

➤ Wash water demand completelycovered by filtrate water from thethickening process

A total of three treatment lines havebeen installed at Al Ansab to treat thesewage sludge. Always two of the

lines are operated at a time for about10 h/d and 7 d/w. Each line consists ofa belt thickener with 2 m filter beltwidth and a belt filter press with 1.8m belt width. When the sludge dewa-tering plant was put into operation inFebruary 2010, all guaranteed valuescould be achieved or even exceededright from the beginning.

The total separation degree of 96%corresponds to a solids load withinthe filtrate of only 70 mg/l with aninlet DS of 16 g/l. In view of the factthat the membrane sludge with 90%

loss on ignition shows an extraordina-rily high organics content, the achie-ved DR content of 24.0 in the presscake is exceptional.

In addition to the belt filter presseswith polymer conditioning and con-trol technology, also three RPPSscreens for mechanical pretreatmentand two COANDA Grit Washers inclu-ding control systems have meanwhi-le been delivered to Al Ansab New STPand put into operation.

BU Sludge Treatment

Two lines of the BS Combi belt filter presses with belt thickeners mounted ontop before start-up

Guarantee value Start-up result

Throughput[kgDR/h*line)

650 660

Press cake DR [%] 22.0 24.0

Total separationdegree [%]

95.0 96.0

Polymer consumption[kgWS/tDR]

8 7.5

Caribbean Islands

Oman

WASTE WATER SolutionsWASTE WATER Solutions WASTE WATER Solutions

Filtration & ReUse Seite 10

A large university under construction

HUBER supplies a MBR sewage treatment plant to Najran University

HUBER Technology Middle Eastrecently received a six million orderto supply the equipment for a mem-brane wastewater treatment plant tothe University of Narjan in the King-dom of Saudi Arabia. The HUBERscope of supply includes the techni-cal equipment for the individual bio-logical treatment stages, 16 VRM®30/480 units and four ROTAMAT®Complete Plants Ro 5, size 120 l/s.The start-up of the equipment isplanned to be completed in May2011. Najran (Aarabic þنارجنý) is acity in southwestern Saudi Arabianear the frontier with Yemen. It is thecapital of Najran Province and one ofthe fastest growing cities in SaudiArabia with a population growth from47,000 in 1974 and 90,983 in 1992 tonearly 250,000 in 2004. Najran can

look back on thousand years of histo-ry. It once was an oasis in the settlingarea of the Muh’amir at the beginningof the Incense Route and therefore ofgreat strategic importance. First mili-tant conflicts took place as early as685 B.C. and continued through thefollowing centuries. Under theAbyssinian influence, a huge Chris-tian community developed thatformed an alliance with Aksum at thebeginning of the 6th century. KingYusuf Asar Yathar, a follower ofJudaism, conquered Najran in 517and caused a massacre among Chris-tians who henceforth have beenknown as the martyrs of Najran. Inthe following years Najran becameless important and in 1934 the formerYemeni city was annexed by SaudiArabia. Bedouins in search of water

Narjan University with the two central campuses, one for men and one for women

view of the low precipitation amountsin this region a MBR sewage treat-ment plant was put out to tender toprovide for the possibility to reuse thetreated water. HUBER TechnologyMiddle East submitted an offer andwas successful. They recentlyreceived the order to supply theequipment for four treatment lines ata total volume in excess of five mil-lion Euro. They furthermore have thechance that the order will be extend-ed in the course of the coming yearand they will be commissioned tosupply also for the other three treat-ment lines. All treatment lines areoperated independently and consist

of an approx. 1,100 m3 balancingtank, an approx. 500 m3 denitrifica-tion tank and a 1,000 m3 bio-tank.The complete technical equipmentfor these tanks is included in theHUBER scope of supply. The maincomponents to be supplied are fourVRM® 30/480 units and a ROTAMAT®Complete Plant Ro 5 (size 120 l/s)with a RPPS 780/3 screen per treat-ment line. According to the supplycontract the first start-up phase isscheduled to be completed within thefirst quarter of 2011 – certainly anambitious schedule but we look for-ward to rising to this challenge.

BU Filtration & ReUse

CONTIFLOW® Sandfilter CFSF

The solution for tertiary filtration, wastewater reuse and process water

Increasing requirements on effluentqualities to protect our waters aremore and more gaining in importancein industrialised nations while in lessdeveloped countries, mostly with aridor semi-arid climatic conditions, theavailability of water for irrigation stillhas priority. Natural resources prima-rily have to be used for human con-sumption so that only a small part ofthe available water resources can beused to generate food through agri-culture. In this respect, especially thereuse of wastewater is increasinglybecoming important, after its treat-ment adapted to the purpose.

One option is wastewater treatmentin MBR plants, but even conventionaltreatment systems are able to meetat least the minimum requirementsfor irrigation. Conventional treat-ment in municipal sewage plants pro-vides for this purpose subsequentsandfiltration followed by UV disin-fection, chlorination or ozonisation.Well proven HUBER CONTIFLOW®Sandfilters are used for deep bed filtra-tion with simultaneous backwashingand washing of the contaminatedsand. Despite filter velocities of up to15 m/h the frequently stringent efflu-ent requirements concerning turbidi-ties are reliably met. Regenerationand standstill times, as typical forother filtration processes, can com-pletely be omitted due to discontinu-ous or continuous sand washing

stainless steel materials or combina-tion with phosphate removal makeeach project an individual solution.The plants have meanwhile all putinto operation and shown excellenteffluent values to the full satisfactionof the customer. Three of the projectsare presented here in more detail asexamples.

Rincon de Leon

Rincon de Leon is situated near thebathing resort Alicante on the Medi-terranean coast of the Iberian Penin-sula. The filtration plant is designedfor an hourly wastewater throughputof 2,100 m ³ and consists of five filtra-tion lines with 10 CONTIFLOW® Sand-filters as concrete design each. Therelatively high rate of industrial wastewater in combination with thecoastal location make it necessary touse duplex stainless steel for built-incomponents, and PVC and PE forpipelines and other built-in parts.Beside turbidity removal, the focus ison the precipitation and removal ofphosphorus to protect the downstreamhollow fibre membrane plant, whichwas installed at the beginning of this

year and since recently has been inthe start-up and run-in phase.

Alcantarilla

Alcantarilla is situated near the largeSpanish city Murcia. Due to thenecessity of service water recoverythrough tertiary treatment the city’swastewater treatment plant wasretrofitted with HUBER Sandfilters.The 14 filters are designed for athroughput of 160 l/s and installed astwo lines. Start-up took place at thebeginning of this year. The two-lineconcept allows the operator to useone or two lines, as necessary, forvarying inflows. This extremely ener-gy-efficient method of operation con-vinced the customer already in theoffer phase and the efficiency hasalso been proven by the plant opera-tion so far.

Barranco Seco

The WWTP Barranco Seco, designedfor approx. 20,000 PE, is situated onthe sunny Canary Island Tenerife. Inorder to protect the picturesquescenery and coast line it had becomenecessary to retrofit the WWTP with a

third treatment stage. Three stain-less steel CONTIFLOW® Sandfilters,size 72, were installed and put intooperation in the middle of the pastyear. Due to local law concerning thesafeguarding of jobs at least a part ofthe equipment to be supplied had tobe manufactured by local companies.The tanks were therefore provided bya local steelwork company.

The built-in components for the tanksand the complete control systems,however, were manufactured in Ger-many. To sum up, it can be said thatthe cooperation, implementation andstart-up of the plant went off verywell. In the future, this example ofprocessing a project is to be appliedmore frequently on the CanaryIslands. The total order volume of allprojects described before is approxi-mately 2.2 million Euros. We wish totake this opportunity to thank ourSpanish subsidiary HUBER EspanaS.L. and the final customer for theirgood cooperation and speedy processing and implementation ofthe projects.

BU Filtration & ReUse

Built-in components of CFSF 50 C – interaction of different materials withcorrosive waters

cycles. In combination with theHUBER Sandfilter, also process vari-ants are possible, such as phosphateremoval or post-denitrification. In thecourse of the past year, several CON-TIFLOW® Sandfilter projects could beimplemented in the very dry Spanishregions Alicante and Murcia and onthe Canary Islands. Characteristic forall these projects are their specialeffluent requirements and the condi-tions on site. High quality stainlesssteel, a combination of plastic and

were the first to settle in the Najranregion. Due to the continental cli-mate prevailing there the averageannual precipitation did not exceed88 mm. Nevertheless, agriculturewas developing over the centuries,while the industrial development inthis region is still ongoing. This factwas one of the reasons why theMinistry of Education of Saudi Arabiapreferred this region when it came toinvest into a 0.5 billion Euro project.

Najran University is located east ofthe city in the middle of the desert.Covering an area of more than 18 mil-lion square metres it will in the futurebe one of the biggest university com-plexes in the Kingdom of Saudi Ara-bia, uniting 15 academic institutesunder one roof. The complexdesigned for a total of 45,000 stu-dents will be divided into two cam-puses, one for men and one forwomen.

The university complex will furtherhouse a medical city, research anddevelopment centre, sports andentertainment facilities and dormito-ries for teaching staff, clerks and stu-dents. The erection of a hotel andcommercial centre began alreadysome years ago. The development ofthe areal included a sewage treat-ment plant for the treatment of thewastewater generated there. Thetender specification was for approx.36,288 m³/d divided into seven treat-ment lines for approx. 5,184 m³/d or120 l/s throughput for 2 hrs each. In

Size comparison: Sandfilter with 20 filters (bottom left) – total WWTP forapprox. 150,000 PE

Najran University

AlicanteMurcia

Canary Islands

WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 11 Filtration & ReUseWASTE WATER Solutions

Not cheap but sustainable and profitable

An example of wastewater reuse with MBR in Indonesia

Water is the basis of life, of agricultu-ral utilisation and industrial develop-ment. The access to water, however,is not the same for all people. Publishedfigures are self-explanatory: 1.1 billi-on people are without satisfactoryaccess to potable water and 2.6 billi-on have to live without adequatesanitation. Especially rural, decentra-lized areas and rapidly growingmegacities are a challenge in termsof adequate water supply and sanita-tion. In 25 years, according to UNprognosis, two third of the people on

Clean drinking water supply – a global challenge

Jakarta – a megacity with approx. 18 million residents

HUBER VacuumRotationMembrane VRM® Bioreactor

Economic efficiency of a MBR plant with reuse of wastewater for the air conditioning system

our planet will be living in cities andmore and more megacities will bedeveloping. While, in 1950, therewere only two megacities with morethan eight million residents, we willhave 36 of them in 2015.

Cities are growing due to increasingmigration from the land by peoplesearching for work in cities becauseof their bad living conditions in ruralareas. All the people living in megaci-ties not only need food but also drin-king water and adequate wastewaterdisposal systems. This will involvehigh future requirements on the effi-ciency of water line and sewer net-works. The insular state of Indonesiais commonly not associated withwater shortage. Situated in the damptropical areas with an annual precipi-tation of approx. 2,000 mm, Indone-sia is rather faced with floodingsduring the monsoon. But the exactopposite is true.

Due to far progressed karstification,natural storage of precipitation isimpossible and especially cleanwater shortage is prevailing in largecities. Jakarta, capital of Indonesiawith about 18 million residents, is oneof the megacities of our days and hasto cope with all the challenges of anexplosive population growth. Oneproblem is the excessive overexploi-tation of water resources. Jakarta haswater supply and dewatering sys-tems designed for about 500,000 per-sons. Its infrastructure could not keep

pace with the explosive growth. Manyof the new development areas arenot connected to drinking water andwastewater systems. The populationgrowth leads to massive overexploi-tation of groundwater resources andas a result to sinking groundwaterlevels and very salty water becausethe groundwater level today lies 30 mbelow sea level. At such a depth,access to water via wells is virtuallyimpossible. Existing sewer systemsare hopelessly overloaded. The was-tewater runs off untreated and conta-

minates the few still available waterresources. Air conditioning systemsand parks, both signs of prosperity,use up huge amounts of preciousdrinking water. Clean water is beco-ming scarcer and scarcer and there-fore more expensive, too. Meanwhile,drinking water is twice as expensiveas fuel. Since it is unfeasible to equipthe cities with new wastewater dispo-

water treatment with the option ofwater reuse represent a key techno-logy for solving the problems descri-bed above. In the course of the pastyears several HUBER MBR plants ofdifferent size and for different appli-cations have been installed in Indo-nesia and aroused the public interest.Three big HUBER MembraneClear-Box® plants are working for three firestations in the middle of a conurbati-on.

The previous wastewater treatmentsystem consisted of wastewaterdischarge into simple cesspools andrepeatedly untreated wastewater gotmixed with groundwater. With thenew MBR plants the clarified and dis-infected wastewater (approx. 25 m³per day and plant) serves for cleaningof the fire trucks and filling the tankervehicles. They represent an efficientsolution for wastewater treatment,water reuse and groundwater pro-tection. A HUBER Vacuum RotationMembrane (VRM®) treats the waste-water from the government buildingsin a big Indonesian province, which isa volume of about 250 m³/day.

The specific advantages of membra-ne technology, small volumes andomission of a secondary clarifier, ren-dered it possible to upgrade the oldoverloaded non-expandable sewagetreatment plant installed below thepark of the government buildings.Also in this case the treated wastewa-ter is reused, particularly for the airconditioning system and irrigation ofthe parks. A renowned hotel groupoperates several hotels on Sumatra,one of them in the northern part ofthe Sumatra Utara province.

water is treated by a HUBER MBRplant installed in the cellar of thehotel while the rest of the wastewaterflows into the sewer system. Sine2008, they have irrigated their greenareas with permeate and saved thehigh costs for fresh water. Another

plant is installed in an industrial com-pany, a manufacturer of tobacco pro-ducts in Indonesia and a member ofPhilip Morris Group. In view of increa-sing effluent standards and thenecessity to generate service waterfor internal purposes, they decided in2007 to invest into a new MBR plant.

The complete equipment was sup-plied in mid 2007 and consisted of apreliminary screen, dissolved air flo-tation plant and MBR plant.

The plant was put into operation ayear later by our Indonesian partnersGrahadikia and since is deliveringapprox. 180 m³/d high-quality servicewater, which is used for irrigation andcleaning purposes. The followingexample of a VRM® installation inJakarta proves that these applicati-ons in Indonesia represent reasona-ble solutions not only in the ecologi-cal but as well in the economicalsense. The membrane plant installedon the third basement floor of a towerwith shopping centre and officesoffers a capacity of 2,200 m³/d, whichdue to the high effluent quality canbe fed into the air conditioning andcooling system.

A comparison of the investments intothe complete clarification technologywith the water fees otherwise payablefor the operation of the air conditio-ning plant, shows that the MBR sys-tem pays off after only about 1.5years! The basic data for this econo-mic efficiency comparison are listedin the right margin of the below table.With a water price of 1.00 €/m³ a con-servative basis was used; the actualprice in Indonesia is traded at about2-3 $/m³. An electricity price of 0.10m³/kWh was assumed, although the

costs for industry customers lie atabout 50% of this price. A 2.5 %/a pri-ce inflation was taken into accountfor mechanical and electrical equip-ment and construction technique,further interest rates and a deprecia-tion of 10% and 3 years, or 16% and 8years respectively, as well as thecomplete re-investment costs forspares and wear parts for 10 years.

With a less conservative but fromtoday’s point of view realisticapproach related to water price andelectricity costs the MBR plant wouldbe more efficient even within lessthan a year than a plant withoutwater reuse. This example shows thatthe operator profits within a veryshort time from his investment intoadequate clarification technologywith the option of water reuse, in thiscase 1.5 million Euro.

To sum up, it can be said that all the-se applications have one thing incommon: They substantially contri-bute to the sustainable protection ofthe scarce resource drinking waterand ensure independence and securi-ty of supply, combined with the eco-nomic benefit for the plant operatorwho can save the high costs for freshwater when reusing treated wastewa-ter.

BU Filtration & ReUse

sal systems, the government moreand more favours decentralised solu-tions for local wastewater treatmentwater reuse. Against this back-ground, membrane plants for waste-

Although the wastewater there isdischarge through a sewer system, itis even profitable due to high waterprices to treat only a part of the was-tewater flow. About 250 m³/d waste-

Jakarta

WASTE WATER SolutionsWASTE WATER Solutions WASTE WATER Solutions

Filtration & ReUse / Stainless Steel Equipment Seite 12

Continued from page 1: The innovation in global water management

HUBER BioMem® MBR / SMBR

Economic growth in conurbationsdepends on a functioning watermanagement on all levels. Also thedevelopment of tourist centres innew holiday regions depends on indi-vidual, low-cost and (flexible) decen-tralised solutions for wastewater andirrigation systems. This refers also tosmall remote towns, villages, facto-ries and production facilities in ruralareas. Decentralised water manage-ment solutions furthermore result incost savings, plant safety and inde-pendence of public systems. Indivi-dual local solutions are the solutionsof the future.

Under these aspects, the HUBER Bio-Mem® SMBR system has been develo-ped for decentralised applicationsworldwide:

➤ hotels with seasonal load peaks

➤ suburban settlements in aridregions

➤ remote villages with high waste-water quality requirements

➤ small factories and productionfacilities

➤ permeate reuse for irrigation

Particular attention has been paid tooperational safety by using a two-line

Berching

HUBER BioMem® SMBR for buildingHUBER BioMem® SMBR for container

wastewater treatment plant with alimited number of components.

Plant set-up

The HUBER BioMem® SMBR system isa modular system consisting of indi-vidual filtration units that are combi-ned as required due to specific waste-water and combined water volumes.Standardised sizes make the system

available for plant sizes of 200 – 2500PE (25 – 600m³/d). The HUBER Bio-Mem® SMBR system is available as aconventional concrete design or as amobile containerised unit wired rea-dy for connection.

On the basis of the concept “a com-plete sewage treatment plant fromone source“ associated componentsare available as optional modules,such as machines for mechanical pre-treatment, phosphate precipitation,excess sludge disposal, or evenequipment for remote control anddata protection. Interfaces are clearlydefined and the customer has onesingle contact for advice and support.

The HUBER BioMem® system consistsof mechanical pretreatment, buffertank for flow equalisation and MBRplant. The MBR plant consists of anaeration tank with a two-line filtrationplant. The two-line design increasesoperating reliability. And if the two-line design is realised in two cham-bers, the plant can be adjusted tovarying wastewater flows, such as

seasonal fluctuations. One of thechambers can be connected or dis-connected as needed withoutaffecting operating safety.

The principle of the HUBER BioMem®SMBR is based on the combination ofa conventional MBR process andsequential feeding. The so-calledSMBR process simplifies biologicalwastewater treatment and filtrationwithin one tank. This unique techni-que is possible as the scouring airwithin the SMBR reactor is used bothfor “mechanical” purposes (membra-ne cleaning), mixing within thereactor through loop flow generationand biological functions (oxygen sup-ply for wastewater clarificationthrough microorganisms).

Air tubes are provided below the fil-tration unit that reduce the air intakeby up to 60 % compared to conven-tional MBR plants. The wastewater isbiologically treated within theaeration tank and periodically drawnoff through the membrane modulesby applying an underpressure. Filtra-

tion with ultrafiltration membranesthat have a pore size of 40 nm (1,500times smaller than the diameter of ahuman hair) retains virtually allgerms and bacteria. The dischargedpermeate can be reused as servicewater or for irrigation.

Due to the low mean loading withaverage filtration performances, fre-quent chemical regeneration as typi-cal for flat membranes is reduced tointervals of approx. 4 to 8 months.The generated excess sludge isdrawn off periodically and stored in atank. As an option, the sludge can bethickened mechanically.

The concept of the HUBER BioMem®sewage treatment plant offers thecustomer a quick to implement, indi-vidually adapted and cost-effectivesolution that meets his specific requi-rements. HUBER standards guaran-tee high quality of engineering andproducts: engineering, optimisationand service from one source – fromspecialists with a global know-how.

BU Filtration & ReUse

HABA drinking water reservoir system with HUBER equipment

HABA-Beton, Nußdorf/Austria builds adrinking water storage tank

Concrete is a reliable, well-provenmaterial. Virtually all drinking waterstorage tanks are made of in-situconcrete. There are drinking waterreservoir systems available in GFKand PE material. Heinz Bruno Bern-hauser of HTI Schmidt’s Weyland atSchärding, Austria had the idea tooffer a system made of concrete. Thewell known company HABA-Betonmanufactured the first prototype attheir factory in Nußdorf, Lower Aus-tria and exhibit it there. Since May2010, planners and Wassergenossen-schaften are welcome to visit the pro-totype on the company’s grounds.HUBER supplied the following com-ponents as basic equipment:

➤ Partition wall between the valveand water chamber

➤ Attack-proof door TT 2.1 with lou-vre and fly gird

➤ Air filter plant L25 complete withsafety valve and manometer

The partition wall is installed as endwall in the water-filled connectionpiece between the water chambers

equipped with a HEPA filter, classH13, complying with DIN EN 1822-1.This filter class is defined by a gravi-metric separation degree of 99.95 %and is for example also used in hospi-tals to filter the supply air to operationrooms which needs to be germ-free.More details are provided on ourhomepage www.huber.de under“drinking water storage”.

With this product HTI and HABA offerthe operators comprehensive safetyand certified quality – all from onesource and with high quality compo-nents. Building and refurbishment ofdrinking water storage tanks will bepresented also at IFAT 2010 on thejoint stand “Blue Facts – Internationa-les Kompetenzzentrum Trinkwasser“(international competence centre fordrinking water).

BU Stainless Steel Equipment

and valve chambers each and inclu-des all passage openings required.

➤ Intake line with inlet blast pipe

➤ Strainer

➤ Overflow and ventilation line

➤ Bottom outlet

➤ Access

The air filter plant L251 for hygienicconditions inside the storage tank is

Safety access ladder with fallarrestor and manhole cover set inconcreteValve chamber with air filter plant L251 after installation

Expansion of Benin’s water supply systems

HUBER stainless steel productsinstalled in West Africa

The government in West Africa putout for tender a project for the expan-sion of the water supply network ofthe city of Cotonpu and Benin. TheAfrican state of Benin is a country inWest Africa. It borders Togo to thewest, Nigeria to the east, BurkinaFaso and Niger to the north and withits small southern coastline the Bightof Benin. In order to improve the qua-lity of life there, water supply sys-tems are going to be expanded andoptimised. The planned project is tocover the following fields:

➤ Mobilisation of water resources

➤ Wastewater treatment

➤ Reintegration of the water utilisa-tion plant Védoko and pumpstation P1 in Védoko.

The French construction companySogea-Satom / Vinci Constructionwon the project and cooperated withHUBER. Stainless steel parts werealso supplied to HUBER Burkina Fasofor a similar project. HUBER sold forboth projects in total 8 manholecovers, four manholes, one ladder

and 12 grid covers. The installationof the products went off without pro-blems and to the full satisfaction ofthe customers in West Africa.

International Sales

Nußdorf

CotonouBenin

WASTE WATER Solutions

Seite 13 IndustryWASTE WATER Solutions

MBR plant supplied to Canatiba

Order received from Latin America’s biggest jeans manufacturer

CANATIBA textile factory in Sao Paolowas founded in 1969. Today, theyproduce more than 10 million m² ofjeans fabric at three differentlocations. All three production facili-ties are equipped with a conventionaltype of biological wastewater treat-ment stage. More stringent legislati-on and increases in production haveforced the company to invest into theexpansion and upgrading of its

wastewater treatment plants. Due tospace constraints, the customercould not expand his plant. The onlypossible solution was to change fromconventional biological treatment toa MBR system to be able to meet theincreased requirements. In cooperationwith our Brazilian partner NEOTEX wecarried through pilot tests at one ofthe three production facilities fromAugust 2008 to January 2009. In addi- Trial unit “Shakira“ at Canatiba

Another reference installation in a wood industry company: Pfleiderer AG, North America

COD and solids reduction in wastewater to be reused

Pfleiderer AG with its 5,600 employeesat 22 locations in North America andWestern and Eastern Europe produ-ces HDF and MDF products for furni-ture industries, specialized and do-it-yourself trade and the interior con-struction market. Pfleiderer suppliesa wide range of carrier materials andsurface finishing products to custo-mers in more than 80 countriesworldwide.

Pfleiderer’s subsidiary Uniboard hasmoved from La Baje, Canada to Mon-cure in North Carolina, USA with theaim to become the US market leaderin the manufacture of laminate floo-rings. At its new location, Uniboardhas production capacity for morethan 1,600,000 m3 chipboards andmedium and high density fibreboards

sifting process where rough and finechips are separated; sorting plantsthen remove any sand or metal parti-cles.

During the pressing process, glue isadded to the chips. The materials aremixed and form a so-called “chipcake”. At 250 ℃ and under high pres-sure, a press ensures the requiredcomposition. The panels are thenallowed to cool in large star coolers.In the process of MDF fibreboard pro-duction, wastewaters with high pollu-tion loads are generated at differentplaces. These wastewaters show veryhigh solids concentrations (DS) of4,000 mg/l and COD load of morethan 15,000 mg/l.

Most innovative wastewater treat-ment technology is applied to treatthe wastewater as perfectly as possi-ble to make it available to be reusedin the MDF production process or forexhaust air cleaning. Approximatelyhalf of the total wastewater is gene-rated in washing processes andduring pressing of the chips beforethese are introduced into the drumdryer. The other half of the wastewa-ter is generated in the exhaust airtreatment process that consists of awet electric filter with integratedwasher and a biofilter. Normally, theexhaust air from the drum dryers istreated in this way. Pfleiderer SchweizAG, Switzerland contacted HUBER atthe end of 2008 with the request tocooperate in developing a concept

for the treatment of different processflows from a refiner (defibrator),press water and exhaust air treat-ment. Their focus was on reuse andrecycling of process water to minimizetheir consumption of fresh water. Dueto the excellent experience made inthe treatment of similar wastewatersat Kronospan, Switzerland, the treat-ment concept was clear very soon:The wastewater flow of approx. 15 m³/his prescreened by a curved screenprior to being passed to a 400 m³mixing and balancing tank where theflow with its different freights and pHvalues is equalized. The RoS 3 ScrewPress is fed with the constant equali-zed flow. By addition of flocculants,COD values can be reduced toapprox. 8,250 mg/l and DS to approx.1,600 mg/l. The Screw Press effluentflows by gravity into a 40 m³ storagetank from where a constant volumeflow of approx. 15 – 20 m³/h is pum-ped into the dissolved air flotationplant HDF 3 with chemical treatmentstage. This chemical treatment inclu-des precipitation with FeCl3 followedby pH correction. Flocculants areadded after the pH raise to 7 to gene-rate macroflocs from the colloids andflotate them by means of micro bub-bles in the dissolved air flotationplant. The flotate sludge produced isdewatered by another RoS 3 ScrewPress unit. The dissolved air flotationplant with chemical treatment stageallows to reduce COD to 4,125 mg/land DS to below 110 mg/l. The virtu-ally solids-free flotation effluent is

introduced into sandfilters prior tobeing treated in a reverse osmosisplant. The treated process water cannow be reused in the MDF manu-facturing process, for example in thegluing process, wood chip washing orexhaust air treatment.

With this wastewater treatment con-cept, Uniboard is able to operate itsproduction with zero discharge ofwater. A major benefit of our solutionis the reduced consumption of chemi-cals. Pretreatment with the ScrewPress RoS 3 reduces solids by 60% asmentioned above. Otherwise, preci-pitant consumption would be veryhigh as the fine suspended matterwould cause the precipitant to bereacted to exhaustion. Anotheradvantage is the small design of theflotation plant.

Due to pre-treatment with the ScrewPress RoS 3, a smaller flotation plantis sufficient, as the limiting factorwith flotation is the solids feed per m²and hour. After installation and suc-cessful start-up in April 2010, theplant has proven its efficiency inachieving the required guaranteevalues. Due to our extensive experi-ence in the treatment of wastewatersgenerated in wood industries, wehave been successful in implemen-ting another reference project atPfleiderer AG, USA, in addition to ourmultiple other reference installations.

BU Industry

Wastewater treatment concept

per year. About 1,400 employees areworking for Uniboard at Moncure.What are MDF fibreboards? MDFboards are medium density fibreboardsthat consist of glued wood fibres. Ittoday seems impossible to do wit-hout fibreboards in the field of furni-ture and internal construction.

The production of fibreboards com-prises of three main process steps:During chipping the wood is mouldedinto the desired shape. After this pro-cess, chips still display differentsizes. Smaller parts end up in the toplayer of the board while larger bits gointo the core. The chips must not bedamp for the next steps involved inthe manufacturing process. For thisreason, drum dryers extract moisturefrom the wood. This is followed by the

tion to excellent reduction rates (COD>95 % / BOD >99 % / SS = 0 ) theadditional effect of decolorizationcould be achieved, which had notbeen possible to the sam