Bioreactors - Waterboy System - Effluent Separation
Home treatment systems to date have relied on a period of settling to separate the effluent from the sludge. This process is sensitive to change and is easily unbalanced by such things as increased flow due to additional guests, accumulation of solids over time and the use of bleaches and other chemicals.
The Waterboy system does not rely on settling to separate the solids from the effluent, but this is achieved by passing the clean effluent through a fine pore membrane filter. The membrane acts as a 'physical barrier', which means that an increase in flow, an accumulation of solids and the sensible use of bleaches and chemicals, will not affect the high quality of the effluent being obtained by the Waterboy.
The membrane surface has an operational pore size of around 0.1micron, which prevents sludge and bacterial loss from the system. The sludge mass and bacterial cultures play an integral role within the treatment system. Therefore by retaining them the systems productivity drastically improves along with its ability to buffer against shock loads.
All of the above coupled with the Waterboy's advanced system design, ample detention time and large surge capacity, combine to produce an effluent quality of the highest standard.
How the Waterboy System Works The wastewater is cleaned in the Waterboy by a Multistage Bioreactor, and is finally filtered as it passes through the membrane pack.
Bioreactors
These occur naturally in nature. An example would be water flowing over stones or gravel, where the attached bacterial slimes and algae remove a great deal of the pollutants.
The massive surface area available in wetlands comprising of weeds, plants, gravel etc. is another example.
Bacteria are everywhere. Within a closed vessel, (a bioreactor), if conditions are favorable, the waste becomes a food source for the bacteria.
Some bacteria eat other bacteria and some also digest dead bacteria. Nothing is wasted, and so the cycle goes on.
Some bacteria need air, (aerobic), and this is supplied by the air system. Where there is no or little air (Oxygen) present in parts of the system, some bacteria will attack Nitrate (NO2), or even Sulphate (SO4), to get Oxygen from the particular molecule itself.
A pump is used to obtain maximum exposure to the digesting bacteria, by continually circulating the activated sludge within the system. . There are left small amounts of bacterial sludge (bug bones) that are resistant to further degradation. After something like 3 years, this remaining sludge may need to be pumped out and disposed of.
A Multistage Bioreactor is a system where there are two more bioreactors, supporting different conditions employed within the treatment pathway. Within the system, the first stage is cyclic aeration. The second stage involves mixing and limiting the available Oxygen, so that different bacterial cultures are formed than in the first stage. Within the third stage, containing the membrane pack, there is excessive aeration to change the bacterial characteristics yet again. All three stages are playing a different part, giving the widest possible treatment exposure, which gives a much better treatment result.
Membranes
As this digestion proceeds and the waste is eaten, the proportion of clean water to undigested bacterial sludge, becomes much higher. The clean water is separated from the activated sludge by passing it through a very fine pore membrane filter.
The membrane pack consists of a series of flat sheet membranes, seven millimetres (7mm) apart, with an operational pore size of around 0.1microns, producing an efficient ultra filtration range.
This has shown a virus and bacteria removal efficiency of around 99.99% and greater The physical barrier, produced by these membranes, also ensures that untreated water cannot be discharged from the system.
Another bonus
Older systems use a settling tank, during the bacterial digestion period, to separate solids etc from water. The outflow from such a system has an extremely high level of bacteria and suspended solids. The bacteria taken off with this water are then unavailable to the system for further digestion purposes, resulting in slower treatment rates.
Within a membrane system only clean water is taken from the system, leaving all the activated sludge to continue doing its work, so speeding up the treatment process.
Waterboy is the first HSTP in Australia to use membranes, and takes water to a standard many times better than any other system in Australia, and the first of its design in the world.
Bioreactors - Waterboy System - Effluent Separation
