EXPOVAL: Establishing Universal Wastewater Treatment Standards
At 2H we react to challenges of legislation as part of our R&D strategy of continuous technology improvements. Our involvement in industry research, along with our understanding of customer needs, informs the design and development of new equipment and applications that improve water treatment equipment productivity.
In addition to providing expert support and advice, 2H is involved with globally renowned educational establishments, research organisations and national Government bodies in the development and production of insightful research on wastewater management issues.
Our reputation as an industry R&D powerhouse, and unrivalled expertise in designing, installing and managing wastewater treatment solutions, has led to the company being given a leading role in a four-year research project which aims to produce the definitive ‘Wastewater Management Design Rulebook’. The ‘rulebook’ will establish universal standards, provide design algorithms and rules and offer guidance on practical design and operational issues.
The project, which was initiated in 2012 by the German Research Ministry, is investigating seven key wastewater treatment areas, ranging from Activated Sludge systems to Trickling Filters. It is a collaborative endeavor in which 17 leading German universities and selected commercial organisations have been asked to investigate and report on one of 7 designated areas including Trickling Filters which is being handled by 2H and the University of Stuttgart.
Richard Manning, MD of 2H UK commented “We are very proud to be part of this latest research project, especially the end result, the reference guidebook, will be of immense practical value to colleagues in the international wastewater management sector. We’re regularly involved in high-level research programmes with academic and government organisations in many parts of the world, but especially Germany where we have our 2H Centre of Excellence.
2H has unrivalled expertise in designing, installing and managing Trickling Filters. By drawing on this knowledge, and our day-to-day relationships with organisations in the wastewater management industry, I am confident that we’ll make a very positive contribution to the EXPOVAL project that will be of enduring value.”
Using the existing and well-established design rule, set by the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA) as a starting point, the EXPOVAL project will expand the focus of the DWA to take account of regional climatic conditions and treatment requirements.
The project will ultimately create a set of standards, design algorithms and rules to provide guidance on practical design and operational issues. While the primary focus is on supporting professionals involved in large-scale design and development projects, the research will include analysis on specific applications and smaller-scale and semi-industrial pilot plants.
Over the past 18 months, the research teams have visited each site regularly for anything up to 90 days at a time to perform water quality measurements and make any necessary amendments to the process. We have gathered immense amounts of data which we are currently in the process of analysing. Testing will continue through to late 2015. There is a lot of work to be done before we set to work on documenting the new rules and standards (due for publication in 2016) including a further trip to Batumi Tskal in Georgia to gather more data and validate design equations.
Trickling filters are already recognised as providing a flexible, simple, low-maintenance and low energy approach to processing wastewater for reuse as clean or potable water. Based on the results of tests undertaken to date, the research team designed a flexible trickling filter configuration that can be adapted to variations in water reuse requirements.
The configuration includes anoxic treatment plus a series of trickling filters and clarifiers. The goal is to produce several different effluent qualities simultaneously while preserving or removing nutrients as required. The proposed configuration includes an anoxic unit designed to allow for >90% denitrification, two parallel trickling filters, one designed to do 50% nitrification as standalone, and the other one to do 100% nitrification as standalone (exemplary case) plus two clarifier units (with optional intermediate clarification).