Renovating an Effluent Treatment Plant for renowned german soft-drink manufacturer by using membrane bioreactor for pristine effluent quality

A renovation of an effluent treatment plant from a german soft-drink manufacturer was requested due to increased production capacities. After the renovation works, the effluent quality reaches threshold values which allow a direct discharge to the receiving water body – the river Saale. A direct support in terms of consulting was a key task besides the technical dimensioning and installation in this project.

CONCEPTUAL FORMULATION:

Primarily, a inventory recording was executed to develop a strategy of renovating the wastewater treatment plant without risking a downtime of production.

The former installed aerobic biological treatment with sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process was changed to a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process by using ultrafiltration modules from a local german manufacturer. This action allowed to keep higher concentration of active biomass inside the aerated tanks and hence increased the biological treatment capacity of the plant. Simultaneously, a solids-free, pristine effluent quality was ensured due to the new membrane technology.

However, pipe routing was conceptualized in a way that a simple change to the old SBR process was still possible if maintenance work needs to be done on the MBR modules without the risk to stop or reduce capacity in production facility.

The rest of the treatment plant was upgraded also next to the change in biological treatment process. A new pretreatment facility in form of a 1mm drum screen was necessary to protect the sensible membranes in the aeration tanks from coarse particles. Next to that, a new aeration system in the equalization tank, as well as new electrical measurement and control technology was implemented where necessary.

The prefabrication of the equipment was done to a large extent in 20’ shipping containers in the production halls of CUSS corporate group. This allowed a fast and precise implementation of the new equipment into the existing treatment plant while minimizing necessary administration and civil works for the customer.