Aerobic granular biomass for cost-effective, energy efficient and sustainable wastewater treatment
Giesen, A.1 and Thompson, A.2, Royal Haskoning DHV, The Netherlands, 2Imtech, UK
(free)
Abstract Aerobic granular biomass is an innovative wastewater treatment technology for biological nutrient removal. Recently, as an outcome of a Dutch concerted research and development program, aerobic granular biomass technology has been scaled-up and implemented for treatment of urban and industrial wastewater. This Nereda® technology is the first aerobic granular biomass technology that has been applied at full-scale. Since 2006, the technology has been used in various industrial applications and demonstrated its robustness and stability, followed by full-scale municipal demonstration plants. The first full scale municipal plant (59,000 PE) was commissioned in 2011 at Epe WWTP. A second plant (150,000 PE) has been commissioned in 2013 at Garmerwolde WWTP, which makes use of tank sizes similar to the world’s largest SBR tank volumes. These plants have demonstrated significant improvements with regard to process stability, effluent quality (TN<5mg/l, TP<0.3mg/l), and energy savings (30%), compared to traditional activated sludge processes. Another 40 plants, of up to 530,000PE capacity, are in various stages of design, construction, and commissioning in a range of countries, including The Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil. This process can be considered as a game-changer for the UK Water Industry, delivering enhanced treatment standards at lower CAPEX, lower OPEX, and smaller footprints than existing solutions.
Keywords Aerobic Granular Sludge, Nereda, scale-up, sustainability, innovative biotechnology, biological P removal
