Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment

plant by adding a moving bed biolm reactor as pre-

treatment and ozonation followed by bioltration for
enhancedCODreduction: designandoperationexperience
Nikolaus Kaindl
ABSTRACT
Nikolaus Kaindl
SCA Graphic Laakirchen AG,
Schillerstrae 5,
A-4663, Laakirchen,
Austria
E-mail: nikolaus.kaindl@sca.com
A paper mill producing 500,000 ton of graphic paper annually has an onsite wastewater
treatment plant that treats 7,240,000m
3
of wastewater per year, mechanically rst, then
biologically and at last by ozonation. Increased paper production capacity led to higher
COD load in the mill efuent while production of higher proportions of brighter products
gave worse biodegradability. Therefore the biological capacity of the WWTP needed to be
increased and extra measures were necessary to enhance the efciency of COD reduction.
The full scale implementation of one MBBR with a volume of 1,230 m
3
was accomplished
in 2000 followed by another MBBR of 2,475 m
3
in 2002. An ozonation step with a capacity
of 75 kg O
3
/h was added in 2004 to meet higher COD reduction demands during the
production of brighter products and thus keeping the given outow limits. Adding a moving
bed biolm reactor prior to the existing activated sludge step gives: (i) cost advantages
when increasing biological capacity as higher COD volume loads of MBBRs allow smaller
reactors than usual for activated sludge plants; (ii) a relief of strain from the activated
sludge step by biological degradation in the MBBR; (iii) equalizing of peaks in the COD
load and toxic effects before affecting the activated sludge step; (iv) a stable volume
sludge index below 100 ml/g in combination with an optimization of the activated
sludge step allows good sludge separationan important condition for further treatment
with ozone. Ozonation and subsequent bio-ltration pre-treated waste water provide:
(i) reduction of hard COD unobtainable by conventional treatment; (ii) controllable COD
reduction in a very wide range and therefore elimination of COD-peaks; (iii) reduction of
treatment costs by combination of ozonation and subsequent bio-ltration; (iv) decrease
of the color in the ozonated wastewater. The MBBR step proved very simple to operate
as part of the biological treatment. Excellent control of the COD-removal rate in the
ozone step allowed for economical usage and therefore acceptable operation costs in
relation to the paper production.
Key words | advanced treatment, bioltration, COD reduction, hard COD, moving bed biolm
reactor, MBBR, ozone, upgrading of activated sludge wastewater treatment plants
THE PAPER MILL
The paper mill SCA Graphic Laakirchen AG (SCA
Laakirchen) is part of the Swedish group Svenska
Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and is located in Upper
Austria at the northern entrance of the Salzkammergut
doi: 10.2166/wst.2010.938
2710 Q IWA Publishing 2010 Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
Lake District, see Figure 1. The river Traun is used
as recipient for the treated wastewater of the paper
production. The Traun is also well known for its excellent
water quality and therefore valued for y shing worldwide.
The production capacity of SCA Laakirchen is 485,000
tons of SC- and Offset-paper per year. The paper is
produced on the paper machines PM 10 (built 1987,
width 7,400 mm, Valmet) and PM 11 (built 2002, width
8,800 mm, Voith). Mechanical pulp and de-inked pulp
are produced on site, chemical pulp and ller are bought
in and dispersed.
IMPROVEMENT OF THE EXISTING BIOLOGICAL
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
The wish for expansion of the paper production capacity led
to an innovative concept for wastewater treatment as it was
not permissible to increase the efuent loads to the
recipient. SCA Laakirchen evaluated the new concept in
cooperation with the consultant CM Consult and the
consulting engineers Machowets & Partner and published
the promising results of laboratory and pilot tests (Kaindl
1999; Kaindl et al. 1999). The concept has also been
acknowledged by nomination in 1999 for the Austrian
Neptun Water Prize which is supported by three Austrian
ministries. In the following simplied owchart the new
steps are accentuated and the advantages are summarized
(Table 1).
At SCA Laakirchen the integration of moving bed
biolm reactors as pre-treatment to the suspended sludge
steps has been realised at stream A of the wastewater
treatment plant in 2000 when a new bleaching step has
been installed at the paper production site and at stream
B in 2004, when the paper mill was enhanced by the new
paper machine PM 11.
With consultation of the author, the rst realisation of
the ozone step has been performed at the paper mill Lang
Papier in Ettringen, Germany in 1999 (Schmidt & Lange
2000). The results of this full scale installation proved the
model developed for SCA Laakirchen to t very well and
valuable ndings for the realisation in Laakirchen have been
derived. In order to cope with an increase of COD load and
decrease of biodegradability at the same timeas a conse-
quence of an increase of paper bleachingthe next full scale
ozonation has been built at SCA Laakirchen in 2004.
WWTP OVERVIEW
A wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) has been erected
to purify 7,240,000 m
3
per year of wastewater from
the production sites of the paper mill SCA Graphic
Laakirchen AG (Figure 2).
The wastewater from paper production is already
cooled down at the source to under 368C with heat
Figure 1 | SCA graphic Laakirchen AG.
Table 1 | Concept for the improvement of the existing biological wastewater
treatment plant
Primary clarifier
MBBR step
Suspended sludge
Suspended sludge
Secondary clarifier
Ozonation
Biofiltration
Built:
2000
2002
Built:
2004
Enhancement of the existing WWTP
Ozonation with subsequent biofiltration to provide:
Enhanced COD-reduction (persistent substances)
Controllable COD-reduction in a wide range
Reduction of treatment costs by limitation to peak loads and
partial oxidation with following biofiltration
Decolorisation of ozonated waste water
High loaded first biological step as a
moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) to provide:
Improved sludge settlement in the suspended sludge step
Stabilised total COD-reduction rates in biological system
Tolerance towards inflow peaks and toxic effects
Drawn up first in 1996 and verified in
laboratory and pilot tests in 1996/97
2711 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
exchangers at the inow of the treatment plant. After
equalization in an inow buffer tank and subsequent
screening, the wastewater is distributed into two streams
and sent to the treatment lines A and B.
The particles are separated from the wastewater in the
primary clariers by sedimentation, so that only dissolved
substances are sent to the next step. The rst biological
purication step is a moving bed biolm reactor (MBBR).
At this step, easy degradable substances are degraded by
biolms growing on free oating plastic carriers. The
second biological purication step is a conventional
activated sludge type. The outow of all secondary clariers,
puried mechanically and biologically as far as possible,
is collected and sent to advanced treatment with ozonation
and bioltration.
MOVING BED BIOFILM REACTORS AS BIOLOGICAL
EXTENSION BEFORE ACTIVATED SLUDGE STAGE
Description of process and installations
The moving bed biolm process is a system where
microorganisms are attached on the surface of carriers
which are oating free in a reactor. With respect to the
outcome of the pilot trials (Kaindl et al. 1999) the bio-
lm reactors have been built for a COD-volume load of
13.9 kg/m
3
d and a hydraulic retention time of 2h; the
design lling rate for carriers will be 50% when the
full load is reached. As the paper mill did not yet reach
the full planned capacity it has been decided to build the
reactor volumes for the maximum load and meanwhile run
the reactors with a lling rate of 30%.
Air is introduced through perforated stainless steel
tubes which are xed on the bottom of the reactors (see
Figure 3). This coarse bubble aeration system keeps the
Cooling of waste water
(Heat exchanger vs.
fresh water PM 10, 11)
Primary clarifier
Activated sludge
Recipient
Traun
Biofiltration
Nutrients P, N
Moving bed
biofilm reactor
Secondary
clarifier
Primary clarifier
Moving bed
biofilm reactor
Activated sludge
Air
Nutrients P, N
Thickener
Odour-
removal
Secondary
clarifier
Air Air
Air
Belt filter press
Brick industry,
fluidised bed boiler
Waste water treatment plant
SCA Graphic Laakirchen AG
WWTP Line B
WWTP Line A
Buffer B, mixing,
screen, distribution
Buffer tank
1800 m
3
To deinking plant
To deinking plant
Mechanical fiber
preparation, deinking
plant, PM 10 and 11,
wood store, others
Cooling
Ozonation
Nutrients
P, N
Odour-
removal
Figure 2 | Layout of the wastewater treatment plant SCA Laakirchen.
Anti-foam system
Defoamer
Inflow
Nutrients
Screen
Outflow
Carriers
Pneumatic
pump
Blowers
Aeration
Window
Moving bed biofilm reactor
Figure 3 | Moving bed biolm reactor (MBBR).
2712 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
carriers moving and provides the oxygen which is needed
for biological degradation of substances in the wastewater.
The oxygen concentration in the wastewater is measured
online and the dosage of air is controlled automatically so
that is not lower than 3.5 mg/l. The movement of the
carriers can be controlled through a porthole which is
tted into the reactor at a height of about 1m above
the aeration system. Pneumatic pumps are used to control
the growth of biolm on the carrier and avoid clogging.
As the wastewater has a disposition to create foam, a
system of spraying nozzles has been installed to destroy
foam when it reaches a certain level.
After biological treatment in the MBBR the wastewater
is introduced into the suspended sludge step without
separation of biolm ocs which have been sheared off
from the carriers. A screen with a gap width of 15 mm
avoids the loss of carrier material.
Initially the reactors were equipped with Bioow 30
carrier material. As a progressive destruction happened to
the carriers of reactor B this material has been changed to
Bioow 40 in 2006. Since faulty material has caused the
damage, the supplier was responsible for the replacement
(Figures 4 and 5).
Results and experience
Before the wastewater is divided to stream A and B it is
being mixed. Therefore it sufces to report the parameters of
one stream.
In Table 2 mean values of the period from 1. 6. 2002 to
30. 5. 2003 in wastewater treatment stream A are given (the
difference in the ow rates between inow and outow is
a result of the dosage of spray water for foam destruction).
The hydraulic retention time has been calculated to 3.4 h
and the COD volume load to 7kg/m
3
d. Corresponding to
the statement of other authors (Helble 2002) the daily
measured reduction rates are quite varying, but mean values
can be compared better.
Related to the BOD inow load (outow of primary
sedimentation) 46% of BOD has been reduced in the
biolm reactor and 53% has been reduced in the suspended
sludge step. When the reduction in the suspended sludge
step is related to the ltered outow of the biolm reactor, a
BOD reduction of 98% can be calculated.
Related to the COD inow load (outow of primary
sedimentation) 27% of COD has been reduced in the
biolm reactor and 59% has been reduced in the suspended
sludge step. When the reduction in the suspended sludge
step is related to the ltered outow of the biolm reactor, a
COD reduction of 82% can be calculated (Figure 6).
In the pilot trials a COD reduction of about 50% has
been reached in the MBBR (Kaindl et al. 1999). This
elimination rate was not achieved at the full scale installa-
tions. One reason may be the lower lling rate in the full
scale reactors (30% instead 50%). At the present situation
this is however no threat as the full degradation capacity of
the reactors will be needed only if the next step of the
enhancement of the paper mill will be realised.
Another positive effect monitored at the pilot trials was
the improvement of sludge settlement in the following
suspended sludge step when the wastewater was pre-treated
in the biolm reactor. Compared to the full scale plant the
sludge volume index (SVI, not stirred) could be reduced
noticeably. Kaindl et al. (1999) noted however, running a
biolm reactor alone is not sufcient, it is also necessary to
tune the operation parameters of the suspended sludge
step the right way, like nutrient supply and sludge load
(e.g. reduction of suspended sludge step volume to adapt the
system to additional biological reduction in the MBBR;
Figure 7). If that is done properly, steady good sludge
Type
Diameter
Height
Spec. surface
Protected surface
Density
Material
Bioflow 30
mm
mm
m
2
/m
3
m
2
/m
3
g/cm
3
30/35
29
320
280
0.96
PE
Figure 4 | Specication of carrier bioow 30.
Type
Diameter
Height
Spec. surface
Protected surface
Density
Material
Bioflow 40
mm
mm
m
2
/m
3
m
2
/m
3
g/cm
3
40/45
35
305
210
0.96
PE
Figure 5 | Specication of carrier bioow 40.
2713 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
settlement parameters in the secondary clarier can be
expected. Figure 7 shows the accomplished improvements
in line B of the treatment plant.
Further remarks
After the start up of the reactor a quick growth of biolm on
the carriers could be observed. Biological degradation of the
wastewater tooke place after less than 3 weeks (Figure 8).
When choosing an aeration system, robustness is the
major criteria. It should be taken into consideration that
any maintenance requires the removal of all carriers from
the reactor. The carriers need to be stored temporarily
andif not damagedreused. Therefore, the reactors at
Laakirchen are equipped with a simple aeration system with
perforated stainless tubes with no moving parts. An efcient
oxygenation capacity could be reached as well by careful
engineering and choosing a depth of 14m.
To keep the oxygen concentration at the design value of
3.5mg/l it is measured online at the outow of the reactor.
It turned out, that the wastewater at that position also had a
tendency to produce biolms at the sensor of the online
measurement as well and therefore disturbes the system. To
put the things right, a self cleaning electrode (Hach-Lange,
type LDO, with a wiper for permanent cleaning of the
electrode) was installed. Additionally the sensor has to be
controlled and cleaned if necessary once per shift. When the
reactor has a lower load it also may be necessary to dose
more air as necessary for degradation to keep the carriers
moving.
To avoid clogging of the carriers, pneumatic pumps
for enhanced carrier movement are installed and used
periodically simultaneous to normal operation. By the
higher shear forces going along with the pumping, the
biolm is removed mechanically. To determine a
convenient interval, the carriers are controlled visually
and weighed. Typical cleaning intervals are 2 70min. at
reactor A (V 1,230 m
3
) and 4 45 min. at reactor B
(V 2,475 m
3
) every 8 hours of operating time.
ENHANCED COD REDUCTION BY OZONATION AND
SUBSEQUENT BIOFILTRATION
Reason
In 2003 the newly built paper machine PM 11 reached the
planned production capacity, the de-inking plant and the
mechanical ber preparation were running at the limit of
their capacity. At the same time the sale of brighter paper
grades increased and the trend to even brighter paper
grades on the market continued consistently. To produce
brighter paper it is necessary to increase the bleaching of
mechanical pulp and to use chelating agents and optical
brighteners. These chemicals are hard to be degraded with
Table 2 | Wastewater parameters measured for MBBR evaluation
Wastse water parameters (1. 6. 200230. 5. 2003)
Parameter unit Flow (m
3
/d) BOD5 (mg/l) COD (mg/l) BOD/COD ( 2 ) SS (mg/l) pH ( 2 ) Temperature (8C)
Inow MBBR-A
Mean value 8.329 425 1.032 0.42 27 7
Maximum 12.702 680 1.490 0.69 155 8
Outow MBBR-A
Mean value 9.139 210 679 0.31 54 8 30
Maximum 13.512 420 1.062 0.64 172 9 36
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
BOD COD
Ouflow secondary clarifier Elimination in the MBBR step
Meanvalues MBBR :
Filling rate = 30 %
HRT in MBBR = 3,4 hr.
CODin = 1032 mg/l
CODout = 679 mg/l
BOD/CODin = 0.42
BOD/CODout = 0.31
Elim.-rate-COD = 27%
()* elimination rates of
the suspended sludge
step when calculated
separately
(as meanvalues of
WWTP line A in the
period from 1.6.2002 to
30.5.2003)
46
53
(98)*
27
59
(82)*
Total red.
in both
steps :
99 %
Total red.
in both
steps :
86 %
Elimination in the suspended sludge
Figure 6 | Biological BOD and COD reduction.
2714 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
biological waste watertreatment. Higher bleaching dissolves
more lignin which is hard to be degraded as well.
Summarizing these effects, we obtain higher COD loads
for the wastewater treatment plant and at the same time the
wastewater becomes harder to degrade. In relation to the
production of standard paper grades an estimation of these
effects results in 1322% higher COD loads on the inow of
the wastewater treatment plant. The forecast for the outow
to the recipient was, caused by worse biodegradability,
3940% higher. These theoretical reections have been
proven correct in practise. As a result, the COD removal
efciency in the biological stage of the wastewater treatment
plant drops and additional measures for enhanced COD
reduction have to be taken to keep the given discharge
limits.
To meet the demands of the market for brighter
products and to keep the given discharge limits, it has
been decided to realise the next step of the enhancement of
the wastewater treatment plant. As shown in Kaindl (1999)
advanced treatment with ozonation and subsequent
bioltration should be installed to limit the COD loads to
the recipient at times of production of higher paper grades.
To counteract the expected warm-up of the wastewater in
the ozonation step, cooling towers were installed.
Plant design
The ozonation plant has been designed to keep the given
COD-discharge limits at the actual (2003) production
capacity even for brighter products. To calculate the demand
of ozone, the highest daily COD discharge loads found in
2003 have been taken into consideration. To cope with
this, an extra COD reduction of 36% was needed. By the
use of the results published in Kaindl (1999) and Kaindl
et al. (1999, 2004) a specic ozone dosage of SOE 0.33
g O
3
dissolved/g COD inow has been calculated.
It has been one of the ndings of the pilot trials
performed in Laakirchen, that the effect of COD reduction
should not be related to the amount of ozone dosed, it
should better be calculated just in relation to the amount of
ozone used in the system (dissolved ozone ozone in
the feed gasozone loss in the offgas ! SOE g O
3
dissolved/g COD inow). By taking this into consideration
we could get better correlations. By applying this nding it
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l
u
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g
e

v
o
l
u
m
e

i
n
d
e
x

(
S
V
I
)

[
m
l
/
g
]
Startup of MBBR ARA-
B 4. 3. 2002
Reduction of volume of the suspended sludge step
from 14.550 m
3
to 9.700 m
3
12. 6. 2002
Startup of PM11
1. 5. 2002
Figure 7 | Evaluation of sludge volume index in line B.
Figure 8 | Biolm on carrier line A, August 2003.
2715 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
is also possible to clearly separate the responsibility of
wastewater owner and treatment plant supplier.
It is the plant suppliers responsibility to produce ozone
with a guaranteed specic need of electrical energy and to
dissolve it into the wastewater (use it in the system) with a
guaranteed efciency. In the pilot plant trials it was
possible, to use 98% of the produced ozone in the system
which was a demand for the full scale plant as well.
The effect of dissolved ozone on the substances in the
wastewater has to be evaluated in pilot trials and depends
on the composition of the wastewater. This is the
responsibility of the owner of the wastewater. The function
in Figure 10 can be used to dene a guarantee agreement.
At the end, a tender for the delivery of an ozonation
plant with an ozone generation unit to produce 75kg O
3
/h
and a guaranteed efciency of ozone solution better than
98% has been sent to relevant suppliers. Therefore the
possible COD reduction with ozonation bioltration will
be 1,830kg/d in the mechanical and biological pre-treated
wastewater. The design of the plant allows an enhancement
up to 3 ozone generation units, which will then provide a
total capacity of 225 kg O
3
/h.
Layout wastewater cooling, ozonation and bioltration
The layout has been designed according to the layout of the
pilot plant, which has been published in Kaindl (1999) and
Kaindl et al. (1999) before (Figure 9).
Wastewater, as far as possible puried by mechanical
and biological treatment, is collected from the secondary
clariers of the existing wastewater treatment plant and
sent to the inow buffer tank of the cooling tower. These
cooling towers provide a wastewater temperature of 328C
in all cases. Then the wastewater is sent to the inow
buffer tank of the ozonation unit. From this buffer tank the
water is pumped to an automatic backwashed ltration
unit (1 mmto protect the following system from larger
particles) and the ozone introduction system. In the
following Injector we have an intense mixing of waste-
water and gas streams and therefore an introduction of
ozone into the water. The mixture of wastewater and gas is
led into a reaction tank, using radial diffusers to get an
optimal distribution of gas bubbles in the tank. This
provides an optimal usage of the rest ozone which is still
not dissolved in the wastewater. At the top of the reaction
tank the remaining gas is removed and sent to the
bioltration unit after passing a catalytic converter to
destruct rest ozone.
The wastewater is then sent to a retention tank which
allows the nishing of longer lasting reactions and the
decrease of a possible ozone concentration in the water.
Afterwards, the wastewater is led into a granular biolter
unit to degrade these substances which are now better
biological degradable after the ozone treatment. The
outow of the bioltration unit is sent to the recipient.
Inflow buffer
cooling tower
W
a
s
t
e
w
a
t
e
r

f
r
o
m
s
e
c
o
n
d

s
e
d
i
m
e
n
t
Cooling tower
Inflow buffer
ozonation
Offgas scrubber Ozone destructor
Biofiltration
O
2
To recipient
Air
Retention
tank
Reactor,
degasing
Ozone generator
Evaporator
Liquid oxygen
Heat
Exch.
Cooling Ozone treatment
at SCA Laakirchen
MACHOWETZ PARTNER
www.mup.at
F
i
l
t
e
r
I
n
j
e
c
t
o
r
Figure 9 | Layout of ozone treatment Laakirchen.
2716 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
The complete equipment for the ozonation step was
delivered by OzoniaSwitzerland. Total project costs
amounted to e7.600 million, of which e1.561 million
where used for the wastewater cooling and e3.508 million
for the installation of the ozonation step. The rest of the
costs went for engineering, oxygen supply and shared
installations.
Results of the full scale installation
Although the pilot trials are dating 8 years back, we found a
perfect correspondence to the full scale implementation.
Oneoutcomeof theevaluationof thepilot trials was, that it
is possible to dene a relation between the specic ozone
dosage [gO
3
dissolved/g CODinow] andtheenhancedCOD
Effect of O
3
+BF - Pilot trials 1997 against full scale Laakirchen 2005
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0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00
Spec. mass of ozone dissolved (g O
3
dissolved/ g COD inflow)
C
O
D

r
e
d
u
c
t
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o
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(
%
)
Actual Laakirchen 2005
Pilot Laakirchen (Polynomisch)
2005, Nikolaus Kaindl
Pilot trials Laakirchen, equalized with polynom
of 2nd degree and boundary at [0/12]
Results Pilot Laakirchen 1997
Figure 10 | Comparison of the pilot trials 1997 to full scale results 2005.
COD-loads to O
3
and to the recipient - July-August 2005
0
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C
O
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-
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a
d
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(
k
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)
July 05
Prop. brighter prod.: 28 %
COD-removal biol.: 86.0 %
August 05
Prop. brighter prod.: 39 %
COD-removal biol.: 83.6 %
COD after biological step
COD after O
3
+BF
Production brighter prod.
Limit max.
Limit 80 %
Figure 11 | Keeping the outow limits by ozonation.
2717 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
reduction[%] obtainedwithozonation bioltration. Figure
10 shows, that the model created after the pilot trials is
sufcient for the use of scaling up the process.
From the time of start-up on 1 December 2004 until
today, the whole installation worked without a major hitch.
Starting with the rst day of operation it was possible to
keep the given outow limits also in times of production of
brighter products.
Figure 11 shows as an example of Jul/Aug 2005, that
without the ozonation step the given COD outow limits
would exceed for many days. Hence it is clear, that the
production of brighter products was possible from the
environmental view only with this installation for advanced
waste watertreatment. Further, if we compare July and
August we can see, that with a higher proportion of brighter
production we have more hard degradable substances in the
wastewater and therefore COD reduction rate in the
mechanical/biological step of the treatment drops.
As yearly average of 2005 the following costs (running
costs without depreciation) have been spent for waste
watertreatment:
CODreductionwithbiological step 0:27e=kg CODel
CODreductionwithozone biofiltration
1:33e=kg CODel
These costs are very close to those that have been
predicted in Kaindl et al. (2004) (O
3
BF ! 1.40 e/kg COD
eliminated) but still noticeable higher than with biological
treatment. That way also the layout of the plant is
conrmed, because rst the substances in the wastewater
are degraded as far as possible in the mechanical/biological
Figure 12 | Process control with the target to keep a specied COD-outow load.
2718 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010
step. Only these substances (hard COD) which can not be
degraded in this rst step are eliminated in the
ozonation bioltration step. Therefore, when we relate
the costs to the paper production we can see, that we have a
much better relation:
CODreductionwithbiological step e3:68=ton of paper
CODreductionwithozone biofiltration
e0:53=ton of paper
If we base a selling price of e700 per ton of paper it is
obvious, that advanced treatment is affordable. These costs
include a proportion of 30% brighter products of the total
paper produced. If the proportion of brighter products will
be raised, the costs for advanced treatment will raise as well.
To mark the efciency of the ozone process control, an
index has been dened to characterise the optimal
controlonly that much ozone should be dosed as it is
necessary to keep the COD-outow limit 100%.
With the installed control system it was possible to reach
an efciency of 90% in the rst year of operation.
By use of the ndings of the pilot trials it was possible to
realise an automatic multi step control system for the whole
process of advanced treatment. At the highest level of
automation the daily COD load is limited automatically to a
given value. On-line volume and COD measurement has
been installed on the inow to the ozonation step and the
outow of the bioltration step. The dosage of ozone is
calculated in advance with the relations published in Kaindl
(1999) and adjusted automatically by the hour.
This way the control system regulates the ozone dosage
to reach the given limit for COD-release at the end of the
day. Variations in the wastewater ow rate are considered
automatically as well as variations in COD concentrations
and even short maintainance shutdowns of the plant.
To cope with a failure of on-line measurement, several
levels of automation have been programmed, which can be
chosen by the operator.
Figure 12 is a screen shot of the process control system
and shows in the upper diagram the chosen target for the
COD outow load vs. the evaluation of theautomatically
controlledCOD load to the recipient over the day. In the
middle we can see the COD-load to the ozonation step
(upper) vs. the amount of ozone dosed. In the lower
diagram we can nd the volume of wastewater to be treated
(upper) vs. the COD concentration of the outow of
secondary clariers.
CONCLUSION
Herewith it can be summarized, that all steps for advanced
treatment fullled the expectations perfectly. For the rst
time in wastewater treatment we can now regulate a desired
COD-reduction automatically and therefore exactly reach
the demand. The disadvantage of higher specic costs for
COD-reduction can be eliminated by having the advanced
treatment step at the right place in the process, using
bioltration for additional elimination and regulation of the
ozone dosage to demand. Finally, it was possible with this
process only, to keep the strict outow limits also at times of
the production of brighter products at SCA Laakirchen.
REFERENCES
Helble, A. 2002 Leistungssteigerung einer Abwasserreinigungsanlage
mit dem Schwebebettverfahren, in I. Demel & F. Schmid
(Eds), Betrieb biologischer Abwasserreinigungsanlagen,
PTS-Manuskript PTS-AR 50219, Mu nchen, PTS.
Kaindl, N. 1999 Gezielte Einhaltung von Emissionsgrenzwerten
durch weitergehende Abwasserreinigung mittels Ozon und
nachfolgender Bioltration; published in the proceedings of
the seminar 1. PTS-CTP-Symposium Umwelttechnik,
I. Demel & H.-J. O

ller (Eds), PTS Symposium WU-SY 908,

Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), Mu nchen, ISSN 0946-0101.
Kaindl, N., Tillman, U. & Mo bius, C. H. 1999 Enhancement of
capacity and efciency of a biological waste water treatment
plant. Water Sci. Technol. 40(1112), 231239.
Kaindl, N., Watzkarsch, H. & Liechti, P.-A. 2004 Planung und
Errichtung einer weitergehende Abwasserreinigung mittels
Ozonung und nachfolgender Bioltration bei SCA Graphic
Laakirchen AG; published in the proceedings of the seminar
Betrieb biologischer Abwasserreinigungsanlagen, F. Schmid
& I. Demel (Eds), PTS-Manuskript PTS-MS 419,
Papiertechnische Stiftung (PTS), Mu nchen.
Schmidt, T. & Lange, S. 2000 Treatment of paper mill efuent by
the use of ozone and biological systemslarge scale
application at Lang PapierEttringen (Germany), TAPPI
International Environmental Conference & Exhibit.
2719 N. Kaindl | Upgrading of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant Water Science & TechnologyWST | 62.11 | 2010