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Energy Consumption in
Waste Water Treatment

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DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

This is all my own work except where I have indicated otherwise via references or
other forms of acknowledgement.

Signature: ………………………………….

Date: ……………………………………….

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Abstract

Waste water is water that has been used in domestically or industrially which
contains pollutants. A wastewater system includes all of the stages used to collect,
transport (sewers) and treat wastewater and rainwater from a town, industrial site
or private land before it is discharged into the natural environment. The
elimination by spreading, incineration or discharge of the sludge resulting from
the treatment processes used is part of the wastewater treatment process. In most
countries wastewater is found everywhere. 97% of the total world’s total water is
sea water and of the remaining fresh water, two-thirds of this freshwater is locked
in glaciers, ice or snow, leaving only 1% of the total water available for direct
human consumption. With the development in industry and population the amount
of wastewater generated has become a critical issue. The conventional methods
used in wastewater treatment aren’t sufficient with the growing demand for clean
water. New regulations that has been set for sludge disposal has an even bigger
impact into treatment methods and the cost of them has significantly risen, which
has lead to the field of wastewater treatment being researched extensively. The
use of natural resources like ultraviolet radiation and new developed technologies
has come into practise while being further developed, to meet the rising demand.

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CONTENTS
SECTION PAGE

1  INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 

1.1  What is waste water.......................................................................................1 

1.2  wastewater treatment......................................................................................1 
1.3  Domestic waste water....................................................................................2 
1.4  Industrial waste water....................................................................................2 

2  INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT METHODS ........................... 2 

2.1  Physical/chemical treatment methods............................................................2 

2.2  Thermal treatment methods...........................................................................3 
2.3  biological treatment methods.........................................................................3 
2.4  unit operations or processes...........................................................................3 

3  DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGIES ......................................................................... 5 

3.1  ultrafiltration, nano filtration and reverse osmosis development....................5 

3.1.1  Ultra filtration .............................................................................................................. 5 
3.1.2  Nano filtration and Reverse Osmosis ......................................................................... 6 
3.2  Electrochemical technologies in wastewater treatment...................................7 
3.3  UK waste water treatment ‘package plant’.....................................................8 
3.4  medaware project..........................................................................................9 
3.4.1  Configuration of the reactor ...................................................................................... 10 
3.5  solar driven advanced oxidation processes..................................................13 
3.5.1  Heterogeneous photo catalysis.................................................................................. 13 
3.6  wastewater treatment in rural sectors in india...............................................15 
3.7  World’s largest municipal wasterwater treatment plant using membrane
techonology in nordkanal....................................................................................18 
3.8  greenfalls wastewater treatment plant..........................................................19 

4  INTRODUCTION OF LOW ENERGY MEMBRANE BIOREACTORS ....... 20 

5  ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MUNICIPAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT

PLANTS USING DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT (DSM) (9) .............................. 21 

6  CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 22 

7  REFERENCE ......................................................................................................... 23 

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 – Cross sectional view of the Rochem UF module................................6

Figure 2 – Ultrafiltration as a polishing step in municipal WWT........................6
Figure 3 – Flow diagram of the process combination RO/NF/crystallisation......7
Figure 4 – Tank Cell.............................................................................................8
Figure 5 – Bi-polar mode.....................................................................................8
Figure 6 – Plate and frame cells...........................................................................8
Figure 7 – Rotating cathode design.....................................................................8
Figure 8 – Flow of EC High speed bio-tec system..............................................9
Figure 9 – Layout of the treatment plant in Askas.............................................12
Figure 10 – Flow diagram and system boundaries in LCA study......................13
Figure 11 – Aeration – cum – adsorption tank...................................................17
Figure 12 – Energy distribution using conventional methods............................17
Figure 13 – Energy distribution using adsorption based methods.....................17
Figure 14 – Process flow diagram of Nordkanal MBR.....................................19
Figure 15 – Membrane activation energy consumption.....................................19
Figure 16 – Flow diagram of the experimental bioreactor.................................21
Figure 17 – Effluent diversion into hydropower generation..............................22

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 – Conventional water treatment methods..............................................4

Table 2 – Specific energy consumption of NF/RO treatment...........................10
Table 3 – Configuration of reactor....................................................................11
Table 4 – Energy utilization in village..............................................................16

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 WHAT IS WASTE WATER

Waste water is used water. It includes substances such as human waste, food
scraps, oils, soaps and chemicals. In homes, this includes water from sinks,
showers, bathtubs, toilets, washing machines and dish washers. Business and
industries also contribute towards their share of used waste water that must be
cleaned. Waste water also includes storm runoff. Although some people assume
that the rain runs down the street during a storm is fairly clean, it isn’t. Harmful
substances that wash off roads, parking lots and rooftops can harm our rivers and
lakes. Prior to about 1940, most municipal wastewater was generated from
domestic sources. After 1940, as industrial development in the United States grew
significantly, increasing amounts of industrial waste water have been continue to
be discharged to municipal collection systems. The amounts of heavy metals and
synthesized organic compounds generated by industrial activities have increased,
and some 10,000 new organic compounds are added each year. Many of these
compounds are now found in the wastewater from most municipalities and
communities.

1.2 WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Wastewater treatment consists of applying known technology to improve or

upgrade the quality of a wastewater. Usually wastewater treatment will involve
collecting the wastewater in a central, segregated location (the Wastewater
Treatment Plant) and subjecting the wastewater to various treatment processes.
Most often, since large volumes of wastewater are involved, treatment processes
are carried out on continuously flowing wastewaters rather than as "batch" or a
series of periodic treatment processes in which treatment is carried out on parcels
or "batches" of wastewaters. While most wastewater treatment processes are
continuous flow, certain operations, such as vacuum filtration, involving as it does
storage of sludge, the addition of chemicals, filtration and removal or disposal of
the treated sludge, are routinely handled as periodic batch operations.

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Wastewater treatment, however, can also be organized or categorized by the

nature of the treatment process operation being used; for example, physical,
chemical or biological.

1.3 DOMESTIC WASTE WATER

The principal sources of domestic wastewater in a community are the residential
areas and commercial districts. Other important sources include institutional and
recreational facilities.

1.4 INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER

Liquid wastes resulting from industrial processes. Sources of industrial waste
water would be agricultural waste, Iron and steel industry, Mines and quarries,
Food industry, complex organic chemicals industry, nuclear industry, water
treatment.

2 INDUSTRIAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT METHODS

The same way that you would know the steps of the process that you would be
running in industry, a critical study should be carried out to familiarize yourself
with the wastewater to find ways that the wastewater is generated in the plant.
Treatment methods can be divided into three general cases
- Physical/Chemical treatment methods
- Thermal Treatment methods
- Biological treatment methods

2.1 PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL TREATMENT METHODS

Physical chemical treatment methods encompass a wide variety of technologies,

including gravity separation, filtration, chemical precipitation, evaporation,
oxidation, reduction, air stripping, carbon adsorption, ion exchange, adsorption on
other media, electrolytic recovery and membrane separation.
Gravity separation is used to extract clean water when the waste is settled in the
bottom of the tank. There are three types of separation methods which uses the
same principal. Clarifiers, Oil water separators and catch basins and sumps.

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2.2 THERMAL TREATMENT METHODS

This treatment method uses burning or exposure of wastewater to high

temperatures to destroy the waste. Some waste that is burned could be used to
recover energy in industrial furnace or cement kiln on site. Treatment facilities
such as hazardous waste incinerators are another mean of for wastewater
treatment but isn’t cost effective if used in small businesses as they are quite
expensive, unless the facility generates a large amount of waste. Some industries
tend to use off site facilities to treat wastewater but it is among the last choices to
use such means. Wet air oxidation is another method used to treat waste water
which is difficult to treat by other means. But this demands a huge amount of
energy which in the long run is more cost effective if the wastewater is treated off
site.

2.3 BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT METHODS

This method is used to remove organic compounds from wastewater. It is most

suitable for wastewater that contains a relatively constant source of biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) and very low concentrations of toxic metals. A surge tank
to equalize wastewater flow and concentration variations can help the treatment
system work effectively. This is commonly used to treat domestic sewage.

2.4 UNIT OPERATIONS OR PROCESSES

Shown in table1 are some constituents found in wastewater and conventional
water treatment methods used to purify the water.

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TABLE 1
CONSTITUENT UNIT OPERATION OR PROCESS
Suspended Solids ƒ Screening
ƒ Grit removal
ƒ Sedimentation
ƒ High-rate clarification
ƒ Flotation
ƒ Chemical Precipitation
ƒ Depth Filtration
ƒ Surface Filtration
Biodegradable organics ƒ Aerobic suspended growth
variation
ƒ Aerobic attached growth
variation
ƒ Aerobic suspended growth
variation
ƒ Aerobic attached growth
variation
ƒ Lagoon variation
ƒ Physical chemical systems
ƒ Chemical oxidation
ƒ Advanced oxidation
ƒ Membrane filtration
Nitrogen ƒ Chemical oxidation
ƒ Suspended-growth nitrification
and denitrification variations
ƒ Fixed-film nitrification and
denitrification variations
ƒ Air stripping
ƒ Ion exchange
Phosphorous ƒ Chemical treatment
ƒ Biological phosphorous removal
Nitrogen and phosphorous ƒ Biological nutrient removal
variations
Pathogens ƒ Chlorine compounds
ƒ Chlorine dioxide
ƒ Ozone
ƒ Ultraviolet radiation (UV)
Colloidal and dissolved solids ƒ Membranes
ƒ Chemical Treatment
ƒ Carbon adsorption
ƒ Ion exchange
Volatile organic compounds ƒ Air stripping
ƒ Carbon adsorption
ƒ Advanced oxidation

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Odours ƒ Chemical scrubbers

ƒ Carbon adsorption
ƒ Bio filters
ƒ Compost filters

3 DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGIES

Here I discuss instances where different countries use different technologies to

create energy and cost effective ways to treat waste water according to their needs
and capacity.

3.1 ULTRAFILTRATION, NANO FILTRATION AND REVERSE

OSMOSIS DEVELOPMENT
3.1.1 Ultra filtration [16]

The new development was done in order to make biological treatment more
economical and less energy consuming. A pilot plant scale (9m3/h permeate) has
been tested in Berlin Rubleben. Ultra filtration acts as the polishing step in
industrial wastewater treatment. Although ultra filtration combined with bio
reactor is state of the art for treatment of small scale treatment industrial effluent,
dumpsite leachate; over biology/sedimentation, it’s high energy consumption is
one of its disadvantages, which is about 10kWh/m3 permeate energy.
Rochem company, to get the specific energy consumption down to about 0.3 – 0.5
kW/m3 permeate designed the ultra filtration module [figure 1]with a feed channel
formed by 2 membranes and completely free of obstacles so that the flow pattern
is straight through.[figure 2]
For a permeate flux of 90 l/m3h the operational cost for energy is 4- 8%. An 8
week experiment was carried out in Berlin Ruhleben; where the ultra filtration
membrane was placed behind sedimentation and a sand filtration as a polishing
step and from results the specific energy consumption was found to be 0.2 – 0.3
kWh/m3. The estimated specific cost of ultra filtration step (including capital
costs) are 0.35 DM/m3 permeate. With that cost figure scale for UF replacing sand
filtration is feasible.

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FIGURE1

Cross sectional view of the

Rochem UF module.

FIGURE2

Ultra filtration as polishing

step in municipal
wastewater treatment.

3.1.2 Nano filtration and Reverse Osmosis

The main aim of this is to shift the limits of processes to very high water
recoveries which in other words mean the development of an almost zero
discharge process. The specific energy consumption in the end after the
modification was done is as follows. [13]

TABLE 2
Part of plant Permeate Specific energy Total plant feed
flow rate consumption kWh/m3
process stage
kWh/m3 permeate
RO/ High pressure RO 35 4 2.8
60- bar RO
HD RO 11 17 3.74
NF/ High pressure RO 2.7 32 1.73
NF
RO
Water recovery 97.4% Total 8.27
The design is as shown in figure 3

FIGURE3

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Flow diagram of the

process combination
RO/NF/crystallisation

Dumpsite leachate is a direct consequence of rainfall and is a complex mixture of

mainly organic compounds. The 2 stage RO is operating at 60 bars and 120 bars
in the first stage and 60 bars in the second stage.
At moderate transmembrane pressure difference of 20-50 bars, the nano filtration
unit produces permeate containing chlorides. The concentration of 120 bar unit
treated by a combination of NF/Crystallisation. The NF/Crystallisation cycle
reaches a super saturation with respect to calcium sulphate at high concentration
of organics. The modules must be insensitive to fouling and the presence of
crystals, which have already been developed in Rochem Germany.

3.2 ELECTROCHEMICAL TECHNOLOGIES IN WASTEWATER

TREATMENT
This technology first proposed in the UK in 1889 was mainly used in the US for
the elctrocoagulation of drinking water. Due to high capital investment and the
expensive electricity supply it wasn’t used worldwide. There are a few types of
electrodes used in industry at present.
Typical reactors applied
1. Tank cells - It’s the simplest form (figure 4) and hence the most popular
designs. It can be scaled up and down depending on the tank load of the
process. The electrodes can be arranged in mono-polar or bi-polar mode
(figure 5) and the numbers of electrodes vary from 10 to 100. The flow is
normally induced by gravity.

FIGURE4

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FIGURE5

Applications – Recovery of metals from high concentration process streams such

as effluent from the electroplating bath, ethants and elutes of an ion- exchange
units.
2. Plate and frame cells (Filter press) – It could house units with an anode, a
cathode and a membrane. Design operation and maintenance is relatively
simple [figure 6]. To make the mass transfer more efficient and also to
remove deposits from the surface of the cathode the rotating cathode was
designed. [figure 7]

FIGURE6

FIGURE7

3.3 UK WASTE WATER TREATMENT ‘PACKAGE PLANT’

The high speed bio-tec designed by EEC is to be installed for trial at black burn
meadows. The "High-Speed Bio Tec" plant has been designed for rapid
installation with minimum civil engineering works.

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Discharge consent standards both in the UK, Eire and Europe can be very
demanding. With new legislation restricting discharge of effluent to the sea and
increasingly rigorous standards for acceptable levels of nutrients such as nitrates
and phosphates in effluent the "High-Speed Bio Tec " system has been designed
to provide final effluent quality objectives (BOD5 <5 mg/l SS: <5 mg/l
Ammonia cal Nitrogen: <5 mg/l) consistently.[1]

The "High-Speed Bio Tec" system offers a viable solution to conventional

processes with clear advantages compared to other biological processes:

- High capacity to treat high loading.

- High Quality effluent free from solids.
- Reduced sludge production.
- Low capital cost.
- Customer needs only level concrete base and electricity supply for
installation.

Only one mechanical and electrical inspection is needed per week and its capacity
is 750 per (150 m3/d) and the plant dimensions are length 39 feet width 8 feet and
height 8 feet. Due to this the machine can be fit into limited space which makes it
ideal for the use in hotels, condominiums, military, golf clubs, airports, small rural
cities, residential areas.

FIGURE8 The plant has a level controlled

pump with a capacity of 2 to 3
times the average daily flow. The
bio degradation reactor comes in
one or two stages depending on
required cleaning efficiency. The organic compounds are oxidised into CO2 and
biomass (activated sludge). These suspended solids settle by gravity in the
clarification stage.

3.4 MEDAWARE PROJECT

This project was carried out in Cyprus which is the largest Mediterranean country

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with the total population of 700,000. There are 4 main sectors of water demand,
which are domestic, agriculture, industry and other environmental issues. This
plant was designed according to the season changes in the country. The sunshine
In the area of the plant varies between 4.1 h/d in the winter (December/January)
and 12.3 h in the summer (July). This plant was build approximately 0.5kms away
from the residential area with a capacity of serving 500 persons with a flow rate of
36m2/d. It’s an activated sludge system and its characteristics are similar to those
of extended aeration one with simultaneous organic matter oxidation and nitrogen
removal by nitrification and denitrification.

The success of this method lies due to the use of the specially designed fluidized
bed of activated sludge layer where bio reactions and solid- liquid separation takes
place simultaneously. The total denitrification is 69.8% using this method and the
total project cost around 120 000 Euros. Reuse of waste water could be planned or
either unplanned. Planned reuse could be seen in countries such as Cyprus, Israel,
Tunisia etc and unplanned reuse in countries such as Jordan, Morocco, Algeria,
West bank, Gaza, Syria.

3.4.1 Configuration of the reactor

TABLE 3
Parameter Value
Equivalent population (persons) 300
Diameter (m) 2.40

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Height (m) 7.00

Mixed liquor suspended solids (mg/l) 6000
3
Volumetric loading BOD (kg/m d) 0.64
F/M ratio, BOD (kg)/ss (kg/d) 0.107
3
Air flow rate (m /h) 50
Power absorbed kW 2.0
Sludge production, ss(kg/d) 8
Sludge age, d 20

According to the above it is clear that for less sludge production and low use of
energy there is quite a remarkable amount of wastewater treated which is
economically viable for such countries. The treatment tank isn’t large which also
reduces the capital cost for such a treatment facility and also less use of land.

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FIGURE9 Layout of the treatment plant in Askas

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3.5 SOLAR DRIVEN ADVANCED OXIDATION PROCESSES

There are two methods under this process which has been tested in pilot scale as
well in INETI- Portugal and PSA – Spain respectively. These processes are
- Heterogeneous semiconductor photo catalysis
- Homogeneous photo Fenton
Figure shows the system under study which applies for both alternatives.

FIGURE10
Nine environmental impact categories were included in the life cycle assessment
of the two methods which were, global warming, ozone depletion, human toxicity,
freshwater aquatic toxicity, photochemical ozone formation, acidification,
eutrophication, energy consumption, and land use. After the experiments were
carried out it was concluded that solar photo-Fenton is able to obtain
biodegradable effluent much faster than heterogeneous photo catalysis. This is
due to the fact that heterogeneous photo catalysis needs a larger solar collector
area when used in industry.
3.5.1 Heterogeneous photo catalysis
Photo catalytic degradation has been proved to be a promising method for the
treatment of wastewater contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants. The
process, as a means of removal of persistent water contaminants such as
pesticides, which exhibit chemical stability and resistance to biodegradation, has
attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. This can be defined as
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the acceleration of photoreaction in the presence of a catalyst. 2 or more phases

are used in the photo catalytic reaction. A light source with semiconductor
material is used to initiate the photoreaction where the catalyst carries out
substrate oxidation and reduction. Even sunlight can be used as the light source
with UV light with long wave length is hard to produce.
A catalyst such as TiO2 is ideal as it breaks down the contaminant molecule
completely thus no residue of organic material is incurred which takes the way the
need of sludge disposal. This process also doesn’t need any consumable chemicals
which results in considerable savings and simpler operation of equipment
involved.
The principle that lies behind this process is as followed. Photo catalysis over a
semiconductor oxide such as TiO2 is initiated by the adsorption of a photon with
energy equal to or greater than the band gap of the semi conductor (ca.3.2 eV for
anatase), producing electron- hole (e-/h+) pairs as shown in equation.
hv
TiO2 e-cb(TiO2) + h+vb (TiO2)

Cb – conduction band; vb – valance band

The principle behind this process could be viewed [9]

As the energy supplied for this method should be either sunlight or high wave
length UV light this method is most viable for countries that has sunlight
throughout the whole year as that then eliminates the need of producing UV light
which would be an economic benefit. This method has been implemented for
many fields such as removing trace metals from drinking water, destruction of
organic compounds, removing inorganic compounds, water disinfection,
degradation if natural organic matter, sea water treatment. However there are two
draw backs in this method which are this method not being able to be used
economically in countries with season changes due to the need of sunlight and the
fact that it’s a slow process compared to traditional methods. The advantage on
the other hand is that it doesn’t leave toxic sludge as a by product which

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eliminates the need of sludge disposal methods.

3.5.2 Homogeneous photo Fenton

Photo Fenton method is used in chipboard production wastewater treatment. This
process uses a moderate 10m3/d flow rate of water to produce 1300m3 chip-boards
per day. The BRITE EURAM SOLARDETOX CPC type reactors are proven to
be very powerful in water treatment. This has an aperture of about 1.62m3 and a
150l capacity. A series of experiments were carried out on the development of this
technology [14]. From the results obtained by the experiments [14] although the
reactor was not optimized for a scale up it could be concluded that a reactor
similar to the test reactor about 370m3 collector surfaces would be sufficient to
treat 10m3/d effluent reaching a reduction of at least 50% of the COD. Adding all
other prices the treatment cost would be about 9 €/m3. This result is very
promising for enhancing the reactor and the process for an industrial application
of the process.

3.6 WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN RURAL SECTORS IN INDIA [8]

Innovative techniques are described to treat the wastewater generated in the
village with the available discarded materials. Energy requirement for the
wastewater treatment systems is met from a mix of conventional and renewable
energy resources. The estimated energy requirement for treating wastewater using
conventional methods would be 225MJ but with an adsorption process it would
come down to 113.9 MJ which saves a total of 111.1 MJ.
Adsorption based system would then be a good option for the village and other
decentralized areas. A hybrid energy system involving conventional and
nonconventional energy should be the solution. The wastewater generated in this
village was discharged in open channels along the streets and villages.
Investigations were carried out on samples taken from 4 points across the village
and the physico-chemical characteristics such as pH, temperature, total solids,
total suspended solids; MPN, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD) were analyzed. These were compared against the limits
prescribed by the central pollution control board Delhi, India.
The flow rate for the design of the treatment plant was taken as 150m3/day. The
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units of the adsorption based wastewater treatment system were similar to the
conventional wastewater treatment system except the aeration tank which is
replaced by the aeration-cum-adsorption tank. The difference of it is that the
aeration process was incorporated with adsorption by adding discarded material-
based mixed adsorbent carbon.

The residents use the government controlled system which was sufficient for most
of the year except during the peak summer when the electricity is disrupted. At
such instances conventional as well as non conventional sources were used to
supply the necessary energy. 30% of the operational cost was budgeted for energy
use. 15MJ pf energy per 1m3 of wastewater was needed using conventional
methods which in this case gave a total of 225MJ, as the rate of wastewater
produced per day in the village was 150m3. This was utilized as shown in table 4.

TABLE 4
Process Energy consumption (MJ)

Pre-treatment 10.125
Sump collection 23.175
Aeration and activated sludge process 125.1
Secondary clarifier in sludge processing 8.325
Processing and post aeration of the 19.35
treated water
Lighting of the plant 17.1

It is clear that the maximum energy intake in this system was for the aeration and
activated sludge process. In order to make it more energy efficient the system was
designed to minimize this energy intake introducing the aeration-cum-adsorption
column. This actually eliminates the need of a secondary clarifier and in place a
standby aeration-cum-adsorption tank was used. The motor needed for the
aeration-cum-adsorption tank was 0.6hp where as in the conventional method a
5hp motor was needed. As the secondary clarifier was also not needed the total
energy required for the adsorption process was 113.9MJ

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FIGURE11 Aeration-cum-adsorption tank

140
120 FIGURE12
100
80
60 Unit wise energy distribution in MJs for
40
20 conventional wastewater treatment plant for a
0
typical village like Bibipur (India) for a flow
rate of 150m3/day of wastewater.

70
60 FIGURE13
50
40
30 Unit wise energy distribution in MJs for
20
10 adsorption based wastewater treatment plant
0
for a typical village like Bibipur (India) for a
flow rate of 150m3/day of wastewater.

The total energy available in the village from all sources was 468205 MJ and the
requirement of energy for all activities in the village was 592220 MJ which was a
deficit in energy when conventional sources were used, but a surplus when
renewable/non-conventional sources were used. It could be concluded that hybrid

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system, bio gas, bio mass, diesel generator and electric power could be a suitable
answer to the energy requirement/supply for waste water treatment systems in
such areas as Bibipur.

3.7 WORLD’S LARGEST MUNICIPAL WASTERWATER

TREATMENT PLANT USING MEMBRANE TECHONOLOGY IN
NORDKANAL [5]

Design capacity is 80000 population equivalents. The wastewater treatment using

micro/ultra filtration membranes has developed into a new trendsetting process
variant in communal wastewater. The investment cost for the Nord Kanal MBR
wastewater treatment plant amounts to €21.5 million (incl VAT). In addition,
approximately € 3.2 million is spent on engineering, special consult, acquisition of
land and charges of environmental compensation. This plant uses less than half
the space used in a conventional design. This is due to the fact that the membrane
replaces the conventional secondary clarifier also the downstream filtration and
disinfection steps being replaced by one treatment step. Since the commissioning
the plant managed to achieve consistently very good purification results.
Depending on current hydraulic load on the plant, different performance curves
ensure for the individual membrane activation consumers. The energy
consumption in membrane activated sludge plant is higher than that of
conventional plants due to the use of membrane filtration. This plant need 0.4 –
0.8 kW/m3 wastewater when running at full capacity.

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FIGURE14 Process flow diagram of the Nordkanal MBR

Membrane activation energy consumption depending on the

FIGURE15 hydraulic plant load

3.8 GREENFALLS WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT [5]

This plant provided primary and secondary wastewater treatment to the city of
Glen falls and its surroundings. It also deals with deliveries from septage and
leachate and also dewatered sludge from other industries. As a result of the
effluent plant being closed it was running at 50% of its design capacity.
This is another example which shows the energy used in the secondary aeration
was decreased by using other means. This energy consumption was 40% of the
annual energy consumption. Technology it was brought down to a single 200hp
blower and additional standby blower. The standby blower was used only for
periods of higher flow where as the 200hp blower was able to operate alone 90%
of the time. The method used here instead of the secondary aeration was to replace
the inefficient aeration diffusers with high frequency ceramic disc diffusers. This
upgrade saves 2 million kWh annually. Although the cost for the upgrade was
$600,000 the annual energy saving per year was $168,000.

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4 INTRODUCTION OF LOW ENERGY MEMBRANE BIOREACTORS

Although membrane bio reactors were better than conventional methods the
disadvantage of this process was the high energy consumption and membrane
fouling. The normal energy consumption for a traditional wastewater treatment
facility is normally between 0.3 – 0.4 kWh/m3 where as this method has a rate of
6 – 8 kWh/m3 of energy being consumed. The normal mode of operation is the
cross flow mode; the new development was to use transverse flow to enhance
filtration capacity and to prevent fouling. By creating a 2 loop connection between
the bioreactor and the transverse fibres sitting perpendicular to the direction of the
feed flow [fig10], resulted in generating turbulence themselves which consumed
less energy and the membrane area.
The power requirement in the system could be divided into 5 sectors which are
energy consumed by oxygen supply aeration tank, pipeline system, membrane
module, by pump and by velocity energy lost. The low energy consumption was
achieved by the use of the transverse membrane and the low recirculating flow
rate between the reactor and membrane module. Normally 80% of the energy is
converted into heat for membrane filtration as this energy is used for recircling in
the cooling system. The step taken in this instance is to design the recirculation
loop so that the cooling device is unnecessary and also to reduce velocity energy
exit loss.

FIGURE16

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Flow diagram of the experimental membrane bioreactor: (1) influent; (2)

presettler; (3) overflow; (4) raw wastewater pump; (5) aeration tank; (6) mixer;
(7) air diffuser; (8) air; (9) feed pump; (10) recirculation pump; (11) transverse
flow membrane module; (12) permeate.
5 ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MUNICIPAL WASTE WATER
TREATMENT PLANTS USING DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT
(DSM) (9)

Apart from the energy efficient processes there are other factors that could be
taken into consideration in order to reduce energy used in wastewater treatment
plants. DSM is one of these methods which mean actions that a utility may take to
control or influences its customer’s electricity use. DSM includes the control of
power requirement, conversion, and energy efficiency. It is defined for DSM to be
any opportunity a wastewater treatment plant has to reduce total energy cost. By
means of generating electricity on-site; reducing the amount of electricity
purchased from the utility, shifting electricity use to off-peak hours and using
alternative fuels and treatment technologies. Using a turbine generator for the
flowing efficient or parallel to the pipeline is a good way of generating energy as
shown in figure 10. Electricity could be generated onsite by means of fuel, natural
gas, fuel oil which could be produced anaerobic sludge digesters.
Aeration electric demand and energy consumption could be reduced by using
fine-pore diffused air systems and aeration process controls lowering sludge age
(mean cell residence time). Sludge management has become and increasing
problem and costly for many municipalities. Waste heat can be rewarded to use in
sludge management and plant heating and cooling. The cost per year in the New
York City for sludge was $250 and about $220 per dry ton. In general the water
content of the sludge has a direct impact on the cost of hauling, land filling,
composting and pelletizing it. Lower water content leads to lower operating costs.

FIGURE17
How a treatment plant’s effluent
could be diverted to a hydropower
21
generating station to produce
electricity
[Type text]

There are quite a few ways of reducing the energy consumed at the stage of
aeration. This could be achieved by methods such as bubble differentiation, fine
pore systems, maintaining and cleaning the diffusers, sludge age reduction. The
fine pore system can reduce the energy consumption from 40%- 50% and overall
life cycle cost from 10 – 20% compared to other diffused air systems. The capital
cost of a fine-pore aeration system will be higher but the total annual cost will be
less than the total annual cost for coarse bubble aerators. There are however a few
drawbacks in this method

6 CONCLUSION

The future will be dominated by unrelenting demands for increasing quantity and
quality of reuse water, produced at decreasing costs. The largest application has
been to provide water for irrigation where pathogenic risk minimization is the
primary consideration. However the need for membrane filtration to produce a
high quality water source for either industrial or aquifer recharge has emerged as a
major application over the last 10 years.
The electrochemical treatment is an established method with possible further
development in the improvement of space- time yield. The newly developed
stable and active electrodes for oxygen evolution would definitely boost the
adoption of this technology. On the other hand solar energy is one of the most
widely researched topics in the field of wastewater treatment and many other
processes. This is due to the fact that solar energy is widely accessible and to
extract the energy an extra cost shouldn’t be incurred apart from the cost for the
machine and apparatus. One of the draw backs of this method is that they could be
used only in sunny regions. Countries which has seasonal changes and especially
with a heavy winter wouldn’t be able to use this technology throughout the year.

22
[Type text]

In countries that such as the Middle East who has scarce water resources the
improvement of wastewater collection or upgrading of the existing water collection
systems would benefit the population to face the wastewater problems.
Wastewater treatment technology is a rapidly developing field which has a vast number
of researches being carried out. The main concern of all treatment facilities is to design a
treatment facility which is economically viable and less energy consuming and that has
the minimum impact on the environment.

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