THE PROJECT
The prestigious ski resort situated in the Orlicke Mountain range in the Czech Republic is a 40-bed hotel within a house restaurant. It is a famous tourist attraction during the winter season experiencing a surge in visitors during peak period reaching up to 110 people every day, so we were consulted for hotel wastewater treatment systems.
The Problem - Hotel wastewater treatment systems
The hotel management had already installed one sewage treatment plant for the treatment of the sewage generated within the premises. However, due to the high oil and grease content of the restaurant effluent and due to high hydraulic loading during the peak period, the plant never performed as per their requirement and had serious issues meeting the treatment goals as per stringent EU standards.
THE CHALLENGE
- Serious issues of oil and grease present in the sewage even covering the entire clarifier during the operation
- Due to ski resorts, lower temperatures combined with the peak flows pose an additional burden of achieving results under lower liquid temperatures reducing biological activities of the microorganisms.
THE SOLUTION Levapor IFAS Upgrade
- During our extensive pilot testing and R & D for the project spanning over two years period, it was found that:
- A combination of Anaerobic and Aerobic process provides better performance compared to Aerobic only step due to hydrolysis of toxic organics during anaerobic steps.
- Immobilization of microorganisms using Levapor carriers offers higher process performance and remarkable process stability with very high levels of nitrification and denitrification despite the presence of toxic inhibitory active Agro chemicals in the effluent.
THE RESULTS
- Due to the high FOG content in the inlet wastewater, the plant was facing serious issues in removing FOG from the wastewater. Even the clarifier was also experiencing serious deposits of FOG on its surface during the winter peak period.
- However after adding Levapor carriers, due to the specific properties of the carriers, specific micro-organisms responsible for the degradation of FOG were established within the reactor and resulted in remarkable biodegradation of FOG present in the wastewater. The results were so evident that during the next winter season after the addition of Levapor carriers, the deposition of FOG on the secondary clarifier surface was eliminated completely.
- Despite daily fluctuations in the hydraulic as well as organic load during the peak winter season, the plant also stabilized remarkably due to the presence of highly active biomass on the Levapor carrier surface resulting in higher COD reduction and nitrification compared to suspended growth-only reactor meeting the treatment goals throughout the winter period operation at lower liquid temperatures.
Benefits of Upgrading to Levapor IFAS Process
- Stable operation of the plant under higher loading rates during peak season
- Meeting treatment goals consistently
- Removal of FOG accumulation on the clarifier surface completely over the period of time
Amit Christian is a MSc graduate in Environment Science from Middlesex University, London, UK. He has been active in the field of water and wastewater treatment since 1998. He specializes in the design, engineering, and management of various biological wastewater treatments such as Activated Sludge Process (ASP), Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR), and Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS). He has helped various Industrial and Municipal clients in troubleshooting, and optimizing their biological wastewater treatment processes to achieve the latest Stringent norms for Ammonia Removal.
