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Using
"Bugs" to Treat Wastewater
by James Ertle, CEO, BioLogix Products Group Inc.
Printed in Environmental Technology Magazine, Jan/Feb 2000
Thirty years ago, superintendents
of wastewater treatment facilities who used microorganisms to manage
the myriad of challenges associated with operating efficient, environmentally
responsible stems were viewed as alchemists. Many of their colleagues
regarded the premise that tiny "bugs," too small to be seen,
could somehow improve the efficiency of their operations and alleviate
headaches such as excessive levels of ammonia, grease and sludge, or
toxic shocks seemed absurd. Conventional logic suggested that real system
solutions were achieved by adding capacity, buying new pieces of equipment,
or introducing new chemical treatments.
But a growing number
of industrial and municipal system operators are now taking a second
look at the results being achieved by their colleagues dabbling in alchemy.
Increasingly facility managers are seeing biotechnology as the solution
to their specific problems with respect to capacity, efficiency, and
environmental compliance. And this biotechnology solution -a process
known as bioaugmentation -is also being viewed as an inexpensive and
environmentally friendly alternative to conventional system improvements
involving new facilities, equipment, or chemicals.
Roger
Lyman, an Indian Trail, NC-distributor of bioaugmentation products,
said much of the new respect for bioaugmentation comes from huge improvements
in the quality of the products. Manufacturers of microbe-based
wastewater treatments systems have done a better job of isolating the
microorganisms capable of achieving specific goals and packaging them
for the precise purposes of system operators. The industry has also
learned how best to apply the bugs and create the environmental conditions
that allow them to do their jobs with the greatest degree of efficiency.
According to Lyman, for the first time since the bioaugmentation industry
emerged in the 1960s, operators of wastewater treatment systems are
able to use the products with the precision that previously eluded them.
Simple Science, Not Magic
There were days when bioaugmentation was called a "black
art" and the products were regarded as "magic dust."
But there is no black magic in the wide range of biological cultures
now available. The products simply use naturally occurring microorganisms
to achieve a specific chemical transformation -the same process that
helps brewers brew beer, bakers bake bread, and dairy farmers make cheese.
In
the context of a wastewater treatment facility, bioaugmentation introduces
specialized blends of bacteria into the waste stream to achieve a specific
process objective. The bacteria consume the soluble organic matter in
the wastewater and convert it into carbon dioxide, water, and energy
to produce new cells. This degradation process, eventually converts
soluble pollutants into insoluble biomass, which can be removed from
the system for disposal.
Jerry
Meier, who manages a waste treatment operation at a Nestle Corp. plant
in Morton, IL, said that this process occurs naturally in all wastewater
treatment facilities. A bioaugmentation regimen, however, introduces
superior strains of bacteria on a continual basis to develop a specific
bacterial diversity. This aggressive bacterial team then degrades different
compounds in an efficient and effective manner. "This is something
that is already working for you," Meier said. "So if you add
something that is selectively bred for this purpose, it is only going
to work better."
For
five years, Meier's plant has used a special bacterial blend that accelerates
the degradation of organic sewage wastes and solids. Building a strong
bacterial team at certain times of the year is essential because of
the seasonal nature of Nestle's production facility, which specializes
in canned pumpkin. Huge volumes of organic matter move through his system
in late summer and early fall as the company prepares product for sale
during Halloween and Thanksgiving. Bioaugmentation helps the company
discharge from the lagoon system more quickly. Bioaugmentation also
assists greatly with odor control, which is important because the plant
is located near a residential area.
Continuous
augmentation is critical in most operations. The diversity of a system's
bacterial team can change over time for a variety of reasons leading
to system inefficiencies. Continuous augmentation is also necessary
to handle variations in influent quality, occasional system shocks,
and environmental factors that affect bacterial diversity.
Bioaugmentation
helps system operators manage a wide range of routine and complex problems
to achieve:
- swifter and more complete degradation of organic
sewage wastes;
- accelerated liquefaction and digestion of grease
and oil;
- odor reduction;
- enhanced nitrification for ammonia removal;
- improved settling of solids;
- reductions in sludge volume;
- improvements in BOD effluent levels;
- reductions in algae blooms; and
- improved recovery from toxic shocks.
Go With The Flow
Charles Young, a facility manager with Environmental
Management Corp. (EMC), said system operators should also view bioaugmentation
as a tool for achieving environmental compliance and improvements in
efficiency. Young, whose company provides management and consulting
services to wastewater treatment facilities around the country, said
that while treatment facilities are built for specific purposes, the
world around them tends to change quickly. New industrial processes
and enhanced production volume can place a wide range of stresses on
a system that may have functioned efficiently for years. Tighter effluent
targets created by state and municipal environmental authorities may
require system adjustments. In the face of such operational and legal
challenges, bioaugmentation can provide system operators with cost‑effective
solutions that keep them in business.
"Industrial
or municipal waste treatment facilities are built for a specific volume,"
Young said. "Five years down the line, however, the company or
the municipality will find that their volume exceeds the plant's design.
Using bioaugmentation will improve efficiency and essentially allow
you to expand the design capacity of your plant."
As
an example, Young pointed to a recent EMC project involving a food processing
facility in Indiana. The plant used large volumes of vegetable oils
in its processes and had developed a grease problem that severely hampered
the efficiency of the wastewater treatment system. Hardened grease clung
to drain fines restricting flows into the treatment system, and softball-size
grease chunks floated throughout the system's clarifier. Even more ominous,
the problem placed the facility at odds with its municipal environmental
agency, which was fining the food processor daily for violations of
its discharge permit.
EMC
responded by seeding lines leading into the waste treatment system with
a bacterial formulation specially designed to digest grease and oil.
Within two weeks, a dramatic improvement was achieved and environmental
compliance was restored. While the flow moving into the system's lift
station carried grease concentrations of 20,000 ppm before the seeding,
the bioaugmentation regimen brought the number below 1,000 ppm - a level
the system could easily digest.
Morris Linnemann, superintendent of the City of Columbia, IL, Wastewater Treatment
Plant, was uncertain bioaugmentation would help him when he was searching
for a solution to an environmental compliance problem. While the Columbia
plant is permitted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA)
for effluent discharges of 37 ppm BOD and 45 ppm TSS, the agency required
the facility to meet levels of 20 ppm BOD and 25 ppm TSS by November
2001. Linnemann considered installing a new clarifier system at a cost
of $500,000, but decided to test bioaugmentation.
Since
first seeding his system with bugs in April, Linnemann said he has been
able to dramatically cut his BOD and TSS levels, bringing his facility
into compliance with the new IEPA targets two years early. BOD levels
now range between 8 and 15 ppm. TSS levels have consistently registered
below 25 ppm since the start of the program and actually dropped to
as low as 6.3 PPM in October 1999. The bacteria blend cost approximately
$20,000 per year, which Linnemann views as a bargain compared to the
major capital upgrade he was considering.
Quick Clean-Up
Donald Allen, director of the South Island Public Service
District (PSD) in Hilton Head island, SC, said he began a bioaugmentation
regimen two years ago after South Carolina's environmental protection
agency created targets for ammonia as a component of his facility's
discharge permit. While the state agency demanded that the facility
achieve an ammonia level of 3 ppm, Allen said levels from his facility's
effluent ranged as high as 50 ppm.
After
considering the installation of an air stripping system that would have
cost approximately $500,000, Allen said South Island PSD decided to
employ a bioaugmentation product designed to provide nitrification of
ammonia nitrogen in wastewater. In one week, PSD noticed a significant
change in ammonia levels. After 18 months, ammonia levels in the effluent
are "barely detectable" and average 0.2 ppm.
Heavy
industrial operations have also achieved notable improvements through
bioaugmentation. Donald Shirk, a distributor of bioaugmentation products
with Hill Brothers Chemical Co. in Phoenix, AZ, said one of his clients
was having problems controlling not only solids, but also an organic
solvent used in its industrial processes. The company, which manufactures
PVC pipes, was experiencing tremendous costs for grease trap cleaning
and disposal. After seeding &am fines and the 600-gallon grease
trap with a special bacterial blend, however, the problem has diminished
greatly. The blend not only reduced the overall volume of solids, but
also consumed the organic solvent. As a result, the manufacturer's cleaning
and disposal expenses have been reduced by more than 50%.
And
Lori Washington, environmental coordinator at BASF Chemical Co.'s polystyrene
production facility in Joliet, IL, said her plant began using bacterial
blends a few years ago in anticipation of fighter discharge requirements
under its National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System permit
for both BOD and ammonia. The bacterial regimen achieved dramatic reductions
on a consistent basis. Now BASF consistently discharges water with ammonia
levels of less than 1 ppm.
"This is the easiest, most cost effective way of
dealing with our internal challenges and its well accepted," Washington
said. "Almost every other option would have required a capital
investment that would have been cost prohibitive."
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