Municipal wastewater treatment in Pfalzpaint

ClearFox® FBBR system for wastewater treatment in Pfalzpaint

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Situation

The municipal wastewater treatment plant in Pfalzpaint treats wastewater from 10 communities with a total of 10,000 people. After treatment, it flows into the Altmühl, which flows into the Danube. The local wastewater association found that the purification capacity for direct discharge was not sufficient because the existing disc immersion tank, the pump sump as well as the aerated secondary clarifier were getting on in years. The plant could therefore not guarantee sufficient purification performance.

Containerized municipal wastewater treatment

Problem

The challenge in this project was the wastewater association’s wish to expand the existing treatment system without having to carry out a dismantling. Therefore, the ClearFox® team carried out an analysis of the wastewater in the in-house laboratory with the following results:

COD: 1,190 mg/l
NH₄N: 64 mg/l

NO₂N: 3 mg/l
P: 19.1 mg/l

The wastewater association also wanted the possibility to test the purification performance of the new treatment plant and to examine the wastewater again after the start-up of the new system. This should also be particularly robust and achieve reliable treatment performance without regular maintenance.

Solution

To meet the client’s needs, the ClearFox® team offered a containerised treatment plant with a submerged fixed bed. This was initially available as a leasing system with a purchase option after six months. The fixed-bed container consists of three cascades through which the wastewater flows. With each cascade, the growth area of the fixed-bed material increases – from 100 m²/m³ to 150 m²/m³ to 200 m²/m³. A submersible pump conveys the wastewater from the pump sump into the container treatment plant and from there into the aerated secondary clarifier.

The ClearFox® team built the containerised wastewater treatment plant entirely at the main facility in Bayreuth and carried out a comprehensive test there. Therefore, the installation on site was limited to one day. Full start-up of the biology was achieved after only a few weeks, with the biology achieving initial cleaning performance after only a few days. After reaching full purification performance, the ClearFox® laboratory determined the following discharge values:

ClearFox FBBR for municipal wastwater treatment

COD: 58 mg/l
NH₄N: 24.4 mg/l

NO₂N: 3.7 mg/l
P: 9.8 mg/l

This meant that there was nothing to prevent the treated wastewater from being discharged directly into the Altmühl.

Through the leasing offer, the wastewater association tested the containerised wastewater treatment plant extensively. Since it was very satisfied with the constant cleaning performance and the low maintenance effort, it decided to buy the plant after only five months. To date, no changes to the settings have been necessary.