The Latest News & Information from Colour Technologies Australasia and The Novasys Group

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

Volume E4 Issue 2 - 1 June 2005

Table of Contents

1. Stormwater Pollution Prevention... Are Gross Pollution Traps THE Answer?
2. OilTrap Environmental Introduces A New Generation of Washwater Treatment
3. "Biosys" Compact Dynamic Bioreactor. An innovative approach for high BOD industrial effluent
4. Drought affected? No rain to fill tanks? Water source nearby? Maybe we have the answer!
5. Fun Stuff........

Stormwater Pollution Prevention... Are Gross Pollutant Traps THE Answer?

The answer must be no. Gross Pollutant Traps are part of the answer only!

There has been a raft of publicity lately about the state of our rivers and waterways that does not make for happy reading or listening. One reaction to this has been to recommend the  installation of Gross Pollutant Traps to stop pollutants entering the stormwater drainage system.

By their very nature, Gross Pollutant Traps are designed to capture relatively large objects; bottles, cans, plastic bags and other relatively large objects. BUT... what about small objects, cigarette butt size and smaller? What about grease, oils and fuels such as  diesel and petrol? Sediments, dust, particles from brakes and motor vehicle engines that may contain heavy metals or asbestos? Animal urine and liquefied faecal matter?

There is no guarantee that GPT's will capture any of these smaller size pollutants unless they find their way permanently into the inside of the bottles, cans etc. that are thus trapped.

Then there is the question of cost; initial cost and maintenance. Most GPT's are not cheap and need to be cleaned out before they overflow. Retrofitting into older suburban streets or industrial sites may be impossible and/or prohibitively expensive.

The UltraTech range of disposable or reusable catch basin devices; DrainGuards, KerbGuards and GrateGuards that capture large and small debris down to sediment size, as well as hydrocarbons, are both cheap and effective. Users can choose the most appropriate device depending on the nature of the pollutant in their area. The disposable devices can allow water to flow into, but prevent any pollutant entering a particular drain, or capture up to 75% of ALL solid and undissolved pollutants in the stormwater stream, including hydrocarbons. The reusable devices are designed to capture large quantities of solid debris and sediments; up to 250kg per device. If spills occur, the UltraTech DrainSeals prevent any material escaping into the stormwater system.

Neither UltraTech nor ourselves pretend that the UltraTech devices provide the only answer to the problem of stormwater prevention pollution, but we do contend that they can play a significant part in a Total Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan including Best Management Practice that includes Water Sensitive Urban Design, Gross Pollutant Traps, spill prevention and/or cleanup, preventing and detecting illegal connections to stormwater drains, education and enforcement.

At the very least, every company, municipality and contractor should maintain a program that includes good housekeeping, a preventive maintenance, visual inspections, a spill prevention and response policy, sediment and erosion control, and runoff management.

For information about UltraTech stormwater management products, or guidance on stormwater management at your site, please contact us.

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OilTrap Environmental Introduces A New Generation of Washwater Treatment

Planes, trains and automobiles. Trucks, buses, trams, ships, bulldozers, tractors, cranes, conveyors, earth moving and mining equipment and shipping containers. All get dirty, all need washing and the dirty water needs, (or ought to be), cleaned up for re-use, or before discharge to the environment.

OilTrap Environmental, a leading manufacturer of electrocoagulation (EC) wastewater treatment systems, has introduced a new generation of electrocoagulation wash water treatment systems designed for wash water generated from washing vehicles and equipment.  The EP-1WR and EP-2WR are economically priced and easy to operate.

The ElectroPulse will process up to 750 litres per minute (LPM) of wash water and is of a quality that can be recycled or discharged to sewer. Average treatment cost is only $0.80 per 1,000 litres.

The ElectroPulse system uses electrocoagulation, an electricity-based technology for wash water treatment economically and on-site. The EC treatment process has proven successful in removing a variety of contaminants that are impossible or too expensive to be removed by filtration or chemical treatment systems. Amongst these contaminants are emulsified oil, TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon), suspended solids and heavy metals.  Generally heavy metals are reduced to a hydroxide, allowing sludge that is separated through the ElectroPulse treatment process, to pass a TCLP (Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure) test. 

The ElectroPulse wash water systems have a small footprint and are modular for accommodating to limited floor space. Systems are being used in many applications, including heavy equipment washing, marinas, military wash operations, forest products processing, aircraft refurbishing, motor vehicle auctions, equipment washing, and metal finishing and deburring.

Complete with on-board automation, the ElectroPulse system is fully automated, which dramatically reduces the cost and maintenance time often associated with on-site wastewater treatment systems. Also, there are no filters to clean or replace.

OilTrap Environmental, which has been manufacturing electrocoagulation water treatment systems since 1993, provides not only highly effective technology but a total solution approach through system design to meet your specific needs and requirements. OilTrap Environmental offers a FREE waste stream feasibility study using a representative sample of wastewater from your facility.

Contact Novasys for details.

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"Biosys" Compact Dynamic Bioreactor. An innovative approach for high BOD industrial effluent

The Compact Dynamic Bioreactor (CDB) is a highly-efficient, odourless, automated, combined anaerobic-aerobic waste water treatment plant with minimal sludge production. Although originally designed for small communities, it is ideal for industries whose effluent is high in BOD/COD, such as food and beverage processors.

The key innovative feature of the Compact Dynamic Bioreactor is the "Variopor" carrier material. Variopure consists of small cubes (14 x 14 x 7 mm) of an open, polymer foam. The open structure of the foam provides a large surface area on which microorganisms live and furthermore guarantees that in the  cubes' interior, the microorganisms are adequately supplied with nutrients and organic compounds. Compared with conventionally used flocs of microorganisms, which are active mostly at the surface only, the carrier is much more efficient

Effluent is supplied to the reactor after screening to remove coarse waste. The effluent is mixed in the reactor with the carrier material. Energy is saved since no stirrer is required for mixing; aeration occurs at one side of the bottom of the reactor, resulting in fast, turbulent circulation of water together with the carrier cubes. This circulation also results in the supplied air not going directly from the reactor, but is retained for a longer time in circulation, thus enhancing the exchange of oxygen from the air into the water.

Different varieties of microorganisms will find a habitat on the carrier material.  Those on the surface of the cube will oxidise ammonia to nitrate, while simultaneously degrading organic compounds. The microorganisms inside the carrier cube will consume the reduced nitrate to gaseous nitrogen while at the same time further degrading organic compounds. By combining both aerobic and anaerobic steps in the one process, this method of effluent treatment will result in an efficient reduction of BOD/COD and total nitrogen.

The CDB is especially suitable for seasonal food and beverage processing such as wineries. The microorganisms on the carrier material can be kept alive or restarted depending on seasonal demand.

Containers of a modular standard design with a small footprint are available for a reactor with throughputs as low as. 500L/hour, but in practice, any other size, or kind of vessel can be used. For example, used shipping containers can be modified to suit the basic design. The reactors are usually duplicated and arranged in parallel to assure redundancy and enhance throughput. No special civil works are required; a firm level base, such as  compacted soil is all that is required. Standard polypropylene pipes and fittings can be used for inlets and outlets. The systems are low maintenance and operate unattended except for a weekly routine inspection.

No large clarification basin is required, because the biomass on the cubes is held back just by a grid. The process is therefore stable even during high flow events and the biomass is not washed out. The cleaned, clear effluent leaving the plant is of high quality and can be used for irrigation or recycling.

Changes in flow rate, temperature, or salinity have no negative influence on the high stability of this treatment process. Successful results have even been obtained for industrial wastewater with very high salinity where conventional biological treatment does not work.

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Drought affected? No rain to fill tanks? No town water? Water source nearby? Maybe we have an answer!

Many areas of Australia are in the grip of a drought that may continue. We hope not. We wish we had a total answer to the question of how to obtain potable water when rainfall is inadequate to fill tanks.

Where there is a permanent river, creek or other fresh water supply nearby that is too turbid or too contaminated with harmful bacteria or other microorganisms to use for drinking, bathing or laundry purposes, maybe we have an answer.

Freshwater Filter and JP Ceramics provide "whole of house" microfiltration systems that can take water from a contaminated source, and treat it to potable standards. The JP5 will treat up to 300,000 litres per year, enough for a four person household, while the JP10 will provide for households with five persons or more with a capacity of 600,000 litres/year. The systems can be connected via the pressurising pump to the point of entry to the dwelling and operate on an "as required" required basis, or can be run periodically to fill the tanks that supply the dwelling.

The heart of the system are easily cleaned ceramic filter elements with an absolute rating of 0.5 micron. That means 99.99999+% of particles of 0.5 micron and above are retained by the filter. 99.28% of particles of 0.2 micron and above are retained by the filter. This means parasites such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium, amoebae and disease causing bacteria such as E. coli, other coliforms, cholera, typhoid, dysentery are eliminated. The elements are self-sterilising and can additionally be packed with activated carbon and/or resins to significantly reduce contamination due to herbicides, pesticides, nitrates, chlorine and heavy metals if these are, or are suspected to be, present in potentially harmful quantities in the water supply.

Where the incoming water supply is very turbid with suspended particles, the fine filters are protected by inexpensive non-ceramic filter elements arranged in series from 20 micron down to 1 micron, depending on the severity of the contamination.

Whole of house/point of entry systems are provided with stainless steel housings for the ceramic elements and a choice of stainless steel or plastic housings for the non-ceramic elements.

The recommendation of river catchment authorities is NOT to drink untreated water from any river or stream, even in upper reaches where the water appears to be pristine. Native and feral animals can be a cause of contamination by microorganisms even in headwaters.

 For more information about microfiltration systems please contact us.

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Fun Stuff........

Interesting limos.....

http://www.starlimos.de/limotalk/crazy_e.htm

Strange dictionaries....

http://www.blueray.com/dictionary/index.html

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