Secondary wastewater treatment uses natural biological processes to protect the environment from contaminants in sewage.
Wastewater poses several threats to the environment. Microorganisms use oxygen to digest the organic matter in sewage. The rate of this digestion can be measured as Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). Water with high BOD can deplete dissolved oxygen in waterways thereby suffocating wildlife.
Septic tanks use gravity to settle out around 70% of wastewater solids. This settling is called “primary treatment.” The other 30% of solids remain in the wastewater and flow out into the environment. We measure this component of wastewater as total suspended solids (TSS). Primary treatment achieves only a 30% reduction in BOD. While better than nothing, septic systems discharge contaminated wastewater into the environment via a drain field. Larger flows, higher strength wastewater, or poor site conditions can require further treatment to protect the environment.
Enter the secondary wastewater treatment system.
While technologies vary, all secondary wastewater treatment systems use oxygen to accelerate the bacterial consumption of organics. Aqua Tech recommends and sells MBBR (moving bed biofilm reactors). MBBR technology is the most recent innovation in wastewater treatment systems. These biological reactors can treat to a high standard with virtually no operational time or recurring costs. And our MBBR’s are the best on the market.
All MBBR’s host a bacterial slime layer on a plastic media of some kind. Wastewater treatment takes place where that slime layer contacts the contaminated sewer water.
Systems with more contact area treat more efficiently. Our MBBR’s use ultra-high density biofilm media to host up to 5000 M2 of contact area for every 1 M3 of reactor space. That means our treatment reactors can do a ton of work in very little space. And smaller reactors are cheaper reactors.
Through secondary treatment BOD and TSS are normally reduced by at least 85%. Our systems can reduce them by 99%.
But BOD and TSS aren’t the only potential environmental hazards in wastewater.
Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus can choke waterways and pollute drinking water. Nutrient reduction in wastewater is called “tertiary treatment.”
Our high-density biofilm media performs tertiary treatment simultaneous with secondary treatment. A recently discovered species of bacteria metabolizes the most basic nitrogen compounds, into nitrogen and oxygen gas. The Annamox bacteria can’t grow in every kind of wastewater technology, though. Their long lifecycle requires a protected habitat for them to grow and reproduce in sufficient numbers to mitigate total nitrogen. Our proprietary “biochips” provide protected pockets for Annamox to live and do their work. After about a year, our BioTank reactors can produce effluent discharge under 10 mg/L in total nitrogen with only oxygen.
So our secondary wastewater treatment systems really provide tertiary results.
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