In an effort to save power and less sludge production, the Centre for Environmental Studies, Anna University, has developed an indigenous technology to treat wastewater and reuse it.
Developed with industrial collaboration, the Attached Growth Batch Bioreactor technology uses a combination of attached and suspended growth processes within bioreactor. This enhances organics and nutrient removal, according to S. Kanmani, Dean of the centre.
The design of the bioreactor improves the efficiency of the process and the quality of treated water, 10% power savings and reduce sludge production by 20% compared to conventional technologies. “The technology helped in reducing biological oxygen demand to less than 10 mg per litre. Nutrients and phosphorus are removed to a minimal level. This was one of the projects developed and executed with industrial partner — Water and Effluent Treatment IC, L and T Construction,” she said.
A pilot reactor was developed at Anna University with a capacity to treat 6,000 litres of sewage and operated successfully. After five years of team effort, the patented technology has reached field demonstration level, she said.
According to S. Jagannathan of L and T Construction, the technology accommodated more microbes for degradation of organics. It brought down the footprint of the plant required by 15% compared to conventional technology.
The team is now setting up a plant with scaled up capacity at a college in Madurai. While reclaimed water can be used for flushing, landscaping and so on, the sludge can be used as manure, Ms. Kanmani added.
