FR2844786A1 - Reducing sludge production in wastewater treatment plants comprises a thermophilic enzymatic degradation step for providing the substrate for the bacteria in an activated sludge treatment step - Google Patents

Abstract

Reducing sludge production in municipal or industrial wastewater treatment plants of the fixed biomass type comprises a thermophilic enzymatic degradation step in which bacterial cells are lysed to produce organic matter for providing the substrate for the bacteria in an activated sludge treatment step. An Independent claim is also included for apparatus for carrying out the above process, comprising a thermophilic enzymatic degradation reactor (3) and a low-, medium- or heavy-duty biological treatment reactor (8).

Description

The subject of the present invention is a method and a device ensuring the

  reduction of sludge production from wastewater treatment plants,

  urban or industrial, by fixed organic cultures.

  It is known that the purification of waste water by biological means consists in using organic and nitrogen pollution as a nutritive substrate for the purifying biomass, said carbon and nitrogen pollution being transformed into carbon dioxide and nitrogen, while the biomass proliferates proportionally. the amount of pollution degraded. The excess of biomass formed constitutes what is commonly called

excess organic sludge.

  The treatment and final disposal of this sludge is a major environmental and economic issue. With an annual production forecast, in 2002, of more than 1,200,000 tonnes of dry matter per year for the treatment of urban wastewater in France, and more than 10 million tonnes for the European Community, we realize that the management of the production and treatment of the sludge produced by the 15 treatment plants is a growing concern, amplified by new regulatory, environmental, health, economic and even

political and psychological.

  Conventional techniques for disposal of this waste include

  including landfill, agricultural development and incineration. These known techniques have serious drawbacks, however.

  Thus the ban on landfilling of non-ultimate waste, the

  severe constraints (notably with regard to heavy metals and certain suspect organic compounds) for agricultural recovery, the control of costs and the risks of atmospheric pollution from incineration will weigh heavily on the elimination of this waste.

  In this context, new technologies have been considered, with the objective of reducing the production of sludge (RPB) from biological treatment facilities for urban or industrial wastewater. Some of these RPB techniques are based on the coupling between a conventional activated sludge process and a sludge treatment installed in a loop on the aeration tank. The associated treatment may use mechanical, chemical, thermal or biological techniques and

  often relies on the coupling of several of these techniques.

  It has been envisaged to implement a stage of treatment of RPB, by thermophilic enzymatic degradation, installed in parallel and in a loop on the biological basin. This technique, described in particular in EP-A924 168 and 1 008 558, is very effective and it leads, for certain processes, to significant reductions in the production of sludge exceeding 80%. In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, there is shown schematically a known installation of this type, comprising, in a loop on an aeration tank an aerobic thermophilic degradation reactor. In this figure, the reference 1 designates the introduction of the waste water to be treated, the latter passing respectively through an anaerobic zone R, an anoxic zone X, an aerobic zone A, before being treated in a clarifier C. The RPB reactor (aerobic thermophilic degradation reactor), designated as a whole by the reference B, is mounted in parallel and in a loop on

  the activated sludge treatment installation (C / N / P treatment).

  An example of the technical characteristics of such a known installation is given below: Equivalent number of inhabitants: 50,000 eq-Hab Daily flow rate: 7,500 m3 / d Sludge production: 3,000 kg-MES / d Volume of the station: 15,000 m3 In this process, a fraction of the sludge present in the aeration tank is sent continuously and after thickening to the enzymatic thermophilic solubilization step. Depending on the level of reduction in sludge production required, the quantity of sludge sent daily to the RPB process is equivalent to 1 to 25 times the quantity of sludge produced by the water treatment plant under the conditions of conventional operation. The outlet effluent from the RPB loop consists of both compounds solubilized by the thermophilic enzymatic action and suspended matter. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the installation ensures the production of sludge in excess of 600 kg MES / d (ie 80% GWP). In the case of biological treatment systems of the "fixed biomass" type, also called "fixed cultures", the excess sludge is extracted during the washing and unclogging phases. The implementation of a loop RPB process on the water treatment line is therefore difficult to achieve, in this case, in particular for the following reasons:> The implementation of a loop RPB process on a fixed biomass type installation would lead to reintroducing at the head of the installation a large amount of lysed biomass and MES. This operating mode is hardly compatible with the load of suspended matter supported by the installations to

  fixed biomass which is strongly limited for clogging problems.

  > Extraction of excess biomass on biological treatment plants with fixed biomass is carried out discontinuously during the washing phases. This extraction mode is not compatible with the operating mode of the RPB loop which must allow the processing of an amount equivalent to 1 to 10

  times the mud production of the conventional system.

  In order to solve the problems thus posed by the reduction of sludge production from wastewater treatment plants by fixed biological cultures, the present invention takes the opposite of the prior art recalled above, by dissociating the step of reducing the production of sludge, the purification step, by providing a step of biological treatment of the activated sludge type at low, medium or high charge, associated with a step of degradation by thermophilic enzymatic route, the source of substrate for bacteria in biological treatment no longer the organic matter of wastewater, but the organic matter from cell lysis

  bacteria resulting from the thermophilic enzymatic reaction.

  The present invention also relates to a device for implementing the process specified above, which is in the form of an installation dedicated to the reduction of sludge production associating a RPB reactor by thermophilic enzymatic degradation, which can be of the type described in EP-A-924168 and 1 008 558 and a low, medium or high charge biological treatment reactor whose source of substrate for bacteria is constituted by the organic material originating

  lysis of bacterial cells resulting from the thermophilic enzymatic reaction.

  Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge from the description given below, with reference to the appended drawings which illustrate an example thereof.

  of realization without any limiting character. In the drawing: - Figure 1 illustrates the prior art mentioned above and - Figure 2 schematically illustrates an installation implementing the

method of the invention.

  Referring to this FIG. 2, it can be seen that this installation is in the form of a platform dedicated to the reduction of sludge production which is associated with an installation for treating waste water by a fixed biomass reactor. (biofilter, for example), designated as a whole by the reference 2. This dedicated platform consists of a thermophilic enzymatic degradation reactor, designated as a whole by the reference 3, coupled to a biological treatment, carried out in a designated reactor by the reference 8 and comprising a separation device - thickening 9. As can be seen in this FIG. 2, the organic matter originating from the lysis of the bacterial cells resulting from the thermophilic enzymatic reaction constitutes the

  source of substrate for biological treatment in reactor 8.

  Thanks to the invention, it is possible to design a biological reduction chain for dedicated sludge production, very differently from the wastewater treatment chain, which makes it possible to gain in compactness, in efficiency, without having to satisfy strictly the processing constraints required for the purification of

  waste water (return of the effluent at the head of the water treatment line, arrow 4).

  The cyclic nature of the extractions poses no problem for the operation of the thermophilic enzymatic degradation reactor 3 which can be fed continuously, by removing the sludge directly from the separator-thickener 9 of the dedicated die.

  (in 5), the reactor 8 collecting the washing water coming from the reactor 2. In addition, the present invention has the advantage of allowing objective measurement of the reduced quantity of sludge. The reduction in sludge production is calculated by difference between the quantity. of sludge extracted from the water treatment line (in 6) and the amount of residual sludge, extracted (in 7) from the dedicated RPB sector.

  By way of example, the data characteristic of a

  example of an installation according to FIG. 2.

  Fixed biomass reactor 2 Equivalent inhabitant number: 200,000 eq-Hab 30 Average daily flow: 30,000 m3 / d Sludge production from the biological treatment stage: 3,500 kg MES / d Dedicated RPB sector Daily flow: 3,500 m3 / j Volume of biological treatment: i 200 m3 Volume of the thermophilic enzymatic reactor: 650 m3 Production of sludge: 350 kg MES / d (90% of GWP) Such a device makes it possible to respond to the drawbacks of the application, at biological treatment stations with fixed biomass, RPB processes directly integrated in a loop. It also provides the following advantages: - possibility of adjusting the sludge reduction according to needs (20 to 100% of 10 reduction); - possibility of treating biofilter wash water; - possibility of designing a device for reducing biological sludge for a level of treatment much lower than the level of treatment required for the treatment of wastewater proper; - dimensioning of the RPB device for a hydraulic flow rate of 5 to 50 times lower than the flow rate of the treatment plant that generated the sludge and - possibility of adapting the oxygenation capacity and the air diffusion mode or

  oxygen regardless of that of the station that generated the sludge.

  It remains to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiment described and shown here, but that it encompasses all variants thereof.

Claims (3)

  1 - Process ensuring the reduction of the production of sludge from   treatment of waste water, urban or industrial, by fixed biological cultures, 5 characterized in that it consists in dissociating the step of reducing the production of sludge, from the purification step, by providing for a treatment step biological of the activated sludge type at low, medium or high charge, associated with a degradation step by thermophilic enzymatic route, the source of substrate for the bacteria of the biological treatment being constituted by the organic matter originating from the lysis of the bacterial cells resulting from the thermophilic enzymatic reaction step.   2 - Device for implementing the method according to claim 1, characterized in that it is in the form of an installation dedicated to the reduction of sludge production associating a RPB reactor by thermophilic enzymatic degradation (3) , and a low, medium or high charge biological treatment reactor (8) whose source of substrate for bacteria is constituted by the organic material originating from the lysis of the bacterial cells in the enzymatic reactor thermophilic (3).   3 - Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the thermophilic enzymatic degradation reactor (3) is fed continuously by removing the sludge 20 directly in the separator-thickener (9) collecting the activated sludge from the   biological treatment reactor 8.