Kruger Inc., a subsidiary of Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, has been awarded a contract by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) to install the first ANITA Mox moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system in Illinois.
The MWRD’s Egan Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) currently dewaters the biosolids from both the Egan and Kirie WRPs, which produce a centrate stream with high ammonia concentrations. The centrate is then pumped to a gravity sewer, comingled with combined sewage, and then treated at the O’Brien WRP in Skokie, Ill., 20 miles away.
The transport of the centrate stream creates problems such as potent odors and heavy corrosion in the MWRD’s collection system and is a significant ammonia load to the O’Brien WRP. The ANITA Mox system will allow this centrate stream to be treated at the Egan WRP and reduce costs.
After an evaluation, Kruger’s ANITA Mox process was selected because it is robust, stable and has a simple flow-through operation. As an MBBR process, it eliminates the need for additional solids management and is a more forgiving process when it comes to pH control. With a large percentage of the nitrogen removed, the ANITA Mox effluent also can be returned to the mainstream treatment process at Egan. This system provides the MWRD an ideal solution to efficiently treat their waste streams while simultaneously lowering their operating costs.
The ANITA Mox system is guaranteed to remove 75% of the ammonia and 65% of the total nitrogen in this side stream flow and will use 60% less oxygen than the current conventional treatment for nitrogen removal. In addition, it produces 80% to 90% less sludge than conventional treatment methods. Significant cost savings in these two areas, in addition to the savings generated by eliminating the need to pump the centrate stream off-site, will provide the MWRD an overall value that will reduce secondary costs.
Source: Kruger Inc.
