Anaerobic treatment of Pulp and Paper Mill Bleaching effluent using fluidized bed reactor using LEVAPOR carriers . It offered huge space and energy savings for the treatment of toxic effluent

1. Biodegradation of Toxic Pulp and Paper Mill
Effluent using innovative bio carriers with net
energy generation
Dr. Imre Pascik LEVAPOR GmbH
www. levapor.com Leverkusen, Germany

2. About us
• We are Levapor Biofilm Technologies and Bio
Consulting , GmbH.
• A specialized company providing innovative
solutions for the treatment of wastewater and
polluted air
• A team with more than 40 years of experience
in research and development of fixed film
based technologies for industrial and difficult
to treat wastewater and polluted air

3. What We do
• Problem analysis for the treatment of high strength
industrial and municipal wastewater treatment
• Define treatment goals and conceptual process
design
• Development of optimal process and parameters
• Manufacturing of high performance tailor made bio
carriers for the application
• Process Start up

4. I Indian Pulp and Paper Industry
• One of the core and
oldest sector in India
• Highly Capital, Water
and Energy Intensive
• A wide Range of raw
materials , finished
products,
manufacturing
processes
• 16 m3 to 130 m3 per
tonnes water
consumption
• Produces effluent of
varying quality and
quantity
• Treatment required due
to legislative
requirement

5. Anaerobic treatment
• A Well established biological process for high
strength effluents in other industries and sewage
Principle advantages:
• Reduced energy consumption
• Lower capital investment
• Lower land requirement
• Useful biogas production for energy generation (0.3-
0.4 m3/kg.COD removed)

6. Applications in P&P industry
• Reasons for ANA in the PP industry
• Better biodegradation of refractory pollutants like
chlorinated aromatics and lignine degradation
products than under aerobic conditions
• Less excess sludge production and energy
consumption
• Production of energy rich biogas (65-70% CH4)

7. Problems of Anaerobic Technologies
• Slow sludge growthmethanogenic
• Sensitivity to inhibitors
How to avoid those problems ?
By IMMOBILISATION = adhesion on solid surfaces plus
biofilm generation
Problems

8. Solution
• Immobilization of biomass on suitable carrier
material
Advantages:
• Retention of more biomass
• Protection against toxic shock loads
• Stable performance over a range of pollutants
• Higher volumetric , COD loading and thus gas
production along with COD reduction

9. Our REQUESTS on OPTIMAL CARRIER
• PROPERTY EFFECT
• 1. Adsorbing capacity - binding toxic pollutants
- fast colonization + bio film
- fast start up at high level
• 2. Porosity, high inner surface - protection of the biofilm
(high biomass content) - high space-time-yields
• 3. Fast wetting - homogenous fluidisation
• 4. Water binding - mass transport, bioactivity
• 5. Proper fluidisation - lower energy consumption

10. Our Technology

11. Properties
High Adsorbing Surface
• 10 to 12 kg of activated
carbon per m3 of foam
matrix
• PU foam surface area 2500
m2/m3
• 1000-2000 m2/g surface
area of activated carbon
• Extremely high adsorbing
surface
Benefits:
• Reversible Adsorption
• Rapid microbial colonization
and biofilm formation
• Temporary adsorption of
toxic and inhibitory
substances
• Subsequent biodegradation
and thus regeneration of
surface

12. Advantages
• Treatment of effluents containing toxic substances
• Short process start up and higher performance compared to
suspended mass based systems (100 to 300%)
• Higher process stability against toxic shock loads and
fluctuations in reactor conditions
• Lower Degree of Filling (12 to 15%)
• Smaller foot print
• Lower energy consumption for fluidization
• Lower sludge production
• Simpler process control

13. Case Study
SAPPI – Ehingen (Germany) -
Biotreatment of toxic pulp mill effluents
by LEVAPOR-fixed biomass.

14. SAPPI,GERMANY
SAPPI EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT: (1990)
• South Africa Pulp and Paper Industry, Ehingen, Germany
• Magnesium-BiSulfite based pulping and paper industry
• Application of Chlorine for bleaching
• High Concentration of toxic, weakly bio degradable
chloro-organic compounds (AOX-90 mg/lit)
• Strong Stream : COD 45 t/d @ 10 MLD
• Weak Stream : COD 2.45 t/d @ 3.5 MLD

15. SAPPI,GERMANY
Lab scale testing Anaerobic or Aerobic?
• Aerobic treatment with
suspended bio mass
• Only 40-45 % COD
elimination
• Anaerobic-Aerobic
Treatment ?
• Anaerobic reactors using
different bio carriers

16. COD Elimination:
SAPPI,GERMANY
• 1 :Levapor
• 2: Activated Carbon
• 3: Unmodified PU foam
• 4: Suspended Bio mass

17. Vana =65.000 m³
Vana =20.000 m³
Vana =15.000 m³

18. SAPPI,GERMANY
• Solution :
• Micro Aerobic Equalization
• Anaerobic Treatment Using Levapor Carriers
• Reactor Size only 15000 m3 instead of 65000m3 with
suspended bio mass
• 1500 m3 of Levapor media
• 66-70% COD removal
• Further 50% of COD removal in Aerobic Treatment
• 50,000 m3 less volume

19. SAPPI,GERMANY
Startup: 1990, only 2 of 3 ANA-reactors were started with LEVAPOR
in order to compare the effect of immobilisation.
After few weeks a toxic shock has stopped the reactor without LEVAPOR
~ 85 % COD- removal , 4 – 6 t/d sludge, 14.000 m³/d biogas

20. SAPPI,GERMANY
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41
susp.biomass
May90 June 90
immob.biomass
kgCOD/m³x day

21. Full Scale Plant

22. Advantages
• 25-33 Tonnes COD reduction in Anaerobic Step
• 17500- 23100 KWh energy saving compared to
Aerobic only step
• 14,000 m3/day Bio Gas production
• 28000 KWh of useable energy
• 308,000 MJ of total Thermal Energy equivalent
• 50,000 m3 of foot print saving
• Lower nutrients requirement
• Lower sludge production and handling costs

23. How Can We Associate
• Problem analysis for the treatment of high strength
industrial and municipal wastewater treatment
• Define treatment goals and conceptual process
design
• Development of optimal process and parameters
• Manufacturing of high performance tailor made bio
carriers for the application
• Process Start up

24. Thank You !!!!