Bio Nutrients to optimize wastewater treatments
Avoid problems and ensure your wastewater treatment is performing optimally by creating the right microbial community.
Industrial wastewater often contains organic matter that needs to be removed. Biological wastewater treatment processes use bacteria to degrade and decompose these materials.
Biological treatment processes work efficiently as long as the right nutrients are available in adequate quantities to deal with the levels of BOD and COD (biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand) in the wastewater – alongside the other factors that influence the process' biology.
Performance problems
Typical biological wastewater treatment problems commonly related to insufficient nutrients include:
- Reduced cleaning effect
- Extensive growth of unwanted bacteria
- Excess of extracellular polymer production
- Hydrolysis of sludge
- Long start-up time and reduced gas production in anaerobic systems
Biological wastewater treatment problems commonly related to too-high nutrient levels include:
- Emissions of nutrients to the recipient
- Unwanted biological growth
- Luxury uptake of phosphorus
- Increased sludge production
- Increased chemical costs
Performance solutions
If your biological wastewater treatment process is not performing, it's critical to target and fix the root cause: your system's microbial community.
You are likely to find that your wastewater lacks sufficient nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) nutrients for the microbial community to achieve the biological activity level required for biological purification.
Adding nitrogen and phosphorous will get the process working properly – but avoiding over-dosing is crucial.
Achieving peak performance
Achieving peak performance will depend on variables such as:
- Purification process type
- System size
- System load compared with the dimensioning
- Dosing equipment available
If you need help resolving the issues, you can rely on Yara's expertise, gained from over 100 years of pioneering nitrogen chemistry and more than 20 years' working with the wastewater treatment sector.
Our experts will work with you to find the best possible solution for your process and supply quality bio-nutrients reliably.
Reduced costs and improved efficiency
The right nutrient selection and correct dosage offer economic and process optimization benefits.
Economic benefits
- Reduced operating and maintenance costs
- Reduced need for expensive capacity expansion investments
Process optimization benefits
- Increased treatment efficiency due to higher activity in the biomass and improved sludge separation
- Easier and better sludge dewatering due to reduced growth of filamentous bacteria, improved flocculation and higher sludge concentration
- Stable operation and easier process monitoring
Who can benefit from optimizing their wastewater treatment process?
A wide variety of industry sectors produce effluents that may need the addition of external nutrients:
- Pulp and paper production (wood)
- Oil refining / petrochemical industry
- Brewery
- Fruit and vegetable processing
- Textile industry
- Chemical industry
- Pharmaceutical industry
- Condensation
- De-icing fluid from airports
Municipal wastewater usually contains more than enough nitrogen and phosphorus for optimal biology.
