automated reed bed installations - fwr reed bed installations ... – specialise in nano science/...
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Speaker notes – slide 1
• In summary, this project, through the consortium, incorporates the Design, Construction, and testing of an Autonomous Reed Bed Installation.
• Reed Beds or Constructed Wetlands are used widely across Europe, and indeed globally, as a sustainable , low maintenance, low carbon technology for the treatment of municipal (sewage) and industrial waste waters.
• ARBI offers significant, novel advantages over existing constructed wetland water treatment systems, and thus will encourage the uptake of this water treatment technology. -
• This not only will enhances the protection of the environment and create an environment but should also increase revenue and employment within the industry.
• The consortium consists of seven members, 5 SMEs and 2 RTDs (Research Organisations)
• ARM Ltd (SME) Based near Birmingham UK
– Specialist designer and constructor of reed bed treatment systems, over 450 to date
– Providing Coordination of the project..
• LAB TOOLS Ltd (SME) Based near Canterbury, UK.
– rep Dr Beau Webber
– specialise in nano science/ nano technology instrumentation design
– will be providing the electronic control systems for the probe and associated software.
• LIGHTMAIN LTD (SME) Based in Rotherham UK
– rep Phil Borrington
– Specialise in the design and construction of housings for use in harsh conditions.
– will be developing and constructing the housing for the system to contain the complete ARBI system.
• OxyGuard (SME) Based Birkeroed, Denmark
– Specialise in Water Quality Measuring and monitoring equipment
– Will be designing and supplying appropriate water quality sensors
• TECHNOSAM Ltd (SME) Based Satu Mare, Romania
– Rep by Markos Tiberiu
– Specialise in industrial automation control systems
– Will be designing and supplying the autonomous control system for environmental conditioning.
• NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY (RTD) Based in Nottingham, UK
– Rep Dr Robert Morris
– Specialise in globally recognised research in NMR technology and associated electronics.
– Will be designing and testing the MR clogging probes and electronics
• UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA CATALUNYA (RTD) Based in Barcelona, Spain
– Rep Prof Joan Garcia,
– World leaders in interdisciplinary research into Eco- Innovative Treatment Systems
– Developing and testing environmental control systems including aeration, heating and step feeding.
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Traditional Constructed Wetland
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Waste Water In
Water Loving Plants
Gravel Bed with Plastic Liner Clean Water Out
Speaker notes – slides 3 and 5
• Slide 3 - Traditional Constructed Wetland: Excavation lined - media, reeds
• - Biological systems – but use physical and chemical removal mechanisms also
• - different media, reeds, = different mechanisms of action.
• No moving parts = simple and robust = Low maintenance.
• Can be operated by gravity alone so low/no power requirement
• can be designed to remove a specific level of contaminant from a waste water to achieve regulator specified consents
• Environmentally friendly, They create an environment as well as protect the environment
• Where used they increase local biodiversity
• Can be land intensive
• Slide 5 – The Problems – ARBI will address
• FIRST ISSUE - Clogging
• As they degrade contaminants they generate biomass – Bugs/reed matter
• Inevitably an excess is generated and this fills the interstitial spaces within the media, reducing hydraulic conductivity = clogging
• Clogging leads to short circuiting, over surface, through channels.
• Leads to requirement for refurbishment. ( 7-8 years)
• Problem – is that we can’t determine how clogged a bed is just by looking at it.
• Can’t budget or plan for it easily.
• Second Issue – Environmental impacts
• is that reed beds can be subject to the vagaries of the climate - many mechanisms are temperature sensitive
• They rely on passive diffusion of Oxygen into the bed to fuel microbial activity – Oxygen usually limiting.
• ARBI’s proposed solution is to develop an instrument to measure/monitor clogging and develop modular, transportable reedbeds that can be exchanged with minimal disruption and refurbished off-site.
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5 10 15 20
The Solution
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Clo
ggin
g In
dex
, a.u
.
USP
Years
Standard CW
Refurbishment Required
ARBI
Module Replacement
Speaker notes – slides 8, 10, 12 and 14 Slide 8 Existing methods for clogging detection.
• Visual
• Prerformance
• Tracer dye experiments
• HC measurements but this is complex, long winded and laborious, only provides a snapshot.
Slide 10 New method, developed in WP1 – MR Sensor (magnetic resonance sensor) cost £20-30
Slide 11 T1 is the ‘relaxation’ of the curve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relaxation_%28NMR%29 i.e. how the signal changes with time
Slide 14 ARBI is a modular reed bed treatment system incorporating
• Clogging sensor
• Aeration system
• Heating system and
• Feedback control hardware and software
• Thus providing clogging monitoring and optimised performance
• This extends operational periods between refurbishments
• It can be installed with little or no wetland knowledge
• The units come with reeds pre-grown and hence represent no down time for the customer
• The life of the module will be extended over a traditional wetland in that optimised conditions are provided for treatment
• Continuous monitoring of the module allows unattended operation
• The ARBI module has a smaller footprint than a traditional wetland and can be utilised economically for lower volumes of influent or in industrial settings with limited ground space
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MR Probes
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MRI NMR
RELAXATION
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5 x 10 5 A1_200_a
T R in s
NM
R s
ign
al
EU Project
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http://aircraftdeicing.blogspot.co.uk/ http://liquidassets.psu.edu/outreach/pressroom/photos/BostonSewer.jpg
Temperature Dependence
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-10 0 10 20 30 Temperature oC
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
T 2ef
f (m
s)
Aeration System
Flow rate of 720 l/h from 12W air pump.
21
• Controlled set
points: 5, 3, 1.5,
0.5, 0.2 ppm
ARBI
Speaker notes – slides 21, and 23-29 Slide 21 Aeration and heating experiments were run separately , Aeration first.
Slides 23 to 26 measure the effect of aeration on COD reduction and on ammonium oxidation (nitrification).
• As small amount of aeration had a large increase in COD reduction
• Nitrification required more aeration.
Slides 27 and 28
• With the control at 10-15C, the effect of heating to 20-25C was not statistically significant.
Slide 29 I’ve outlined before the issues/problems linked to the technology
• the passive diffusion of oxygen into the effluent and bed
• Varying climatic conditions – these can effect temperature sensitive removal mechanisms.
• unpredictable/unobservable clogging rates resulting in ineffective use of the bed.
• This variability in performance and high land take can put clients off or make constructed wetland solution impractical.
• However:
• The benefits that the ARBI system offers to clients over existing constructed wetland treatment systems are:
• 1. Proactive, accurate monitoring of the clogging process, allowing clients to budget ahead for any required refurbishment
• 2. Determination of the optimum time and level of refurbishment (to suit budget)
• 3. Increased and more consistent performance of constructed wetlands through environmental conditioning reducing reed bed size and thus capital costs
• Clients will see BETTER PERFORMANCE, IMPROVED CONSISTENCY, LOWER COSTS, MORE CONTROL across all applications SEWAGE, INDUSTRIAL and SUDS
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Aeration System
56% 46% 40% 35% 3%
23
COD concentration
ARBI
5 3 1.5 0.5 0.2
O2 Concentration (mg/l)
CO
D C
on
cen
trat
ion
(m
g/l
)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
3
1.5
0.5
0.2
Aeration System
24
0 1 2 3 4 50
10
20
30
40
50
60
O2 Set Point, mg/l
CO
D C
on
cen
trati
on
, m
g/l
ARBI
Ch
ange
in C
OD
Co
nce
ntr
atio
n (
%)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 0 1 2 3 4 5
O2 Concentration (mg/l)
Aeration System
69% 45% 28% 18% 2%
25
NH4+-N concentration
ARBI
5 3 1.5 0.5 0.2
O2 Concentration (mg/l)
NH
4+
Co
nce
ntr
atio
n (
mg
/l)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Aeration System
26
0 1 2 3 4 50
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
O2 Set Point, mg/l
NH
4+ C
on
ce
ntr
ati
on
, m
g/l
ARBI
Ch
ange
in N
H4
+ C
on
cen
trat
ion
(%
) 70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 O2 Concentration (mg/l)
Heating System
28
COD concentration
Control more efficient
Heated more efficient
No statistically significant differences
ARBI
1 2 3 4 5 Week
CO
D C
on
cen
trat
ion
(m
g/l
)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
What is the demand for this technology?
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http://shop.septictank.co.uk/image/data/Low-Profile-Septic-Tank-3800-Litre.png
Impact
27/11/2014 ARBI 30 http://blog.airdye.com/goodforbusiness/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/polluted-river.jpg
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Where Next
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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Feedback_loop_with_descriptions.svg/500px-Feedback_loop_with_descriptions.svg.png
Conclusions
• ARBI represents an opportunity to offer wetlands to users who would not typically consider installation
• Development is progressing well, fully automated unit expected January 2015
• Aeration of great benefit, detection with MR a useful tool but heating is unnecessary unless temperature less than 6oC
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Speaker notes – slides 30, and discussion Slide 30 Envionmental Impact
• The consistency of performance associated with the simplicity of a self monitoring modular structure makes it an easier decision for clients to buy and thus increasing the use of this sustainable water treatment technology.
• Important to note that not only do they Protect the Environment they Create an Environment / habitat increasing biodiversity in a location.
Discussion
• Thames Water found aerated reedbeds were more expensive than activated sludge process, though presumably there is some scale [size] effect. It has also found [wastewater treatment] reedbeds need to be refurbished after 7 years not 12.
• ARBI has found that “intelligent aeration” extends the life of a reedbed – a blast of air will shake the media
• Heating is of decreasing interest in the project except for special cold climate cases (niche)
• Building, installing and refurbishing the modules would create jobs but operation is automatic
• The standard module size is 2m x 1m x 1m which gives a 10t lift (skip truck) when full
• The units will be run for a complete season automatically to measure performance
• It was agreed by all that the sensors are useful
• The cost of the controller for the NM sensors has decreased from £40k to £3k and Rob Morris hopes it will reduce to £300
• The NM sensor differentiates water in the biofilms from free water.
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Acknowledgments
• The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme managed by the REA – Research Executive Agency http://ec.europa.eu/research/rea (FP7/2007_2013) under project reference 606326.
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