Elmo breaks the technological boundaries with new wastewater treatment plant
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With the new technology, wastewater is treated step-by-step in separated, but linked, tank system. The first stage of the system consists of an oxygen infusion tank where micro-organisms live and grow. Phosphoric acid is added to the tank to accelerate this growth. During the nitrification process, the wastewater is oxygenated, which starts the oxidation process. Nitrogen, mainly in the form of ammonia, is then oxidized into nitrate. The supply of oxygen is cut during the de-nitrification process, forcing the micro-organisms to obtain their oxygen from the nitrogen pollutant (instead of from the actual waste water). During the de-nitrification process nitrate is reduced into nitrogen gas, Elmo says, and emitted into the atmosphere, which consists of 79% nitrogen gas.
In simple terms this new purification technology means that the micro-organisms in the wastewater are first allowed to grow and multiply. To survive they are forced to use up nitrogen pollutants due to the lack of oxygen. The result is that the dominant part (around 80%) of the pollutants disappears because they have been reduced to nitrogen gas, (i.e. the same gas that dominates in the atmosphere).
