Biological wastewater treatment system proves a success
The first fully biological wastewater treatment plant in the leather industry, installed by Elmo Leather in
Although the system had been successfully adopted in other industries such as sewage treatment plants, it had never before been successfully tested in such a chemical-intensive industry, and subject to tight regulation on the purification of wastewater and effluent.
The treatment uses the biological process of nitrification/denitrification through which the wastewater is oxygenated to enable micro-organisms to grow and multiply. The oxygen supply is then cut off thus forcing the micro-organisms to feed on the nitrogen pollutants in order to survive.
The system is controlled by variable speed blowers and pumps supplied by Emotron that oxygenate the wastewater with air during the cleaning process. Sensors measure the oxygen levels to ensure that the oxygen is added at the right time and that the oxygenation lasts for the required length of time.
