Tomato Processor Pilot Bioreactor
98% Average Reduction in BOD & TSS
A tomato processing facility was required by the city to reduce BOD from 4,000 ppm to 200 ppm. Integrated Engineers proposed a small scale Bioreactor to prove the effectiveness of the activated sludge process on the customer’s wastewater as well as establishing the parameters for a full scale system design.
The trailer mounted bioreactor utilizes an activated sludge process with pure oxygen instead of the traditional ambient air. The system is designed to operate at ½ gallon per minute and utilizes automatic and manual controls to maintain the pH and dissolved oxygen levels for optimal waste water treatment. Samples were pumped from the influent line and from the clarifier (effluent) in order to determine the reduction in BOD. Some of the Effluent samples were also treated with Floccin 1105 to determine added benefit of Floccin treatment.
The trailer mounted Bioreactor was setup to pump wastewater from the customer’s wastewater flume and return the treated water to the same flume. This setup allowed the bioreactor to treat the wastewater produced in normal operating conditions over a 2-½ week test period.
Results from the trial showed that the BOD could be reduced to less than 100mg/L through the activated sludge process.
During the pilot test period, Integrated Engineers was able to vary the conditions of operation in order to observe the effect on the quality of the treated water. The results of the trial can be seen in the table below. Note the Flocked samples reduced the suspended solids, but had negligible effect on the BOD.
Table 1: BOD Reduction Data, Influent, Effluent Flocked
| Influent | Effluent | Flocked | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | BOD | TSS | BOD | % Reduction | TSS | BOD | % Reduction | TSS |
| (mg/l) | (mg/l) | (mg/l) | (mg/l) | (mg/l) | (mg/l) | |||
| 8-Dec | 2900 | 200 | 270 | 85% | 160 | |||
| 8-Dec | 2300 | 250 | 230 | 87% | 140 | |||
| 9-Dec | 1900 | 170 | 220 | 88% | 160 | |||
| 9-Dec | 1700 | 200 | 190 | 89% | 150 | |||
| 10-Dec | 2600 | 1700 | 110 | 94% | 150 | |||
| 10-Dec | 960 | 460 | 120 | 93% | 190 | |||
| 10-Dec | 1900 | 940 | 130 | 93% | 220 | |||
| 12-Dec | 400 | 230 | 160 | 91% | 260 | |||
| 12-Dec | 1200 | 450 | 110 | 94% | 190 | |||
| 12-Dec | 580 | 580 | 110 | 94% | 220 | |||
| 13-Dec | 460 | 340 | 71 | 96% | 160 | |||
| 13-Dec | 680 | 140 | ||||||
| 13-Dec | 2100 | 160 | ||||||
| 14-Dec | 580 | 190 | 71 | 96% | 150 | |||
| 14-Dec | 340 | 440 | 71 | 96% | 140 | 44 | 98% | 39 |
| 14-Dec | 760 | 69 | 81 | 95% | 170 | 45 | 97% | 21 |
| 15-Dec | 2100 | 630 | 81 | 95% | 240 | |||
| 15-Dec | 1700 | 990 | 220 | 88% | 220 | 72 | 96% | 110 |
| 16-Dec | 3500 | 3000 | 400 | 78% | 350 | |||
| 17-Dec | 3800 | 1300 | 430 | 76% | 440 | |||
| 19-Dec | 2300 | 810 | 300 | 83% | 270 | 32 | 98% | 45 |
| 19-Dec | 3200 | 1300 | 300 | 83% | 400 | 45 | 97% | 54 |
| 20-Dec | 2300 | 980 | 150 | 92% | 260 | 32 | 98% | 39 |
| 20-Dec | 1700 | 740 | 150 | 92% | 250 | 32 | 98% | 21 |
| 21-Dec | 1700 | 400 | 150 | 92% | 220 | 37 | 98% | 23 |
| 21-Dec | 1700 | 290 | 150 | 92% | 190 | 44 | 98% | 54 |
| 22-Dec | 2000 | 740 | 110 | 94% | 300 | 32 | 98% | 18 |
| Average | 1783 | 747 | 175 | 90% | 219 | 43 | 98% | 45 |
The picture below shows samples for untreated (left), Treated (middle) and Treated & Flocked (right). The sample in the middle is treated water that was taken from the secondary clarifier effluent which drained to the City sewer. The sample on the right was from the secondary clarifier effluent and treated with Floccin 1105 to look at further reduction of the BOD and TSS levels.
Integrated Engineers was able to use the empirical data from the trial to establish parameters for the design of a full scale wastewater treatment system.
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