All,

I am working on a project developing an alternative to aeration in waste water treatment, and looking for ways to gather data to validate our reactor performance.

At this point we're operating on the bench scale. Specifically, I'm looking for indicators of anaerobic digestion that would normally be a "red flag" for a plant operator. Our COD is within EPA regulated limits, but before we bring our next, much larger, reactor online, I'd like to do some additional validation.

In other words, if I were to tell you I had a substitute process for aeration, what tests would you like to see done before you'd consider seeing it in a plant?

Thanks for any help.
B.

I would want a study, independently reviewed - i.e., not by you, the site operators, or anybody who will be interested in selling on the process on your behalf - that shows that the effluent quality produced is at least as good as an equivalent aerobic process; that sludge production is no more than, and ideally less than, an aerobic process; that performance holds even when the sewage temperature is at 8 Celsius or less for a period of several weeks; that instrumentation & operation costs are no more than for an aerobic process; and that carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are no worse than for an aerobic process.