Wastewater
Minnesota WPCF a long term success for Headworks
By Michele LaNoue
Sep 2, 2009 - 11:20:46 PM

Houston, TX -- Moorhead WPCF is located in Minnesota and is one of the oldest installations using moving bed bioreactor technology to clean the wastewater running generated in their community. It treats six million gallons a day of wastewater.

Through a comprehensive evaluation of technologies conducted in 2002, the Headworks Bio ActiveCell media, developed by the former Hydroxyl Services company recently acquired by Headworks, and the innovative design process proposed by the company’s engineering team, were compared against other biological wastewater treatment processes including conventional methods.

Following piloting of comparative technologies and a five-month pilot program testing the effectiveness of ActiveCell biofilm media, the ActiveCell MBBR process was selected as the most efficient, cost-effective upgrade solution for this large municipal wastewater treatment plant.

The full scale wastewater pollution control facility was engineered and designed by CDM, a worldwide engineering firm, retrofitting an existing aerated pond. The ActiveCell media portion of the plant was commissioned in March of 2003 by Hydroxyl Systems. The ActiveCell450 biofilm carriers are used for a separate-stage MBBR nitrification system designed to nitrify ammonia.

They meet seasonal compliance standards of less than 4 mg/L NH3 for effluent discharge to the Red River. The ActiveCell Separate-stage nitrification process at Moorhead WPCF has been featured in a number of Water Environment Federation Technical Exhibit and Conference technical papers over the past five years.

“Since commencing operation six years ago, our MBBR has proven to require very minimal operator attention, effectively nitrifies even during the cold winters in Moorhead, and adapts well to fluctuations in loading.”
 -Andy Bradshaw
  Utilities Engineer for the City of Moorhead

The separate-stage ActiveCell MBBR nitrification process uses free floating biofilm carriers that provide 450 m2/m3 of active surface area (402 m2/m3 internally protected). It has provided many advantages to Moorhead WPCF including the ability to operate on a single-pass without the need of a post clarification process typically required in conventional treatment systems to provide and maintain a MLSS concentration for activated sludge processes.

The self regulating biofilm process is self sloughing and requires minimal operator attention. The ActiveCell process is capable of providing high rate nitrification even during exceptionally cold water conditions at the Moorhead, MN location and meets the stringent seasonal discharge parameters during the early days of Spring. The ActiveCell process is expandable by simply adding additional biofilm carriers and increasing the air supply to the diffuser system.

Recently, the plant experienced severe flooding conditions and some of the carriers washed down river. The client’s tremendous satisfaction with the long term success of the system since 2003 prompted their purchase of additional biofilm carriers from Headworks Bio. In this instance, the client requested that the carriers be supplied in a royal blue color in order to provide tracer elements for inspection of the mixing patterns within the MBBR basin. You can anticipate further studies of this innovative plant to be presented at engineering technical sessions in the future!

Source: http://www.headworksusa.com/



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