Location: Haridwar (Uttarakhand)
Pilot Leader: IITR
Pilot Status: Under operation phase.
Water challenge in this location: The water quality of the River Ganga at u/s of Haridwar is very good. However, it deteriorates downstream due to the abstraction of water for agriculture and other public purpose and discharge of untreated wastewater from villages and habitations at the bank of river. Several villages and hamlets are located in this stretch which requires immediate attention. It is important to note that unabated discharge of treated sewage cannot bring the river water to bathing quality level in lean season river flow. Hence, to achieve bathing water quality at downstream of Haridwar to Garhmukteshwar, advanced small size STPs are required.
Benefits of the technology: The system offer following distinct advantages over conventional SBR system
- Co-current nitrification and denitrification allows operating without mixing equipment. Proper oxygen demand/supply operation control by OUR (Oxygen Uptake Rate) in combination with the SELECTOR allows controlling this process.
- The OUR reduces the aeration time during night time automatically due to less influent and less load at night time. This increases the lifetime of blowers and diffusers and reduces the energy demand.
- Conventional SBR systems do not have an anaerobic selector. Hence, filamentous sludge bulking in conventional SBR systems is a problem, which can only be avoided with additional equipment like equalization tanks and pumps.
- For C-TECH good references of existing large-scale plants are at hand.
Potential for India: The features of the technology greatly reduce the O&M requirement and operator’s attention and thus have a very high potential in India. Also in hilly areas, the centralized sewer collection is very difficult and also space for the construction of sewage treatment plants is limited. The modular construction of the C-TECH plant enables small wastewater treatment, can be quickly installed within these areas and offers a considerable potential to solve pollution related problems of the Ganga and other rivers. Additionally, the effluent from the plant offers a potential for non-potable applications. Since it is energy efficient and requires smaller land footprint, the plants already a great success in urban India.
Scope of replication/upscaling across India: The proposed small-scale C-TECH SBR plant will be designed by IITR in consultation with SFC Environmental Technologies, an Indian based company which markets middle and large sized C-TECH plants in India. Hence, upon successful piloting of a small-scale C-TECH plant in India, demonstrating all benefits highlighted above, there is a huge scope of replication and upscaling in India as manufacturing can be easily set up in India.
Main outcomes: The pilot plant completed its commissioning phase in the July first week, 2022. Regular monitoring and assessment are in process. The significant outcomes are the following:
(a) During the start-up phase, at the cycle time of two hours, the COD, BOD, and TSS Removal are around >80%, >85%, and >88%, respectively.
(b) The nutrient (N and P) removal is >50% in the plant and is in the optimizing process.
(c) The SVI of the plant’s sludge is <55 mL/g on average, and Sludge MLSS is around ~2769 mg/L.