The Ecobiopack Sewage treatment system

Overflowing and untreated sewage is a common sight in many parts of Bangalore. A short ride away from Indiranagar a large number of layouts do not have underground drainage. Houses either build soak pits or let out the sewage into storm water drains. This eventually leads to pollution of ground water.  Such is the case in this fast growing city where sewage lines are not provided a short distance away from the city centre all around.  And with the growth of apartment complexes one can imagine the amount of water let out that is not being reused effectively.

Many apartments and gated communities that have come up on the periphery of Bangalore do not have Sewage Treatment Plants (STP’s), and some who do are based on the outdated Activated Sludge Process (ASP). This involves many tanks and blowers to pump in air. As expected it takes up a lot of space and is power intensive.  Most importantly it requires constant supervision and maintenance to ensure it works properly. Hence the cost of treatment can be rather high.

Seeing the need for improving the existing sewage treatment process, Dr. Shirish Naik, a former professor at IIT Mumbai, developed an improved technology called the Rotating Media Bio-Reactor (RMBR).  Though known in the west for several years, Dr. Naik reworked the technology to suit Indian conditions and took a patent for it.  Dr. Naik is also well known for his innovations and developments in waste water treatment winning numerous international awards and citations.

Conventional ASP for sewage treatment works on the suspended growth method where the Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) or the waste material in the sewage which is suspended is treated by pumping air through a compressor thereby bringing in oxygen to treat the sewage.  This requires a considerable amount of power which makes treatment costly.  Moreover, ASP requires an aeration tank, settling tank, sludge holding tank and polishing tank.  This requires a lot of space which is at a premium these days.  ASP requires as well close monitoring and any power shutdown can affect the treatment process thereby causing unpleasant odour which is unhealthy.

In contrast, the RMBR works on the attached growth method where the MLSS attach itself to the media in the rotating drum which take in oxygen from the atmosphere in rotation thereby obviating the need for compressed air. The power requirements are less than a quarter of the ASP process while dramatically reducing the footprint of the entire plant to often one tenth.  The huge saving in space alone often makes up the cost of the plant.  For an apartment block of a hundred units for example it takes up just one car park.  Being fully automated, it requires very little maintenance thereby further reducing the cost of treatment. The Ecobiopack as the product is named is a containerized, packaged, skid mounted system fully manufactured at the factory in Mumbai and can be operational on site in just two days.

Key advantages:

1. The most compact system available in the national and international market.
2. Short contact periods are required because of large active surface area.
3. RMBR are capable of handling a wide range of flows.
4. Sloughed bio-mass generally has good settling characteristics and can easily be separated from the waste stream.
5. Operating cost is low because little skill is required in plant operation.
6. Short retention times.
7. Low power requirements.
8. Elimination of the channelling to which conventional percolators are susceptible.
9. Low sludge production and excellent process control.
10. Soundless technologies with no occupational health hazards.
11. RMBR can accommodate microbial population of 5- 10 times that in an aeration tank hence it is more compact.
12. We can “see” the plant in operation right in our office by virtue of a camera and DVR system of e-connectivity.
13. The plant has a built-in odor removal system
14. The powder coated exterior has built in sound absorption pads to ensure a totally silent operation
15. Received Certificate of Excellence from a Pollution Control Board for 3 years in succession

Possibilities to reuse the water, apart from in house consumptive use for gardening and ground water recharging are:

• Sale of water to neighbouring farmers/industries
• Toilet flushing
• Ground water recharge
• Industrial use– floor washing, cooling water make up (after softening), raw material wash, quenching
• Construction– curing, concrete preparation
• Road washing
• Dust suppression
• Creation of Artificial lakes for recreation (loss of water by evaporation and seepage)