OSLO, Norway, March 10, 2013 -- On March 1, a 1.7 million-gallon (6,435/l) aerated lagoon processed wastewater before discharge to the sewer authority (i.e. wastewater pretreatment). The pretreatment system improvements will enhance the performance of existing infrastructure and increase the treatment capacity, in parallel with plans to increase production. The installation will be based on Biowater's new patented Continuous Flow Intermittent Cleaning® (CFIC®) technology. The system is designed to biologically degrade organics contained in the facility's process wastewater and have a design flow of 400,000 gpd (1,515 m3/d) with influent COD of 7,400 mg/L.

The food and beverage industry typically consumes high volumes of water in production with coincidental generation of high strength wastewater. The characteristic of the water is highly biodegradable -- making it the ideal feed for biological processes including biofilm technologies. For example, food and beverage wastewater typically has high concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), associated odors and nutrients in varying concentrations.

For the industry these conditions are costly and stringently regulated for discharge to sewer systems and require pretreatment prior to discharge to a municipal sewer system.

Biowater's CFIC® technology is a highly efficient biofilm process and therefore ideal for food and beverage wastewater. Biowater's proprietary solution eliminates typical problems treating high-strength wastewater such as dissolved oxygen retention and limitations on diffusion of substrate and oxygen into the biofilm. Benefits are energy savings, enhanced capacity, smaller footprints and lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than traditional systems as SBR and activated sludge.

In the wastewater market, the CFIC® process will be used to upgrade existing Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) or Moving Bed Bioreactor (MBBR) systems to provide additional capacity. In addition, CFIC® will be used to provide effluent quality suitable for tertiary filtration and effluent reuse.