Sobelgra – Largest industrial MBR plant in Belgium - Puron.de

Sobelgra – Largest industrialMBR plant in BelgiumTotal membrane area: 8,000 m²16 PURON® membrane modulesCommissioned: November 2004Capacity: 2,000 m 3 /dayPre-screening: 2 curved screens (1 mm)Project engineering: Enprotech(Belgium), See:Water (Belgium)PURON® submerged modulesInstalled modulesThe largest industrial membrane bioreactor plant in Belgiumwas commissioned in November 2004. The plant is equippedwith sixteen PURON® membrane modules. The submergedmembrane filters with a total membrane area of 8,000 m 2are treating the wastewater of a malting company in Antwerp.The malting companyThe Belgium malting company Sobelgra is located in theAntwerp harbor and is part of the multinational Boortmaltgroup. The company produces malt for breweries. Largeamounts of fresh water are needed for the entire maltingprocess. Sobelgra is extending its production from currently110,000 m 3 /year to 250,000 m 3 /year.The plant will then be thelargest independent maltingcompany in Belgium.Due to lack of space on the factory site conventionaltechnology could not be used. Therefore, membrane technologywas the only choice. Since no additional space wasrequired for the capacity enlargement, the existing infrastructurecould be used for the upgrade.Doubled the capacity of the treatment plantwithout additional space requirementsUtilized existing infrastructureThe reconstructionSeparation walls were inserted into the existing biologytank. One half serves now as membrane tank for thesubmerged modules. The former sedimentation tank isnow part of the biology. The control equipment is locatedin a control room next to the tanks.The capacity of the existingconventional wastewater treatmentplant had to be doubled.

The treatment plantThe treatment plant consists of three parts: mechanicalpretreatment, the biological step and the filtration system.After removal of the coarser parts from the barley processingby means of two curved screens, the wastewater isfed into the biological step of the plant, which consists oftwo tanks connected in series. The biologically cleanedwater will be separated from the activated sludge in themembrane step.control roommembrane chamberInstallation of a 500 m 2 PURON® moduleThe membrane step consists of two chambers into whichthe PURON modules are submerged. A third chamber isavailable for future extensions of the plant. The chambersare fed from below, so that the activated sludge flowsthrough the membrane modules from bottom to top. Theclean water is drawn out of the membrane modules bymeans of a sub-atmospheric pressure.Plant overviewParameterbiologyInfluent[mg/l]former clarifierLoads[kg/d]Effluent[mg/l]COD 1880 - 2100 4000 100-200BOD 700 - 930 2000 2-5Suspended solids 330 - 460 800 0N total 35 - 50 100 1-2P total 13 -15 30 < 1The activated sludge is led back into the aerated tanks.To maintain the filtration rates of the membrane modules,a backwash with filtrate combined with an air scouring of themembrane modules is carried out in intervals. The chamberscan be decoupled independently for maintenancepurposes.Koch Membrane Systems GmbH Kackertstr. 10 | D-52072 Aachen | GermanyTel.: +49 (0)241 413 26 0 | Fax: +49 (0)241 413 26 59 | info@puron.de | www.puron.dePlease visit www.kochmembrane.com for a complete list of all KMS global contactsPURON is a trademark of Koch Membrane Systems GmbH. PURON® is a registered trademark of Koch Membrane Systems GmbH in CTM Countries and China.© 2006 Koch Membrane Systems GmbH. All rights reserved worldwide. Koch Membrane Systems GmbH is a Koch Chemical Technology Group, LLC company. 03/06