THE NEXT GENERATION USES DISSOLVED OXYGEN
AND DIFFUSED AERATION
TO CONTROL ORGANIC'S, ODORS, AND HYDROCARBONS IN RECYCLED WATER
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All living organisms are dependent upon oxygen in one form or another to
maintain the metabolic processes that produce energy for growth and
reproduction. Aerobic processes are the subject of greatest interest
because of their need for free oxygen.
All the gases of the atmosphere are soluble in water to some degree. Both
Nitrogen and Oxygen are classed as poorly soluble, and sinces they do
not react with water chemically, their solubility is directly proportional to
their partial pressures. Hence Henry's Law may be used to calculate the
amounts present at saturation at any given temperature.
In liquid wastes, dissolved oxygen is the factor that determines whether
the biological changes are brought about by aerobic or by anaerobic
organsims. The former uses free oxygen for oxidation of organic and
inorganic matter and produce innocuous end products, whereas the latter
brings about such oxidation through the reduction of certain inorganic
salts such as sulfates, and the end products are often very obnoxious.
Since both types of organisms are ubiquitous in nature, it is highly
important that conditions favorable to the aerobic organisms (aerobic
conditions) be maintained; otherwise the anaerobic organisms will take
over, and development of nuisance conditions will result as bad odors.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is usually defined as the amount of
Oxygen required by bacteria while stabilizing decomposable organic
matter under aerobic conditions. The term "decomposable" may be
interpreted as meaning that organic matter can serve as food for bacteria,
and energy is derived from its oxidation.
ODOR CONTROL METHODS
All waste water recycle systems should require some type of odor
control, which is the result of oxidation of organic material, (BOD)
One form of odor control is the use of O-Zone to oxidize organic
material, while this method is effective and widely used it requires
continuous addition of O-Zone, because the organics are ever present
and added to the system by pressure washing process. O-Zone
oxidizes everything in the water creating additional problems, one
problem associated with O-Zone is the production of a sludge that
contains the organic and inorganic material generating a large sludge
removal problem. Cost of operation is high and is a costly system. For
O-Zone to work effective large amounts of O-Zone is required,
because O-Zone is unstable and cannot be stored. If all of the organic
material is not destroyed then the organics will begin to consume the
oxygen in the water and produce bad odors.
O-Zone is not instantaneous but may require several hours to
oxidize the organic and in-organic material (seldom are organics
totally oxidized to CO2 and water).
The other method is the use of chemicals such as Chlorine or
Hydrogen Peroxide. Both of these chemicals are dangerous and
should be avoided if at all possible.
Remember both O-Zone and Hydrogen Peroxide are methods to
OXYGENATE the water.
THE NEXT GENERATION IN WASTE WATER
TREATMENT uses a totally different approach to the problem
of odor control. Its called DIFFUSED AERATION AND
DISSOLVED OXYGEN.
This is the only reliable recycle system designed to control bad
odors, degrade hydrocarbons, and reduce organic material
without using chemicals, O-Zone or activated carbon. Nitrogen
and Oxygen are poorly soluble in water, because of this vast
amounts of air is injected into the recycle tank by a patent air
injection system. Only with the addition of vst amounts of air
injected into the recycled water can organic compounds be
oxidized producing innocuous end products. This same air also
strips light hydrocarbons (VOC's) from the water. With the
combined control of BOD and air stripping in one tank the
efficiency of this process is fixed by design and will not change
over the life of the equipment. One of the main advantages of
aeration is its relative ease of operation, once the system is in
place and operating the unit is practically self-operating. Owners
of this system praise its simple operation and its ability to produce
clean recycle water.