InfraStructures - April 2023 - Wastewater Treatment Using the Power of Nature

Wastewater Treatment Using the Power of Nature

Innovative water treatment methods can be used to clean industrial wastewaters, sewage, and sewage sludge. And what’s more: they are purely biological. After all, sustainability is gaining in importance. Bauer Resources has been a forerunner in the industry for years, and is now marketing the natural wastewater treatment method under the new brand: Ecosys^®. With this initial step, the company aims to further advance the technology and gradually expand its market position.

The centerpiece of this sustainable technology: millions of plants, tons of filter gravel and countless microorganisms that clean the wastewater naturally, entirely without the use of chemicals.
The method is relatively simple but effective: at the end of the process, virtually all organic contaminants are broken down.

“By using gravity-flow processes, no energy-intensive pumps are required in the entire system for treating wastewater. Not only does this save on energy costs, it also reduces CO2 emissions”, explained Dennis K. Alexandersen, Business Development director, Region Middle East at Bauer Resources.
In addition, constructed wetlands create natural habitats, improve biodiversity and encourage effluent reuse, which foster integrated landscape development.

Not only do the natural methods reliably clean all kinds of wastewater, they are also suitable for a wide range of locations. Depending on the project requirements, a variety of wetland-technologies are used, either individually or combined.

“We find the optimal solution for every location,” commented Dr. Roman Breuer, managing director of BAUER Resources.

Even for decentralized and mobile use, a compact system has been developed for domestic wastewater and sludge treatment: the ReedBox^®.

“This makes it possible to treat smaller volumes very easily with minimal requirements for maintenance and operation,” explained Mr. Alexandersen. “It is a green, user-friendly and cost-effective solution.”

Bauer Resources has already successfully completed more than a hundred projects of this kind, including the largest constructed wetland in the world.

Since 2011, this plant has been using the power of nature to clean hydrocarbon polluted water from oil production at the Nimr oil field in Oman using a patented method. The plant is significant not only due to its enormous area of 13.5 km2, but also because of its remarkable treatment performance. With the help of 1.5 billion reed plants, up to 175,000 m3 of polluted water are cleaned each day. In this way, a hydrocarbon content of less than 0.5 mg/l is achieved. Nearly 95% of the crude oil in the water can be recovered and removed without the use of energy or chemicals – this corresponds to a daily average of 880 bbl of crude oil.

“As a result, by the end of operation in 2044, estimates predict that 4.5 million t of CO2 emissions will be avoided,” highlighted Dennis K. Alexandersen. The project currently saves around 225,000 t of CO2/y, which are then traded as CO2 certificates.

“Ecosys^® is an important milestone in sustainable wastewater treatment. Sustainability concerns us all,” emphasized Dr. Roman Breuer. “That’s why we want to make this groundbreaking technology available in additional regions of the world.”

Source: BAUER Group

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