Bulk Volume Fermenter for waste-to-energy and wastewater treatment value chains

Short summary An Australasian company with an office in Italy has 20 years of experience in designing and building biogas with waste-to-energy and wastewater treatment technologies. The company has developed the Bulk Volume Fermenter anaerobic digester applicable for waste-to-energy and wastewater treatment value chains. Final users or system integrators are sought to adapt such technologies to specific applications under commercial agreement with technical assistance.

Full description An Australasian company with long-lasting expertise on field has developed a new Bulk Volume Fermenter for several fields of application. The Bulk Volume Fermenter is a proprietary low-rate anaerobic digester that treats wastewater streams of moderate to very high organic strength and produces biogas. The technology is a registered trademark with various Patent and Trademark Offices. The technology has been fully developed and implemented worldwide with examples that include liquid volumes up to 100,000 m3 and biogas outputs of 12 MW thermal for pulp and paper wastewater. The technology can be applied in different sectors from pulp and paper mills to dairy, milk and cheese factories and from alcohol distilleries to abattoirs and renderers. SMEs and industries interested to adopt such a technology are sought for a commercial agreement with technical assistance in order to adapt it to their existing or new plants.

Advantages and innovations The proposed Bulk Volume Fermenter is a highly engineered anaerobic digester and Innovations include the fermenter's ability to receive very high strength and very high volumes of industrial wastewater. The system is offered in two configurations: Type L and Type S. The Type L fermenter is constructed as a partially in-ground concrete earthen basin, whereas the Type S reactor is constructed in a space-saving above ground concrete or steel tank. The Bulk Volume Fermenter operates at a very long solids retention time, up to 90 days, which provides greater digestion and stability than other anaerobic processes. This makes it ideally suited to receiving wastewater with a high cellulose fibre content such as from pulp and paper mills. Much less waste sludge is produced and it is typically wasted as stabilized sludge suitable for land application only once or twice per year. The digester cover is engineered to provide a high level of safety in high wind zones and incorporates an insulation sytem allowing the Bulk Volume Fermenter to operate in colder sub-arctic climates. Other innovations include the premixing of anaerobic sludge with incoming waste and the sequential automated distribution of organic load throughout the digester sludge blanket. The main advantage over conventional anaerobic digesters is the significantly lower capital cost per volume of digester. Other advantages includes: • Better quality effluent • Insulation system on the fermenter allows operation in sub-arctic climates. • Easier to operate and maintain than conventional anaerobic systems. • Operation and maintenance costs are low. • Primary treatment eliminated because raw solids can be digested in the reactor. • Fat, oil, and grease (FOG) is digested in the reactor. • Approximately 90% less waste sludge generated than in aerobic systems. • Stable against shock loadings. • Equalization is built-in for downstream aerobic polishing, if needed. • Waste activated sludge can be digested
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