Wastewater

Effective wastewater treatment plants are vital for communities and industries around the world. They also face tight operating budgets and are constantly looking for ways to improve efficiency. Chemicals can bring substantial energy-savings in the wastewater treatment process. Using coagulants in addition to or instead of biological methods can save up to 50% of aeration energy in organic (BOD) removal, and can double biogas production. Our unique, broad range of water treatment expertise and products offers solutions to all wastewater challenges.

Less and less phosphorus is allowed in wastewater treatment plant effluent. Phosphorus and Nitrogen discharge to water bodies are the main cause of eutrophication and algae blooming, which can have negative consequences for aquatic life. Phosphorus is vital for food production and animal feed. We waste a lot of the valuable P because of insufficient wastewater treatment and poor nutrient recycling.

The dominating process for the removal of phosphorus is chemical precipitation. With chemically precipitated sludge, effective nutrient recycling is also possible, making phosphorus available to plants and crops. Typically, phosphorus removal is done with coagulants before the biological treatment but phosphorus can also be precipitated in the biological treatment process or as the final step of the treatment process.

Nitrogen is normally removed in a biological process consisting of two steps – nitrification and denitrification. By using our chemistries before the biological treatment, the nitrification capacity is increased. Whatever your problem might be with phosphorus and nitrogen, Kemira has deep expertise in finding the most effective and cost-efficient solution.

It is important that sludge volumes are kept at a minimum with a high dry-solids content to reduce disposal costs. Our customers report success cases in sludge dewatering where we have significantly increased dry solids. This gives direct benefits not only in reduced costs, but also by increasing the dewatering unit capacity at the same polymer dosage. In addition, odor control, mainly hydrogen sulfide and ammonia emissions, can be improved and cleanouts due to struvite reduced.

Partnering with us offers you a full range of organic and inorganic coagulants and polymers, combined with monitoring and optimizing solutions and extensive application knowhow. Our approach to enhanced sludge dewatering includes technologies for smart process management and enables the optimization of chemical consumption, always delivering the best dewatering performance.

More and more industries are starting to run anaerobic digesters to capture the full energy potential of their organic waste. Producing biogas from organic sludge is a viable way to reduce energy costs. We can help you in boosting your biogas production capability.