Water scarcity is a growing concern in today’s environment with increasing water needs and limited access to resources. This white paper explores the use of an alkaline supplement to improve water resiliency in a Biotrickling filtration system for more sustainable operation.
The goal of this project was to maintain optimal pH in a Biotrickling filtration system (BTF) while reducing water usage. Normally, pH is maintained using a continual stream of fresh water into the BTF. Evoqua demonstrated that an alkaline addition can significantly reduce the amount of water needed without impacting system performance.
This was accomplished using a 3-stage 3.7 m (12 ft) diameter BTF operating at 283 m3/min (10,000 ft3/min), using 50% caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) as the alkaline material in conjunction with a pH control system. Initial water usage at the site was 64 L/min (17 gpm) on average. After addition of caustic soda and utilizing pH control, the water usage dropped to an average of 19 L/min (5 gpm), a 70% reduction, while maintaining previous levels of hydrogen sulfide removal.
