Sewage Treatment Unit

ONSITE SEWAGE MANAGEMENT

Creating a Better World One Molecule at A Time

AquaGEOLabs has pioneered an on-site Sewage Treatment Unit (STU), where the sewage can be treated and managed on-site unlike challenges faced with the Units in use currently and at a fraction of cost.

Septic tank is a common domestic treatment facility in the developing world. It performs a primary storage of sewage before it is discharged through a soak-away Unit or via a truck hauling service. It has also been used as a pretreatment Unit for disposal of domestic sewage where it is used in conjunction with an effluent soak-away Unit. It can also fulfill a role as primary treatment device as a small sewage treatment plant. The function of the tank is to receive wastewater, separate solids from the liquid, provide limited digestion of the solids, and allow the liquid to discharge for further treatment or disposal. The soak-away Unit allows the effluent to seep into the ground and use natural process to treat bacteria.  

“However, in most developing countries there are no soak-away or leach lines. Hence the tanks fill up and overflow regularly contaminating other sources of water.”

Despite the general acceptability of this treatment facility in the management of sewage from domestic source, septic tank effluents have been reported to be high in suspended solids, BOD, bacteria, and phosphorus. As a process, sedimentation alone is not highly effective in removing pollutants and the septic tank is subject to interference from other processes.

Separation of sedimentation and sludge digestion led to the development of the ‘‘Imhoff tank’’. This two-story tank has proved useful at community sewage treatment plants, but its cost and daily maintenance requirements detract from its use on a household or small community scale. Attempts to improve on septic tank tend to result in units which are more expensive to install and require increased operational input.

SOLUTION

Sustainable Sewage Treatment Unit (STU) eliminates all the concerns and provides a hassle-free operation.

  • Conserves groundwater by discharging treated water locally, instead of a local creek/river, which ends up in the ocean, creating more salt water (97.5% of water on this planet is salt water and only 2.5% is fresh water, with only 0.76% as groundwater; sewer lines convert this groundwater into salt water)
  • As sewage is treated on a continues basis with STU, it prevents sewage runoffs when septic tanks are not drained regularly or during the monsoon season when water runoffs fill the septic tanks and causes overflow. Most Septic tanks get filled and truck hauling services being limited in most rural areas causes overflow in streets and water ways and also drinking water sources. The use of STU prevents contamination to wells and other sources of water used for human consumption.             
  • Decentralized Treatment has mainly relied on septic tanks (24% of the population uses septic tanks in the US), which uses a soil drain field to treat the sewage; More than 2 million soil drain fields in the US have failed (clogged). In most developing countries no drain or leach lines are used that causes clogging and overflows all the time.
  • Septic tanks with soil drain fields do not adequately treat nutrients, causing algal blooms, releasing pharmaceuticals, household chemicals, endocrine disruptor chemicals, etc into environment. Inadequate treatment results in contamination of drinking water sources like wells, boreholes and rivers resulting in major health issues.

The characteristics of the Sustainable STU are

  • Compact footprint, about a size of an office table;
  • STU design is built on the foundation of Lego block ideology. It can be modularized as per need and used in conjunction with sewer lines;
  • Allows sewage water to be treated locally, instead of ending up in the rivers, water ways, lakes and oceans; thus, eliminating the risk of contamination during overflow;
  • Each unit is supplied with its own Solar Panels, such that the Unit can be used where grid power supply is an issue;
  • Treats both organic and inorganic nutrients;
  • Portable and transportable. The STU is scalable for higher flowrates as multiple Units can be modularized to need;
  • Can be placed right on top or side of the current septic tank; No digging or trenching required;
  • Allows local reuse of water, which saves water and directly prevents declining ground water levels which are depleting at an alarming rate;
  • Can be retrofitted into an existing tank to resurrect the failed soil leach field; (2,085,950 septic tanks in the US have failed);
  • Extremely cost-effective compared to constructing new sewer line connections;
  • Reduces the need to pump out Units regularly as sewage is treated and clean water is removed from the septic tank for any use;
  • Prevents overflow in communities with poor trucking or sewage hauling services;
  • Most important, operating cost is minimal.

Treatment

Our Sewage Treatment Unit uses three distinct stages of treatment.

  1. Simultaneous biological aerobic and anoxic treatment of the organic material breaks down solids and treats nitrogen and phosphorous through a combination of proprietary biomedia and high-capacity aeration technology;
  2. The membrane separation phase treats water for nitrogen and phosphorous in addition to filtrating and treating any remaining suspended solids;
  3. Ozone disinfection technology is used as a final stage to ensure treated water meets surface discharge and reuse standards.

Biochips

The use of proprietary Biochip Bio-media pieces in STU Septic treats the nitrogen and phosphorus. Conventional septic tanks cannot treat nutrients, resulting in algae blooms. Traditional thinking that septic tanks discharging into soil fields can treat the fecal coliforms is not seen in practice and drinking water wells are being contaminated due to septic tanks. Soil drain fields are clogging faster due to release of microplastics in food and water, which are released into the sewage water; septic tanks cannot prevent these microplastics from clogging soil drain fields; STU does not allow these microplastics from entering the soil drain field, hence preventing contaminations.

  • Non-clogging + Durability
    • No carrier’s replacement or substitution
    • Life-long solution
    • Reduced operational cost
  • High removal efficiency
    • Smaller carrier amount
    • Requires smaller tank and reactor size
    • Requires lower mixing energy
    • Transport cost reduced due to smaller footprint

Ozonation

  • Ozone is more effective than chlorine in destroying viruses and bacteria.
  • The ozonation process utilizes a short contact time (approximately a few minutes).
  • There are no harmful residuals that need to be removed after ozonation because ozone decomposes rapidly to form oxygen in the water.
  • After ozonation, there is no regrowth of microorganisms,
  • Ozone is generated onsite, and thus, there are fewer safety problems associated with shipping and handling.
  • Ozonation elevates the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration of the effluent. The increase in DO can eliminate the need for reaeration and also raise the level of DO in the receiving stream.
  • Ozone has a greater disinfection effectiveness against bacteria and viruses compared to chlorination.  In addition, the oxidizing properties can also reduce the concentration of iron, manganese, sulfur and reduce or eliminate taste and odor problems. 

Bottom Line...Our STU is

  • Cost-effective and economical
    • Avoiding large capital cost
    • Reducing operation and maintenance cost
    • Promoting business and job opportunities
  • Green and sustainable
    • Benefiting water quality and availability
    • Using energy and land wisely
    • Responding to growth while preserving green space
  • Safe in protecting the environment, public health, and water quality
    • Protecting the community’s health
    • Reducing conventional pollutants, nutrients, and emerging contaminants
    • Mitigating contamination and health risks associated with wastewater

Independent 3rd Party Testing

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