IASON

1
IASON INTELLIGENT ACTIVATED SLUDGE OPERATED BY
NANOTECHNOLOGY
Budapest University of Technology and
Economics Department of Sanitary Environmental
Engineering

• Fleit, E. and Melicz, Z. (BUTE)
• Zrínyi, M., Filipcsei, G. and László, K. (BUTE)
• Dékány, I. and Király, Z. (SZTE)

2
Problem exposition (colloids vs wastewater
treatment)

• Do we know enough (from each other)?
• State-of-the-art in wastewater treatment
• High-tech low-tech dilemmas
• Hungarian context
• One new idea in old environment IASON
• Results
• Conclusions
• Innovation chain (lessons learned)

3
Do we have mutual problems?
Definitely we do
4
A typical colloid problem foaming and scum
(cream) formation (on full scale)
5
URBAN WATER INFRASTRUCTURE (HUNGARY) UNPRECEDENTE
D INVESTMENTS
of the total population
100
90
Population supplied by public taps located along
streets
80
70
Access to public water supply
60
50
Access to sewerage including population living on
sewered areas but not using this service
40
30
20
Access to sewerage
10
0
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
6
Wastewater treatment in Hungary - 1990
7
Wastewater treatment in Hungary - 2003
8
Wastewater treatment in Hungary - 2015
9
Hungarian Wastewater Master Plan strategy with
dilemmas

• Scheduling (scenarios)
• Cost efficiency (taking EU technologies without
  adoption)
• Emissions and water quality impacts

10
Long-term (but hidden) links between wastewater
treatment and colloid sciences

• Late lessons from early warnings
• Colloid size substrates (foams, creams,
  emulsions, etc.)
• Colloid size reactants (biofilm, ESP, activated
  sludge flocs, etc.)
• Kinetic and financial problems

11
Starting point a key element in biological
wastewater treatment remains uncontrolled

• Suspended cell bioreactors (activated sludge
  systems)
• Particle size distribution ?
• Diffusion limitation ?
• Ratio of floc and filament former bacteria ?
• Technological functions ?

12
A novel concept - IASON

• I Intelligent
• A Artificial
• S Sludge
• O Operated by
• N - Nanotechnology

13
An example the Bardenpho process
IASON process control
Raw wastewater
Treated effluent
Anaerobic
Anoxic
Oxic
14
Project objectives

• Control and design of floc size distribution and
  settleability (density)
• Control of substrate and electron acceptors (O2
  and/or NO3) within the floc
• Biofilm formation (nitrification/denitrification)
• Direct regulation of technological functions in
  microscopic dimensions by nanotechnology
  (microreactor development)

15
Wastewater bacteria on microscopic carrier
materials (PVA-PAA/starch) (biofilm development
after 1 week)
16
The first step immobilization on designed
microreactors

• Immobilization with adsorption
• Ionic bounds
• Covalent bounds
• Cross-linking
• Matrix entrapment
• Microcapsulation
• Combined methods

Heterotrophic bacteria (South-Pest WWTP)
on PVA-PAA hydrogels (400x)
17
Growth of selected (technological aims) bacteria
on hydrogels
Nitrifying bacteria 100x Budapest Sewerage Works
18
Comparative respirometric experiments (AS and
IASON)
Cummulative O2 consumption (mgO2)
Activated sludge
Colonized PVA-PAA
days
19
Nitrification efficency of biomass grown on
PVA-PAA gels
Nitrification efficiency ()
days
20
Development of active microreactors
1. day
2. week
3. week
21
Functioning of autotrophic system (upon 3 weeks
of biofilm developmen)
mg/l
8,8 8,6 8,4 8,2 8,0 7,8 7,6 7,4
Nyers
Tisztított
pH
NH4-N NO2-N NO3-N
oP
22
IASON - future nanotechnological design objectives

• Establishment of microscopic size reactors
• (contolled gradients)

Substrate
Oxygen
Aerobic layer
Anaerobic/anoxic layer
End-product
Solid carrier material (hydrogel)
23
Conclusions

• Traditional technologies/pollutants
• Changes of wastewater composition (rapid)
• New type of pollutants
• Conceptual change and novel opportunitie
• Nano- and biotechnology
• Design of wastewater composition
• Professional background (RD and education)