A wastewater management system includes a series of water treatment modules to treat wastewater and produce reusable and/or potable water and other beneficial byproducts of the wastewater treatment process. A pretreatment module, a filtration module, an evaporator module, an odor control module, a UV-light module, an autoclave module, a sonolysis module, an ozone module and a chlorination module are combined in multiple combinations along with holding tanks, condensers, flash tanks and other components to address water purification and reclamation needs based upon specific wastewater conditions. The system captures condensate from AC systems and rainwater from rainwater gutter systems processes the water to produce reusable and/or potable water with or without re-mineralization. Any CO.sub.2 produced by the water treatment system is captured and processed using naturally-occurring flora. The wastewater treatment system includes multiple closed-loop subsystems to minimize energy usage and maximize water purification and reclamation for reuse.

A method of treating wastewater is disclosed in which a flow equalization reactor is provided that includes at least one wastewater treatment zone. A first wastewater treatment process is performed in the at least one wastewater treatment zone, which can be switched to a second wastewater treatment process. The flow equalization reactor is designed with a variable liquid depth and volume that can operated as a mixed wastewater zone, an anaerobic reactor zone, an anoxic reactor zone or an aerobic reactor zone. The equalization reactor provides sufficient variable liquid depth and volume above a minimum liquid depth and residual volume to provide the necessary hydraulic flow equalization or surge volume to achieve a relatively constant effluent pumping rate or feed forward flow rate over 24 hours per day, seven days per week into the downstream biological treatment processes, clarifiers, filters, or disinfection units, etc.

A completely biological method for removing a first group of micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin and a second group of micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin from raw wastewater includes: providing a first buffer tank upstream of a bioreactor; providing a moving bed membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) for developing biomass growth both on a fixed support and in suspension in a form of flocs, and on mobile supports, the bioreactor obtaining an effluent with a COD concentration of organic matter of less than 50 mg l.sup.−1 and a total nitrogen concentration of less than 15 mg l.sup.1; providing a biofiltration tank, separate from the first buffer tank of the bioreactor, that includes one or more biologically activated carbon (BAC) columns containing activated carbon; supplying the first buffer tank upstream of the bioreactor with raw wastewater containing micropollutants of pharmaceutical origin; pretreating the wastewater by passing the wastewater through a fine mesh sieve.

Wastewater processing modules that include an interior surface defining an interior volume, one or more inlets configured to receive wastewater into the interior volume, one or more outlets configured to exhaust processed water from the interior volume, one or more flow-deflecting baffles positioned within the interior volume fluidly between the inlet(s) and the outlet(s) and that divide the interior volume into a plurality of fluidly connected sections, and a purification medium at least partially filing the plurality of fluidly connected sections. The flow-deflecting baffle(s) are configured to channel the wastewater to flow along a plurality of circuitous bulk flow paths through the purification medium. The purification medium is configured to sequester contaminants from the wastewater as it flows through the interior volume along the circuitous bulk flow paths to produce the processed water therefrom.

A method for treating an aqueous fluid containing a biodegradable organic substance in an installation that includes an upflow bioreactor containing a sludge bed, wherein the sludge bed includes biomass, an external separator, and a conditioning tank. The method includes treating the fluid in the conditioning tank; feeding the treated fluid into a lower part of the bioreactor and forming biogas; withdrawing the fluid from an upper part of the bioreactor, which withdrawn fluid includes biomass; feeding the aqueous fluid withdrawn from the upper part of the bioreactor into the external separator, wherein the aqueous fluid that includes the biomass is separated into a liquid phase and a fluid phase enriched in biomass; returning the fluid phase enriched in biomass from the external separator to the bioreactor; and returning a part of the liquid phase to the conditioning tank.

The present disclosure provides for a method of filtering pollutants from a contaminated fluid stream. The method includes disposing unprepared humic shale in a container, contacting the unprepared humic shale with an aqueous solution, maintaining the aqueous composition in contact with the unprepared humic shale for a period of time, drying the humic shale, and then placing polluted water in contact with the humic shale until pollutants have been removed from the fluid.

Methods of treating wastewater with a sequencing batch reactor are disclosed. The methods include determining an anticipated flow rate of the wastewater and independently operating one or more reactor in a continuous flow mode responsive to the anticipated flow rate. Sequencing batch reactor systems are also disclosed. The systems include a plurality of reactors operating in parallel, a loading subsystem, a measuring subsystem, and a controller. The controller can be configured to independently operate each of the reactors in a batch flow mode or in a continuous flow mode responsive to the anticipated flow rate. Methods of retrofitting existing sequencing batch reactor systems and methods of facilitating treatment of wastewater with sequencing batch reactor systems are also disclosed.

A method for treating an aqueous fluid comprising a biodegradable organic substance in an installation comprising an upflow bioreactor containing a sludge bed, said sludge bed comprising biomass, an external separator, and a conditioning tank, the method comprising: treating the fluid in the conditioning tank; feeding the treated fluid into a lower part of the bioreactor and forming biogas; withdrawing the fluid from an upper part of the bioreactor, which withdrawn fluid comprises biomass; feeding the aqueous fluid withdrawn from the upper part of the bioreactor into the external separator wherein the aqueous fluid comprising the biomass is separated into a liquid phase, and a fluid phase enriched in biomass; returning said fluid phase enriched in biomass from the external separator to the bioreactor; and returning a part of said liquid phase to the conditioning tank.

Methods of treating wastewater with a sequencing batch reactor are disclosed. The methods include determining an anticipated flow rate of the wastewater and independently operating one or more reactor in a continuous flow mode responsive to the anticipated flow rate. Sequencing batch reactor systems are also disclosed. The systems include a plurality of reactors operating in parallel, a loading subsystem, a measuring subsystem, and a controller. The controller can be configured to independently operate each of the reactors in a batch flow mode or in a continuous flow mode responsive to the anticipated flow rate. Methods of retrofitting existing sequencing batch reactor systems and methods of facilitating treatment of wastewater with sequencing batch reactor systems are also disclosed.

A wastewater treatment plant includes an anaerobic membrane bioreactor, AnMBR, unit configured to receive wastewater and to produce (1) a final permeate and (2) a gas; an oxidation disinfection unit configured to receive the final permeate and to remove biological and chemical contaminants from the final permeate to generate a final effluent; and an energy recovery unit configured to receive the gas from the AnMBR unit and generate electrical energy. The wastewater treatment plant does not use chlorination.