Apparatus for salt separation (2) under supercritical water conditions, comprising a heat exchanger (4) and a fluidized bed reactor (6). The fluidized bed reactor comprising a supercritical water pressure containing wall (8) defining therein a fluidized bed chamber (10) connected to an inlet system (16) at one end thereof and an outlet system (18) configured to separate solids from supercritical fluid at another end thereof. The fluidized bed chamber receives a fluidized bed (12) therein and is configured to receive through the inlet system (16) a liquefied aqueous substance (14) for treatment in the fluidized bed chamber. The inlet system (16) comprises an inlet chamber (20) and a fluidization plate (22) positioned between the inlet chamber (20) and the fluidized bed chamber (10). The fluidized bed chamber extends between the inlet system (16) and outlet system (18) and comprises an entry section (10a) adjacent the inlet system (16), an outlet section (10c) adjacent the outlet system (18), and a mid-section (10b) extending between the entry section and the outlet section. The heat exchanger (4) extends along the fluidized bed chamber (10) and is configured to generate a decreasing temperature gradient in the fluidized bed chamber from the outlet section (10c) to the entry section (10a), the temperature gradient in the outlet section and mid-section being supercritical for aqueous substances and being subcritical for aqueous substances in the entry section (10a) adjacent the fluidization plate (22).

The invention relates to the development of a carrier material providing high surface area for biofilm formation in wastewater treatment plants and a carrier material surface modification method for accelerating and enriching biofilm formation.

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.

A process for forming a biofilm carrier suitable for use in a moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is presented. A blowing agent is mixed with a plastic material to form a blended material. The blended material is then heated to a temperature where the blowing agent liberates gas by decomposition. The heated blended material is extruded through a die to provide the extrudate with a profile of the biofilm carrier. Advantageously, biofilm carriers produced in this manner have increased effectiveness when compared to conventional biofilm carriers.

The present invention relates to a side stream deammonification process where deammonification is performed by a non-continuous flow integrated fixed film activated sludge sequencing batch reactor (IFAS SBR) without the need of employing an external clarifier. More particularly, the present invention entails a single reactor designed to operate as an IFAS SBR or a moving bed bioreactor (MBBR). With the design of the single tank, the two operation modes, MBBR and IFAS SBR, are interchangeable depending on the treatment needs.

The invention relates to a new biological fluidized bed process with high concentration powder carriers used for the treatment of municipal wastewater, which is a fluidized bed system based on the principle of sewage biochemical treatment, by adding a compound powder carrier to the biochemical tank, and forming a high concentration mixture after mixing and microbial attachment; the sludge mixture after the reaction is concentrated and separated, and then enters the compound powder carrier cyclone separation and recovery system, which can separate most of the compound powder carrier from the discharged excess sludge, and then return to the biochemical tank for recycling. The highly integrated municipal wastewater treatment process proposed in the invention has high treatment efficiency, small occupation area, low operation energy consumption, and can realize the doubling of sewage treatment capacity and the improvement of effluent water quality without adding additional occupancy.

A method and system for treating and purifying saltwater contaminated by volatile compounds. The saltwater is evaporated resulting in a gas composed of water vapor and gaseous volatile compounds. The gas is condensed into a condensate containing the contaminated volatile compounds which is biologically treated to remove the volatile compounds thereby producing purified water. The latent heat released by condensing is used to evaporate the purified water into the atmosphere in an energy efficient manner.

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to sewage treatment plants and methods of operating sewage treatment plants. In one example embodiment, the sewage treatment plant includes a clarifier having an aeration region with a vent opening to blow in oxygenous gas for mixing water to be clarified and a settling region with an outlet. The sewage treatment plant further includes a wall system that delimits the at least one aeration region from the at least one settling region by the wall system. The wall system has a channel system which has at least one first opening leading to the aeration region in the region of the water level and a sludge removal device of the channel system in the region of a lower wall of the clarifier for transporting solids-rich water from the settling region into the aeration region.

Systems and methods for intensive recirculating aquaculture are provided herein. An example system includes water sourced from a first segment of a saline aquifer, a recirculating aquaculture system receiving the sourced water and producing discharge water, and a water discharge point located within a second segment of the saline aquifer disposed below the first segment of the saline aquifer.

A recovery system of composite powder carrier in HPB municipal wastewater treatment includes a biochemical tank and a concentration tank. The composite powder carrier is added to the biochemical tank for biochemically treating on the wastewater. The mixed liquid is then made to flow into the concentration tank. The supernatant obtained after filtration is then discharged. The concentrated sludge is returned to the biochemical tank, and the excess concentrated sludge is transported to a separator. The separator separates the substances with large specific gravity from those having smaller specific gravity, and the substances with large specific gravity are recycled to the biochemical tank for reuse. Matter having smaller specific gravity is discharged. The separator can be used to separate the composite powder carriers for recycling, which improves the utilization rate of the composite powder carriers and reduces the operation cost of the HPB technology for wastewater treatment.