Lab testing

A treatment plant in microscale

Full-scale wastewater treatment processes can be simulated in the laboratory with bench scale bioreactors. Laboratory testing facilitates the optimization of the process design as well as testing treatment feasibility or trouble shooting various aspects of the biological process.

Among the possible treatment parameters to be analyzed are the contaminant biodegradability, removal kinetics and loading limits. Along with these treatment parameters critical microbiological community characteristics and other biological nutrient requirements can be determined. The effect of process disturbances on treatment performance can also be safely examined in the laboratory.

The imagination sets the limits

All types of biological treatment processes can be investigated in the laboratory. The selected microorganisms are the same whether they are cultured in a treatment process volume of one liter or thousands of cubic meters. Note that a one-liter bioreactor might contain a thousand billion bacteria and tens of millions of micro animals.

A laboratory scale biological wastewater treatment investigation typically requires from 2 to 4 months to completion. The results define what can be achieved under optimal full-scale operating conditions.