IDEAL Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors

World Water Works, Inc. (USA), a specialist designer and manufacturer of wastewater treatment solutions, have announced their IDEAL Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors (MBBRs) for BOD removal, nitrification, and denitrification at municipal treatment plants. This state-of-the-art wastewater solution provides numerous benefits over traditional activated sludge treatment and, in addition, World Water Works’ MBBR systems are lower cost than Membrane Bio Reactors (MBRs) while still providing high quality purification. Thus, MBBR systems have become the preferred treatment option for many wastewater flows.

The Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor is a tank, or series of tanks as required for a plant’s specific needs, with free-floating plastic media on which a thin specialised biofilm grows. This thin, 50-300 micron, highly active “biofilm” performs the treatment – consuming organic materials or converting ammonia to nitrate or nitrate to nitrogen gas. The large surface area of the biofilm makes the processes very efficient, and the system design requires no complicated sludge recycling.

In addition, World Water Works’ reactors are compact -- reducing the required facility footprint to about twenty percent of what is required for a traditional activated sludge process; are flexible -- providing BOD removal, nitrification, or denitrification; and, most importantly, are very robust. World Water Works’ expertise in controls, combined with the MBBR’s design allows the system to handle variable wastewater conditions and to provide consistent results.

This combination of benefits makes an MBBR system low maintenance and nearly worry-free. Existing municipal plants can be easily upgraded to include a new reactor, and new MBBR reactors can also be easily upgraded to handle higher loads at little cost vs having to build new basins and infrastructure. Many proven World Water Works installations are already functioning for municipal facilities around the globe.