FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q&A

What is the basic Extended Aeration / Activated Sludge wastewater treatment system?

Extended aeration / activated sludge wastewater treatment systems have been around the oil and gas industry for over 30-years. You will find these types of water treatment facilities on drilling barges and oil rigs all over the planet. The number one philosophy for their creation was to eliminate the sludge. Obviously, one does not find large sludge fields on a drilling rig off the coast of Singapore.

An extended aeration / activated sludge wastewater treatment system has three basic components: (1) an aerobic digester; (2) a clarifier; and (3) a chlorination tank. In the digester, a bacteria “flock” of enzymes is created which begins to “eat-up” the sludge. The design factor is to slowly aerate the influent, fueling the “flock of enzymes-bacteria” over a 24-hour period, constantly vacuuming from the clarifier back to the digester the scum that rises to the top and the sludge that falls to the bottom. After 24-hours of processing, the clarified effluent would or should have reduced the BOD’s and COD’s to under 10, still with some suspended solids and with high e-coli. This effluent is held in a tank while it is heavily chlorinated to kill bacteria and then the effluent is “dumped,” usually into the ocean.

If this system were land based, the “dumping” of heavily chlorinated effluent would be a contaminated flow-stream.

What is the difference between the basic Extended Aeration / Activated Sludge wastewater treatment system and a GLOBAL WATER “WASTE WATER RECYCLING SYSTEM?

The first difference between the old style extended aeration / activated sludge wastewater treatment system and a Global WWR-System is the volume being process. A Global WWR-System processes wastewater in one-half the time.

The second difference is the efficiency of sludge removal in the Global system.

The third difference is the quality of effluent output from the Global system.

What is the volume difference?

The Global WWR-System begins the recycling process after only 12-hours of aeration in the digester. Therefore, a system designed to process 10,000 GPD in the older style aerobic system for 24-hours now becomes a 20,000 GPD system in the Global process. Conversely, if a 2,500 GPD Global WWR-System did not have the Global Recycling Process and the LS3 Process, it would revert back to a 1,250 GPD system. To be more effective in a shorter period of time, aeration is spiked higher and the enzyme flocks are more “activated.”

What does the effluent from a Global Water system “look like” coming out of the Clarifier before entering the Recycling and LS3 processes?

The effluent coming out of the Clarifier on the Global WWR-System will have higher suspended solids (than after a 24-hour system) and higher e-coli. The BOD’s and COD’s will already have been effectively reduced below 10 and most likely under 5.

So the problems are suspended solids and high e-coli: both “chicken soup” for Global’s Recycler and LS3. The suspended solids are processed through a media filtration to capture all suspended solids down to 5-Microns. When the recycling media housing becomes “saturated” (which is determined by pressure), the Global system “backwashes” the Recycler sending all of the captured suspended solids back to the aerobic digester. This provides more “fuel” for the bacteria to eat; and creating a higher percentage of sludge to waste effluent, which is more efficient.

The effluent that “clears” through the Recycler now enters the Global LS3 Water Purification Process. This process is basic “Water 101”:

There are only three areas that have to be cleaned to get good, pure water:

First, you need to remove parasites; Second, you need to remove hazardous chemicals; and Third, you need to kill bacteria and viruses.

If you complete these three processes, you’ve got the best water in the world.

Global Water Group does all three!

1. Removing parasites requires filtering down to one (1) micron. Parasites include Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Global’s LS3 system filters to 1-Micron.

2. To get rid of the hazardous chemicals; hazardous metals such as lead and mercury; insecticides, pesticides, radon, chlorine, etc., (reducing or eliminating hazardous chemicals below W.H.O., U.S. or International EPA standards) requires a formulation of media that absorbs and adsorbs those elements. Global Water Group uses a proprietary formula of multi-media that more thoroughly reduces or eliminates hazardous chemicals than any other water purification process.

3. To kill the bacteria and viruses, unlike municipal systems that use chlorine, Global uses Ultra-Violet. Chlorine, when used in water that is not “cleaned,” creates carcinogens. UV light will kill the bacteria and viruses and NOT create carcinogens. ©- Global Water Group, Inc., Dallas, Texas, 75247 USA

The result from the Global WWR-System is a system with no sludge and “potable water” effluent.

If you remove the Recycler and LS3, what do you have?

Without the Recycler and LS3 process, you have the old contaminated process at twice the size.

Is the Global system more cost effective?

Absolutely! First, you have a system that has one-half the heavy steel needed for a larger digester clarifier. Second, there are no chemicals used, less “cleaning of the system,” and fewer personnel needed to operate. But third, and most important, is the elimination of sludge fields; elimination of sludge handling (hauling and disposition); and you have eliminated the contamination and environmental hazards involved with sludge processes.

How often do you need to “clean” a Global WWR-System?

While this older type of extended aeration / activated sludge wastewater treatment system has been known to go 25+ years without being serviced (and Global’s systems are more efficient), Global Water suggests that its typical wastewater system should be vacuumed about once every 5 to 7 years. This whole cleaning process is literally minutes or at most a few hours (depending on tank size). This easy maintenance results in low cost.

What are the computer processes that make the Global WWR-System so easy to operate?

The Global WWR-System works like this: There are three (3) parts (components) to the Global WWR-System:

1) The Wastewater Process
a) The Digester;
b) The Clarifier; and
c) The Holding Tank

2) The Wastewater Recycling Media Tank and Process

3) The LS3 – Water Purification Process

a) First, the Wastewater enters the Wastewater Digester for the aeration process; clearer water is pushed into the clarifier to separate sludge from effluent; and then the clearest water seeps over the weir into the Holding Tank.
b) The Holding Tank effluent flows into the WWR Media Tank. This captures the suspended solids.
c) Then the water flowing through the WWR Media Tank enters the LS3 process, coming out as purified water.
d) This purified water is diverted to fill a Back-Wash Tank.
e) When the Back-Wash Tank is full, the COMPUTER automatically stops the system. All of the Ball Valves in the operating system change their flow direction status.
f) The COMPUTER starts the system again. This time the LS3 output water is flowing out of the WWR-System for any desired re-use (Toilets, showers, maintenance, reservoir refilling, straight disposal or drinking.). This is your “perfect environmentally green” output.
g) Now the WWR Media Tank fills with suspended solids. The pressure gauge signals the COMPUTER to stop the system. Again, all of the Ball Valves in the operating system change their flow direction status.
h) The COMPUTER starts the system again. This time the pumping process back-washes the WWR Media Tank until the Back-Wash Tank is emptied. All of the suspended solids are now back into the Digester.
i) The Back-Wash Process is complete. The COMPUTER again automatically stops the system. Again, all of the Ball Valves in the operating system change their flow direction status.

The COMPUTER starts the system again and we begin to re-fill the Back-Wash Tank (Step D). And the cycle continues