Weise demonstrates how the system works.
AWU eyes launch of pilot plant in Bahrain
01 December 2005
Germany's AWU, which has hit the Middle East market with two of its innovative products, has also announced plans to launch a pilot project to recycle waste water from fish farms in Bahrain in February next year.
The products, which were unveiled at the recent Big 5 show, include a biological reactor with benthic filters for water treatment and an underground irrigation system called the segmented dual (SD) hose system to achieve huge water savings.
Biological reactor
“The biological reactor is an absolutely new product for the Middle East,” says senior engineer Muthard Weise.
Explaining the features of the system, he adds: “With the Middle East experiencing a fast-paced economic and population growth, the ever-increasing need for water has become more pronounced. Currently, the region uses desalinated water for all purposes, which is not an environmentally sound policy. The discharge from the plants creates high salinity in the sea around the plant and this forces living organisms in the sea to move further away from the coast.”
“The reuse of water by recycling is the future and AWU offers biological solutions suited for such purposes.”
The new technology, with benthic filters incorporated in a bioreactor, has mussels for purification of surface and other waters without any form of chemical additions. It can filter any water down to 1mm.
Possible fields of applications are the agricultural and industrial sector for closed circuit water reuse, pre-treatment of raw water for industrial use and furthermore for grey and wastewater treatments.
Says Weise: “The device can be used for external treatment as well as for in-situ treatment. When used externally, water is pumped through the immobilised mussels, which filter the water. Treated water is passed through a veliger separation unit, where the baby mussels are held and sent back via a return line.
“For in-situ treatment such as ion lagoons, the device is positioned in the water body by anchoring on the ground. Solar energy or power supply is used to ingest the water through an intake, followed by overflow onto the immobilised mussels.
“Greywater is typically defined as water from bath, shower and wash basin. The ideal situation for greywater treatment is in living accommodation where sufficient amounts are generated daily for reuse in toilets, washing machines and gardens. On an average, 45 per of water supplied to domestic properties is discharged as greywater. This amount of water can be treated for reuse to reduce water consumption and so compensate rising water wastage.
Each mussel can clean up to seven litres of water in a day and the system can treat any amount of water, says Weise.
The product was recently introduced at an exhibition in Bahrain, where it was acclaimed for its ingenuity. “We are very encouraged by the response in Dubai and Bahrain,” he says.
Segmented dual system
According to Weise, the segmented dual (SD) hose system is a technique that offers up to 90 per cent water saving.
“In this region, where water is precious, the SD hose system is a form of irrigation which blends the advantages of an extremely optimised and economical moisture penetration in soil while maximising the protection of the soil integrity,” he says. “This is the promising solution for the extremely low usage of water which is required to sustain vegetation.
The SD hose system is said to offer the following advantages:
• Minimum water consumption ensuring optimal vegetation;
• Homogeneous moisture penetration in the soil;
• A finely adjustable discharge rate over an extremely large volume of water;
• The ability to overcome large differences in height while maintaining even water distribution without the need for additional equipment;
• Long installation distances of several hundred metres from the primary water feed;
• An extremely robust structure that can withstand mechanical stresses;
• Protection from rodents; and
• Directly dispense fertilisers, he concludes.
