Trial index home Multi-National Company, A pilot scale waste water treatment system was installed for the treatment of effluent water. The system was installed 6/10/03. The water sample photograph shown below was collected immediately after start-up of the system, the performance of the system has subsequently improved to provide a clear bright waste water. However the initial data shows that there has been a major improvement of the water quality. | The waste water treatment plant installed in is shown on the right. The system is an identical copy of all the pilot scale systems. For system specification, click here. The AFM® system is considered more as a fine polishing filter with the capacity to deal with heavy loads without succumbing to biofouling. During the course of the trial, the water treatment system up-stream of the AFM® filter failed. The AFM® was then dealing with COD levels that were perhaps several thousand mg/l. However the COD was in the form of colloidal oil and thick sticky hydrocarbon like tar. The water entering the AFM® filter was extremely poor quality, almost approaching a black oil slurry at times. However the AFM® filter continued to operate and treat the water. The unit was under serious stress, but it did not fail. Eventually however it was completely overloaded. |  | | Water samples The water samples on the right shows the difference between the inlet water and discharge water from the pilot scale AFM® filtration system. Note that there are no suspended solids in the discharge water, however there is a colloidal suspension. The sample was taken immediately after the start-up of the filter. The performance of the filter has subsequently improved to provide clear bright water. |  |
The industrial trial terminated 13/1/04, after approximately 12 weeks. The water quality entering the filter was very poor, and consisted of several thousand mg/l of COD comprised of colloidal oil and thick hydrocarbons. The trial was basically a test to destruction, however the AFM® filtration media survived far longer than anyone had anticipated. The photo below shows the state of the bed after the trial. Samples of the AFM® were taken, to test for cleaning strategies. - vigorous cleaning with water was not successful
- vigorous cleaning with detergents did not remove the surface contamination
- vigorous cleaning with 100% organic solvent (chloroform) was semi successful at removing the hydrocarbon deposit
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