Reducing the impact of micropollutants with the mobile CarboPlus® solution

Our industrial processes are the source of invisible environmental pollution, which occurs when micropollutants are discharged into the natural world. And this form of pollution is far from harmless. It can have undesirable effects on plants, animals and - ultimately - humans. But we do have efficient filtration technologies that can remove these micropollutants. They include the ‘plug n play’ mobile CarboPlus® solution developed by Saur Industrie.  

European regulations currently list around 110,000 substances that are classified as micropollutants. ‘Micro’, because these substances are small in size and present in the environment in very low concentrations. ‘Pollutants’, because they are suspected of having negative effects on the natural environment and human health, which include endocrine function disruption. 

So industrial companies have a particular responsibility to limit the spread of these micropollutants in the environment we all share. And they can do that by taking advantage of some innovative technologies.

The CarboPlus® solution hits the road

In the 1990s, Saur Industrie developed a new technology for removing pesticides from drinking water: its CarboPlus® solution. This technology exploits the power of activated carbon micro-granules on a fluidized bed. Micro-granules between 300 and 600 μm provide the best level of access to adsorption sites, maximizing the effectiveness of this treatment, while the fluidized bed ensures consistency of performance and maximum utilization of the carbon surface. In the 2010s, Saur Industrie extended the technology to remove micropollutants from industrial wastewater.

But it still required high level of initial investment, and a lengthy installation and commissioning period. Hence the idea of offering the CarboPlus® Mobile service on a rental basis. This option delivers all the performance of the CarboPlus® solution, but with greater flexibility and simplicity of installation and operation.

So how does CarboPlus® Mobile actually work?

The CarboPlus® Mobile unit is a genuinely ‘plug n play’ solution. It consists of two modules: 

• a 20-foot container housing the flexible hoses
• a reactor containing activated carbon on a fluidized bed

Both are delivered by truck. Once on site, the hoses are used to connect the reactor to the industrial wastewater treatment plant outlet. A hydraulic system then feeds effluent into the activated carbon reactor. The entire flow is discharged into the natural environment once the micropollutants have been eliminated by the CarboPlus® technology. 

When the carbon becomes saturated, the reactor is removed and replaced, and the customer has the option to optimize the rotation of these units by returning the polluted reactor to the reactivation center, after which it will rejoin the production cycle. 

Micropollutant removal technology that delivers guaranteed performance  

Other activated carbon processes are available in the market, including some that use activated carbon micro-granule filters. However, these cannot deliver an equivalent level of performance, because they are particularly sensitive to clogging by solids suspended in the effluent, and the contact surface between the effluent and the activated carbon is smaller than with a fluidized bed. 

 They also consume much more carbon than the CarboPlus® Mobile solution offered by Saur Industrie, which, on the basis of laboratory testing, is now confident enough to provide its customers with performance level guarantees. 

The CarboPlus® solution is already up and running in Switzerland, which has set itself the goal of reducing the quantities of 15 micropollutants discharged into the environment by 80% over the next decade. A pilot testing program running for more than a year has validated the ability of CarboPlus® technology to meet all legal targets when connected to the outlet of an industrial wastewater treatment plant. As a result, a number of these facilities are already under construction or in operation on Swiss territory. 

For more information about micropollutants and the CarboPlus® Mobile solution, view our webinar on micropollutants now.