Wastewater Treatment Needs Microorganisms
Microorganisms is everywhere and the wastewater treatment is no exception. Our case study with eel farming has proved how Happy Micro empowers microorganisms to “clean” water effectively and cheaply.
We don’t need most of equipments, no antibiotics, no additional 40% water everyday to keep the water clean. It is much more environment-friendly with high financial return.
In this section, we will dive deep into how Happy Micro wastewater treatment method transoforms the industrial facility, food factory, pond and home aquarium to be more sustainable while significantly reducing the water usage and maintenance cost.
In order to understand the magnitude of water pollution and the improvement by Happy Micro, we should explain some technical terms. We will make as brief as possible but if it is still too much to you, reading the first line (Key Point) of each term should be fine.
If you’re the experts in wastewater treatment, please skip to Real World Examples.
What is Happy Micro?
Happy Micro is an inorganic product made of 100% natural resource such as solidified magma and volcanic ash. It is a magical catalyst to stimulte microorganisms existed in soil and water to naturally transform the environment. Happy Micro is not a checmical nor biotechnology product and it is safe.
Total Nitrogen & Total Phosphorus
Key Point: The less total nitrogen and total phosphorus are, the cleaner the water is.
Nutrient pollution, a form of water pollution, refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients. It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters, in which excess nutrients, usually nitrogen or phosphorus, stimulate algal growth.
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients.
BOD & COD
Key Point: The less BOD and COD are, the cleaner the water is.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
It is the amount of dissolved oxygen required by aerobic biological organisms. That breaks down organic material present in a given water sample at certain temperature over a specific time period.
The BOD value is most commonly expressed in milligrams of oxygen consumed per litre of sample during 5 days of incubation at 20 °C. It is often used as a surrogate of the degree of organic pollution of water.
Its reduction is used as a gauge of the effectiveness of wastewater treatment plants. BOD of wastewater effluents is used to indicate the short-term impact on the oxygen levels of the receiving water.
Chemical Oxygen Demand
COD analysis is similar to BOD but is less specific. Since it measures everything that can be Chemically Oxidized, rather than just levels of Biologically Oxidized organic matter.
Suspended Solids
Key Point: The less SS is, the cleaner the water is.
Suspended solids, sometimes abbreviated SS. It refers to small solid particles which remain in suspension in water as a colloid or due to motion of the water.
SS can be removed by sedimentation because of their comparatively large size. That is used as one indicator of water quality and of the strength of sewage, or wastewater in general. It is an important design parameter for sewage treatment processes.
Aeration
Key Point: Aeration is one of the major processes for water treatment.
Aeration is the process by which air is circulated through, mixed with or dissolved in a liquid. Some example of aeration use cases of liquids:
- To smooth (laminate) the flow of tap water at the faucet.
- Production of aerated water or cola for drinking purposes.
- Secondary treatment of sewage or industrial wastewater through use of aerating mixers/diffusers.
- To increase the oxygen content of water used to house animals, such as aquarium fish or fish farm.
- To dispel other dissolved gases such as carbon dioxide or chlorine.
- In chemistry, to oxidise a compound dissolved or suspended in water.
- To induce mixing of a body of otherwise still water.
- Pond aeration.
Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS)
Key Point: Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids indicates how polluted the water is in an aeration tank.
It is the concentration of suspended solids, in an aeration tank during the activated sludge process, which occurs during the treatment of waste water. MLSS consists mostly of microorganisms and non-biodegradable suspended matter.
Why Does MLSS Matter?
This is an important part of the activated sludge process. It ensures that there is a sufficient quantity of active biomass available to consume the applied quantity of organic pollutant at any time.
By maintaining this ratio at the appropriate level, the biomass will consume high percentages of the food. In simple terms, the more the biomass consumes the lower the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) will be in the discharge.
It is important that MLSS removes COD and BOD for clean surface waters, and subsequently clean drinking water and hygiene.
Sludge Volume Index (SVI)
Key Point: The lower SVI is, the easier the sludge treatment becomes.
Sludge Volume is the precipitation of MLSS. SVI is used to describe the settling characteristics of sludge in the aeration tank. Smaller SVI indicates smaller volume (higher density) of the precipitated sludge.
It is easier to remove a pile of precipated sludge setting in the bottom of the tank rather than collecting diffused particles in the water. It is a process control parameter to determine the recycle rate of sludge. Low SVI means better for the sustainability and financial outcome of water treatment.
Real World Examples
In Odorless & Organic & Farming section, we shared an eel farming use case with Happy Micro. We don’t need most of equipments, no antibiotics, no additional 40% water everyday to keep the water clean. It is much more environment-friendly with high financial return.
Now let’s dive into other actual water treatment cases supported by Happy Micro.
Seafood Processing Plant Wastewater Treatment
The wastewater treament of this seafood processing plant was mainly from boiling squids and crabs. The daily wastewater drainage is about 300 tons in a 500 ton aeration tank. They process 24 hours for aeration before using Happy Micro and here’s the level of water pollution they were producing.
As you can see, the processed waterwater was far from the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. It has a limit for COD of 125 mg/L, and for BOD 25 mg/L. No wonder this plant was suffering from terrible water quality and smell.
Wastewater Treatment Done Poorly
The smell was significantly improved a week after using Happy Micro. The wastewater scum was gone in 2 weeks. The aeration time was reduced from 24 hours to 12 hours. The table below is the comparison with and without Happy Micro. The level of improvement is surpringly good especially knowing the fact that Happy Micro is 100% natural.
Wastewater Treatment Done Right
Here are some actual photos for the before and after comprison. The photos below show the MLSS/SVI level the wastewater after final aeration. The left was before Happy Micro and the right was treated with Happy Micro in 5 months’ time.
Wastewater Treatment Before & After
The left photo was the treated wastewater about to be discharged (released to the wild) before Happy Micro involved. Middle and right photos were the wastewater treated with Happy Micro in 5 and 8 months respectively.
The final photo comparison is about the wastewater scum. The left was taken before the treatment with Happy Micro and the right one was taken 2 weeks after adding Happy Micro.
Food Processing Facility Wastewater Treatment
This food processing facility in Japan produces school lunch meals. The daily wastewater drainage is about 70 tons in a 100 ton aeration tank.
They process 15 hours for aeration before using Happy Micro and here’s the level of water pollution they produce.
After one week using Happy Micro, the odor issue was improved significantly which became odorless in a month. We also reduced one hour aeration every week, from 15 hours down to 7 hours in 8 weeks.
The maker used to remove the sludge 6 times per year but now they only need to do once a year. Here’s the before and after comparison of using Happy Micro.
15,000 Ton Pond Wastewater Treatment
This pond is located in south Japan, imainly surrounded by farmland and a few factories. Water sources come from rain, paddy field and water treatment tanks. The issue was the smell and the water was not clean either as you can see from the photo.
After using Happy Micro, we can see a tremendous improvement of BOD in 2 weeks. It is because BOD is for aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material. On the other hand, COD took time to be reduced. The reason was pesticides from the paddy field and chemicals from the water treatment tanks kept flowing into the pond. Therefore, microorganisms needed time to “consume” them.
Happy Micro reduces BOD amd COD significantly
Happy Micro reduces Total Nitrogen & Phosphorus significantly
This graph below shows the Total Nitrogen & Total Phosphorus in the water. With Happy Micro, the eutrophication (a state in which water is too nutritious) has been eliminated. Algae such as blue-green algae have become difficult to grow. As result, the unpleasant odor has also been siginificantly improved.
80% Reduction of SS in 2 weeks
Since the SS (Suspended Solids) value has decreased, that the suspended matter in the water is decomposed and the transparency is increased. It was 34cm before Happy Micro and became 60cm in 2 months. The pH was originally alkaline due to the inflow of chemicals from water treatment tanks but gradually becoming neutral.
Country Park Wastewater Treatment
Hai Phong is a major port city in northeastern Vietnam. Its industry includes food processing, light industries and heavy industries. Major products are fish sauce, beer, cigarettes, textiles, paper, plastic and etc.
This particular pond with a water volume of 7,500 tons located in the city used to have issues of green water, strange odor and dead fish floating.
These charts show how Happy Micro purified the water in a short period of time. The red line is the water quality standard in Vietnam and that pond did not meet the standard without Happy Micro.
Wastewater Treatment Before & After
A year after the treatment, the water is still as clean as 3 months after Happy Micro involvement. You can see an obvious water quality improvement before and after Happy Micro from the following photo. (Right photo was taken 3 weeks after).
Home Aquarium Water Management
The 2019 National Pet Owners Survey shows that aquarium fish are kept as household pets in 13.7 million American homes. This makes them the third most popular type of pet, after dogs and cats.
Popular But Troublesome
According to this systematic review on US National Library of Medicine, novel interactions with fish in home aquariums may or may not have effects on mood, pain, nutritional intake and body weight.
However, creating a home aquarium is not that simple and cleaning is also quite troublesome. It is a much small scale than factories or ponds but nonetheless, this is a water treatment issue.
With Happy Micro, you do not need equipment for aeration, filtering and cleaning. Instead, you only need a tank, a pump, a sheet, little sand and a couple of fishes.
Here’s the comparison with and without Happy Micro in 40 days .
How Nature Works
One condition is this “do not put too many fishes” because it is unatural. 1 or 2 fishes in a 60L water tank is ideal because that density is acceptable even in a river or pond. However, many home aquariums have 5 or even more fishes. If you see such density in the wild, that pond or river would be full of fishes squeezing each other. Therefore, keep it close to nature is the key.
When you follow the nature with proper instruction for Happy Micro, your aquarium will be clean for years with very little care. The water in the tank will be so clean that when you drink it, you will not have any fishy or weird taste in your mouth.
It sounds over exaggerated but it is true. Here’s why.
Have you ever drunk any natural water in the mountain? The water in the wild is not pasteurized nor tested by FDA but did you get sick or did it taste funny? You are fine because of microorganisms take care of harmful stuff and keep it drinkable without eliminating minerals in the water.
Remember, Happy Micro is 100% natural and it supports microorganisms. That water made by Happy Micro can be used in various ways. People are experimenting with it and seeing surprisingly positive results.
How Microorganisms Work in Wastewater
There are many types of microorganisms that process sludge and particles during wastewater treatment. Vorticella, rotifers and other microorganisms improve the removal of SS and the effluent quality. The diversity in the water is also important.
The following table is a before/after comparison of using Happy Micro. 1 indicates the lowest density in the water, 6 is the highest. As you can see from the table, the microorganisms diversity was significantly improved after 30 days.
Takeaways
The wastewater treatment with Happy Micro can reduce the investment for equipment and running cost for elecricity and water use. Moreover, the outcome is much better. We shared five examples but the possibility with Happy Micro wastewater treatment method is limitless.
In many applications, the customer only needs to use Happy Micro once and to enjoy its benefit for years. That doesn’t makes Happy Micro a good business because there is no recurring income but it’s ok. The mission of Happy Micro is beyond running a business. We want to create a better future for earth and mankind.
Water is an unlimited natural resource when we take a good care of the environment. However, all kinds of industries is drying up the clean water and pouring contaminated water back in.
The global water demand is expected to increase by 50% by 2030. Meanwhile, agriculture (which currently consumes around 70% of global water usage) is expected to experience a 70% increase in demand by 2050 (Source).
Even though Happy Micro itself is a “not so good business”, we are driven to spread it across the globe. We believe when microorganisms in the environment are healthier, the world will be a better place for all living creatures.
Speaking of which, let’s jump right into the section of how Happy Micro greens uninhabitable lands.