ADI Systems Inc.

is part of ADI Group, which began in 1945 and has grown since then to become a world leader in
providing a wide variety of solutions to the industrial marketplace - from wastewater treatment to water reuse.

Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor

Download the ADI-MBR brochure.

As water conservation and reuse increasingly become major environmental and economic goals of industry, as
pretreatment standards and fees increase, and as direct discharge requirements become increasingly stringent,
membrane bioreactor, or MBR, technology is fast becoming the technology of choice for many industrial wastewater
treatment applications. MBR technology is now widely accepted as both a wastewater treatment and a water reuse and
recycling technology and provides a number of significant advantages to industry.

ADI has partnered with Kubota Corporation of Japan to bring the ADI-MBR to the industrial marketplace in North, Central
and South America, as well as many locations across the globe. With the first Kubota MBR systems in the Philippines,
Argentina, and Chile, ADI is leading the way to expand the application of Kubota MBR technology in new territories
around the world.

Designed to be the simplest, most reliable MBR technology available, Kubota membranes have been
utilized in 3,000 installations and are backed by 20 years of proven full-scale experience. In fact,
Kubota submerged membrane unit (SMU) technology has been utilized in more wastewater
treatment facilities than all other submerged MBR technologies combined! As leaders in the
application of MBR technology to industrial wastewaters, Kubota and its partners have completed
nearly 800 different industrial installations, from food processing to complex chemicals production
wastes. No other MBR technology supplier can claim as vast a body of experience, proven
performance and varied application.

The ADI-MBR system is an activated sludge technology wherein a submerged physical membrane barrier is utilized to
provide the liquid-solids separation instead of gravity clarification. This eliminates problems with sludge settling and
separation. This near-absolute barrier to solids allows for design at much higher mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS)
concentrations (typically 10,000 to 18,000mg/l versus 2,000-4,000mg/l in conventional activated sludge systems),
resulting in a robust, ultra-compact treatment system. In addition, the greater inventory of biomass in the ADI-MBR
provides resilience to changes in influent quality and operating conditions. The potential for long solids retention time
(SRT) greatly reduces the amount of waste sludge for disposal.

Kubota Corporation currently produces three types of flat-sheet or flat-plate style membranes exclusively for wastewater
treatment that each consist of three components: (1) a chlorinated polyethylene membrane spread over a non-woven mat
of polyethylene terepthalate (PET); (2) an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) panel utilized for mechanical support of
the membrane and mat; and (3) a polyester spacer that serves as a plenum to evenly distribute permeate flow. The
components are joined via a patented ultrasonic welding procedure that has proven to ensure long membrane life and
very few membrane replacements. The combined product of these three components is referred to as a membrane
cartridge.

Multiple cartridges are inserted into cassettes and the cassettes, in turn, stacked on top of integral air diffusers. The entire
assembly consisting of one or more cassettes and an air diffuser assembly is referred to as a submerged membrane unit,
or SMU. Several different SMU sizes are available and differ by the number of cassettes, number of cartridges and type
of membrane plate employed.

The engineered and patented configuration of the SMU allows the integrated diffuser to more
effectively and uniformly scour each membrane sheet, reducing energy consumption, chemical
cleaning requirements and sustaining high permeability during operation, even under higher peak
flow rates. The integrated diffuser assembly is periodically cleaned via a short daily automated
flush with mixed liquor, ensuring that no maintenance of the system is required by the operator.

During operation of the MBR system, as the final stage of treatment, treated wastewater is passed through the
membranes (either via a slight suction or by gravity) and becomes permeate. Permeate is then discharged or
recycled/reused as required. The system can be designed to perform all of the same organic, nutrient and bacteria/virus
removal functions of a properly designed conventional activated sludge system, including nitrogen removal, chemical and
biological phosphorus removal, and disinfection. However, with the MBRs’ ability to carry greater amounts of biomass and
provide a near-absolute retention of that biomass, nutrient removal and disinfection often prove far easier to achieve,
especially under adverse conditions, with the MBR system.

Preengineered, Packaged MBR Systems

ADI-MBR technology is very modular in construction and thus lends itself well to a preengineered, prefabricated,
packaged form of system construction. A packaged ADI-MBR system can be completely designed and engineered,
largely constructed and assembled at ADI’s facilities and shipped to site on a flatbed truck.
Unloading is simple and connections at the site are few. The packaged system greatly simplifies on-site construction and
installation while also significantly reducing site disruption. A typical pre-fabricated, packaged ADI-MBR system can be
installed and made functional in as little as one day.

Packaged MBR systems are available for industrial wastewater flows from approximately 1,000 to
125,000 gallons per day. Depending on the design flow rate, characteristics of the wastewater, and
the required system performance, supplemental process tanks requiring on-site construction may be
needed.

Advantages of ADI-MBR technology over other MBR and conventional aerobic treatment technologies include:

 Smaller, ultra-compact footprint

 Easier to operate and maintain
 Reduced sludge production
 Reduced wastewater pre-screening requirements
 Low energy consumption
 Higher permeability (flux/TMP) in mixed liquor
 Low-head gravity operation capable; hundreds of full-scale applications
 Superior peak flow capabilities at high permeability
 Superior quality effluent; can even eliminate disinfection needs
 Simpler, less-frequent membrane cleaning; maintenance cleanings only, no recovery cleaning
 Lowest cleaning chemical usage; no on-site storage needed
 No backpulsing or backwashing
 The only true clean-in-place, full-tank membrane cleaning system; system is never truly off-line for cleaning
 Longest proven membrane life in full-scale applications (>10 years)
 No buildings required for membrane basins; no permanent lifting devices/overhead cranes needed
 Easier to construct; membranes easier to handle, store and install

The ADI-MBR can be utilized to treat nearly any industrial wastewater that is aerobically biodegradable, and is often
applied to wastewaters from:

 Food processing
 Manufacturing
 Fuel and food-grade ethanol production
 Biodiesel and biofuels production
 Pharmaceutical
 Dairy processing
 Meat, seafood and poultry processing
 Pulp and paper
 Beverage manufacturing
 Bakeries and confectioneries
 Potato processing
 and many more industries
Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs)

Download the ADI-SBR brochure.

Sequencing Batch Reactors, or SBRs, are an advanced form of activated sludge technology whereby
all process reactions and sedimentation/clarification take place in the same reactor vessel. The unit
of time, rather than space, is used to separate process reaction events – that is, a process
controller/computer is used to coordinate the sequencing of events/environments in a single tank to
treat wastewater in batches. The result is that no separate unit vessels, clarifiers or return sludge
pumps are required. This saves on land, labor and maintenance costs.

The SBR removes organic material and suspended solids, like conventional activated sludge systems, plus it can also be
used to biologically remove nutrients – nitrogen and phosphorus.

How does an SBR work?

Different environments are created in the SBR by controlling process equipments such as aerators, mixers, pumps and
decanters during a cycle. By linking a programmable logic controller (PLC), the process is easily monitored and controlled
on-site by plant personnel. The timing and sequencing of events in an SBR cycle depend on the influent wastewater
characteristics and the treatment objectives.

Typically there are four cycle events:

1. FILL – The influent wastewater is distributed into the sludge blanket. The FILL event can take place under mixed
or unmixed and aerated or un-aerated conditions.
2. REACT – The REACT event includes mixing and aeration. Aerated conditions serve to oxidize organic carbon,
nitrify ammonia and promote uptake of phosphorus in the sludge. Un-aerated conditions promote denitrification
and phosphorus removal.
3. SETTLE – The SETTLE event is when all mixing and aeration is turned off and the mixed liquor solids settle,
allowing a clear supernatant to form in the upper part of the reactor.
4. DECANT – The DECANT event occurs after a substantial depth of supernatant has formed. Automatic valves
open and supernatant is drawn off the upper portion of the tank. Sludge wasting can occur during this time as
well, as the settled sludge bed will have attained a maximum solids concentration.
The possible variations and combinations of events within the single reactor allow for the removal of organic carbon,
suspended solids, ammonia, total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The most important and fundamental advantage of the
system is flexibility.

The ADI-SBR has a number of benefits over more conventional activated sludge systems, including:

 Lower capital and operating costs

 Greater ability to meet effluent limitations (organic and nutrient)
 Better resistance to sludge bulking
 No need for external clarifiers
 Easily adaptable to nutrient removal
 Greater system flexibility and control
 Less land required and less equipment to maintain
 Can retrofit existing tanks, basins, ponds and convert to SBR
ADI-SBR technology has been proven on wastewaters from a wide variety of industries, including:

 Pharmaceutical
 Pulp and paper
 Corn wet-milling
 Dairy processing
 Chemicals production
 Food processing
 Meat processing
 Yeast
 Potato processing
 Fish processing
 Bakery