11th European Waste Water Management Conference

3rd – 4th October 2017, Leeds, UK

TECHNICAL AND COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE REMOVAL OF

PRIORITY SUBSTANCES AS SPECIFIED WITHIN THE EU WATER
FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE FROM TREATED DOMESTIC SEWAGE: CASE
STUDY FROM A 16,000 PE NON-RURAL WWTP

Nkrumah-Amoako, K., Khan, M., Parocki, D., Nabeerasool A.M.

Arvia Technology Ltd. The Heath Business and Technical Park, Runcorn, Cheshire. UK
Corresponding Author Email: kwame@arviatecghnology.com

Abstract (STYLE: Heading – Arial 12pt, BOLD)

Arvia Technology, a specialist water treatment company, has developed a unique approach for the
treatment of hard to treat (recalcitrant) and toxic compounds. The treatment process is based on a
proprietary graphite adsorbent Nyex™ which self regenerates in-situ without the use of chemicals.

Over a 12-month period ending March 2017, Arvia Technology in conjunction with Anglian Water
have operated a pilot unit at a 16,000 PE WwTW to investigate the removal of a range of
micropollutants including emerging contaminants (Priority Substances). The project was part of the
EA sponsored Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP2).

An extensive list of contaminants was selected for study, including metals, pharmaceutical and
chemical residuals. Removal efficiencies of up to 99 % were routinely demonstrated at an operating
cost of up to 0.15 kWhm-3. Results of the trial were used to cost up a range of full scale systems from
2,000 - 500,000 PE for companies such as Anglian Water and Thames Water.

Keywords

Electrochemical oxidation, Adsorption, Advanced Oxidation Process, Self-regenerating adsorbent,

Nyex, Organic Destruction Cell

Introduction

Arvia Technology commissioned a 12-month Pilot demonstration of its Organic Destruction Cell
technology at St. Ives Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) in Cambridgeshire for tertiary removal
of a range of micropollutants from the effluent of the wastewater plant. This was part of a UK Water
Industry Research’s (UKWIR’s) Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP), a £35 million investigation
into the source and removal of trace substances in the WwTWs’ effluents with the view to establish a
basis of a national-scale assessment of the risks posed by chemicals in WwTW discharges (European
Council Directive 2000/60/EC).

In preparation of the new Asset Management Period 6 (AMP6, 2015-2020) under the Water
Framework Directive, this CIP was updated into a new £140 million CIP2 programme which focused
on more site-specific issues and removal of priority substances, substances pending review to be
classified as priority substances and other micropollutant compounds of specific concern (Bolong et
al., 2009; Luo et al., 2014). Arvia’s ODC technology was selected as a tertiary treatment option for
Phase C2b – “Pilot plants – Technologies not looked at in AMP5 CIP”.

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The fates of a total of 55 determinands, listed below, were investigated over the course of the 12-
month study:

• Metals: nickel, lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, mercury, iron, aluminium, chromium, both
dissolved and total fraction;
• Priority substances: “penta” cogeners 28, 47, 99, 100, 153 and 154 (BDEs), di (2-ethylhexyl)
phthalate (DEHP), nonylphenol, nonylphenol with 1, 2 and 3 ethoxylate units, tributyltin
compunds (TBT), octylphenols (4-(1,1',3,3'- tetramethylbutyl)-phenol),
hexabromocyclododecane, benzo(a)pyrene;
• Special pollutants: Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA),
fluoranthene, triclosan, cyphermetrin;
• Steroids: estrone (E1), 17α-estradiol (E2), 17β-ethinyl estradiol (EE2);
• Pharmaceuticals: diclofenac, ibuprofen, atorvastatin, para and ortho hydroxy atorvastatin,
propranolol, atenolol, erythromycin, norerythromycin, azithromycin, clarithromycin,
ciprofloxacin, metformin, ranitidine, carbamazepine, 10,11-epoxy carbamazepine, sertraline,
norsetraline, fluoxetine, tamoxifen, trixylenyl phosphate, 1,2,3 benzotriazole (tautomers 1H
and 2H), tolytriazole (4, 5 methyl benzotriazole).

Arvia’s ODC technology is primarily an organics treatment technology, and thus no treatment of the
metals was anticipated. For the purpose of this work, a selected list of priority substances and
pharmaceutical compounds are discussed.

The ODC Technology

Arvia’s ODC technology is an innovative modular technology that combines adsorption and
electrochemical oxidation in a single process. The process works by adsorbing organic compounds
from solution and achieving complete mineralisation of the adsorbed species off the surface of the
proprietary adsorbent (Asghar et al., 2009; Nkrumah-Amoako et al., 2014). Complete mineralisation is
achieved electrochemically by passing a small current density across the bed of adsorbent, allowing
subsequent adsorption onto the same adsorbent. The self-regenerating nature of the adsorbent
eliminates the need for adsorbent replacement, as is the case in most adsorption systems. The low
current densities applied in the ODC technology makes it economically more viable than a range of
advanced oxidation processes such as ozone and UV, as well as reducing the kinetics of by-product
formation.

Some of our main benefits include:

• No toxic by-products or sludge produced

• Low operational costs as energy is used in proportion to the organics being destroyed (trace
level of organics = trace level of energy)
• Chemical free and environmentally sound
• Modular and scalable design to suit requirements
• Safe to operate, low maintenance system

A schematic of the Arvia ODC technology is shown in Figure 1, and shows the fate of organic
compounds as they get undergo simultaneous adsorption and electrochemical oxidation to full
mineralization.

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 11th European Waste Water Management Conference
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Figure 1: Schematic of the Arvia ODC Technology cell

Arvia’s proprietary adsorbent, Nyex, is central to this innovative technology, and acts as a three-
dimensional electrode to allow electrochemical oxidation at low voltages, owing to its high electrical
conductivity and non-porous nature. A schematic of Nyex is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: A schematic of Nyex, the three-dimensional electrode adsorbents used in the Arvia Process

Pilot Case Study – Micropollutant tertiary treatment of WwTP effluent

A full turn-key containerised Arvia ODC system, shown in Figure 5, was installed on Anglian Water’s
St. Ives site to treat the effluent from their wastewater works. The system was commissioned to
remove the organic fraction of the 55 determinands.

Standard Arvia modules contain 22 cells, and the system used in this study was equivalent to one
standard Arvia cell. The containerised system contained telemetry and online data capture to allow
Arvia to monitor system performance remotely.

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Table 1: Standard Arvia module parameters

Parameter Value
Flowrate (up to) 13 m3/hr
Typical Operating Current 50 Amps
Typical Operating Voltage 20 – 50 Volts
Module Footprint 1.2 m x 0.7 m

Figure 3: Schematic of Arvia 22-cell module

Figure 4: Schematic of the WwTP showing where the Arvia Technology is best located to offer effective tertiary treatment for
micropollutants

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 11th European Waste Water Management Conference
3rd – 4th October 2017, Leeds, UK

Figure 5: Schematic of the turn-key containerized ODC treatment system commissioned at the St. Ives
site for the CIP2 study

This plant was run over the course of 12 months, and produced excellent removal rates of the priority
substances in the effluent of the treated wastewater.

Laboratory Treatability Study

Besides the Pilot system, a treatability study on a laboratory scale system of the technology was
carried out to evaluate and optimise the system. Raw water was spiked with ppb levels of these
compounds, and treated through a lab version of the Arvia ODC in a single pass mode. Results from
this study were used to optimise the pilot system.

Results and Discussions

The results generated from laboratory treatability trials and the Pilot plant are shown in Figure 6.
Average removal efficiencies of 96% was achieved for the priority substances in the lab trials, while
the pilot trial results were comparably effective.

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 11th European Waste Water Management Conference
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Figure 6: Comparison between the lab-scale trial results and the pilot plant
results showing comparable effective removal of the micropollutant compounds

Case Study for 16,000 PE WwTW

Results from the CIP2 study have been extrapolated to a 16,000 PE case study. This section aims to
provide details of an Arvia ODC system that will be required to provide tertiary treatment for the
effluent from such a WwTW.

The following assumptions have been made in the calculation:

• Plant sized for peak flow

• Peak flow is assumed to be 3 X DWF for PE >= 10,000
• Per capita consumption estimated as 228 litres/person/day

A 16,000 PE plant capable of providing excellent tertiary removal of trace metals was sized as
follows:

• Estimated Arvia ODC cost = circa £525,000

• Estimated out turn cost = circa £1,050,000
• Power consumption = 0.09 kWh/m3
• OpEx per annum = circa £43,000 including maintenance
• % of current UK bills = circa 6%
• Total plant cell surface area (excluding ancillaries) = circa 500 m2

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Figure 7: A model of 2 standard 22-cell modules connected in series as part of a suite of modules that will
serve a 16,000 PE WwTP. Each module is capable of circa 13 m3/h

Comparison against other technologies

A comparison of the performance of the Arvia ODC technology against other more conventional
tertiary treatment processes in the form of a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) indicated that the Arvia
Treatment solution comparted favourably. Conventional wastewater technologies including GAC,
Ozone, UV-H2O2, Membrane Bioreactor and Membrane Filtration were compared for micropollutant
removal. For removal of micropollutant organics compounds from WwTP effluent, the MCA concluded
the following across the nine criteria measured, Arvia’s ODC technology scored highest in 6 out of the
9 pairwise technology comparisons, as shown inTable 2 (Pizzagalli, 2017). The technologies were
compared and scored relative to each other across the following criteria:

• Range of technology (RT)

• Micropollutant removal ability (MPR)
• Total cost of installing technology (TC)
• Energy Consumption (EC)
• Chemicals use dependency (CU)
• Production of waste by-products (PWB)
• Flexibility (F)
• Reliability (R)
• Ease of maintenance and operation (EMO)

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Table 2: Pairwise technology comparison of Arvia ODC against 5 more conventional wastewater
treatment technologies. The results showed that the ODC scored highest in 6 out of the 9 comparisons

RT MPR TC EC CU PWB F R EMO

ODC 0.48 0.14 0.50 0.49 0.27 0.44 0.17 0.13 0.54
GAC 0.23 0.24 0.09 0.28 0.27 0.11 0.35 0.13 0.32
Ozone 0.09 0.08 0.28 0.03 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.03
UV-H2O2 0.09 0.08 0.15 0.03 0.27 0.04 0.03 0.04 0.10
MBR 0.07 0.24 0.03 0.16 0.04 0.10 0.35 0.30 0.06
MF 0.03 0.04 0.04 0.09 0.04 0.23 0.09 0.30 0.06

Pizzagalli 2017 concluded that “according to this multi-criteria analysis, the Organic Destruction Cell
could, when scaled up for future application, lead on other technologies for tertiary treatment,
presenting itself as a valid alternative for micropollutants removal from wastewater on every account”

Conclusions

The Arvia ODC technology has proven to be successful at efficiently treating the effluent from WwTP
to remove a range of micro-pollutants. This has been demonstrated through a variety of laboratory
treatability trials and a 12-month pilot study at a 16,000 PE WwTP. This report has discussed the
treatment achieved, and a scaled-up plant to treat the whole effluent from this 16,000 PE WwTP and
similar plants.

The modularity of the technology allows for linear scalability, and thus, the baseline costs of the
system can be extrapolated from the presented costs for this case study 16,000 PE tertiary plant.

On the back of this study, a range of full scale systems for 2,000 – 500,000 PE WwTPs have been
costed up for Anglian Water and Thames Water for micropollutant removal. Arvia remain confident of
being able to supply containerised turnkey pilot plants to treat micropollutants from WwTP effluents,
and welcomes interests from water bodies seeking solution to get in touch.

Acknowledgements

Arvia Technology would like to thank Anglian Water for their contribution to this Pilot study, as well as
UKWIR for their continued support to helping tackle some of the persistent water issues facing the
UK.

References

European Commission, “DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE

COUNCIL of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water
policy,” Off. J. Eur. Communities, vol. L 269, no. September 2000, pp. 1–15, 2000.

N. Bolong, A. F. Ismail, M. R. Salim, and T. Matsuura, “A review of the effects of emerging

contaminants in wastewater and options for their removal,” DES, vol. 239, no. 239, pp. 229–246,
2009.

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Y. Luo, W. Guo, H. H. Ngo, L. D. Nghiem, F. I. Hai, J. Zhang, S. Liang, and X. C. Wang, “A review on
the occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment and their fate and removal during
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treatment by adsorption with electrochemical regeneration using graphite-based adsorbents,” J. Appl.
Electrochem., vol. 42, no. 9, pp. 797–807, Sep. 2012

K. Nkrumah-Amoako, E. P. L. Roberts, N. W. Brown, and S. M. Holmes, “The effects of anodic

treatment on the surface chemistry of a Graphite Intercalation Compound,” Electrochim. Acta, vol.
135, pp. 568–577, 2014.

Pizzagalli, G. (2017) MSc_Res Dissertation: Removal of Micropollutants From Wastewater Combining

Adsorption And Electrochemical Regeneration, Cranfield Water Institute.

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