Chemical Engineering October 2014 - 12

ChementatoR
An energy-saving bioreactor
for wastewater treatment
A
bioreactor technology for removing
organic and inorganic contaminants
from industrial wastewater has
been commercially launched by developer
Honeywell and its subsidiary
UOP LLC (Des Plaines, Ill.; www.uop.
com). The launch is part of a wider
initiative by UOP to respond to customer
needs as it enters the industrial
wastewater-treatment business.
The XCeed bioreactor (diagram)is
unique in its use of a mixed-media
support for immobilized microbes.
In contrast to alternative biological
wastewater-treatment systems, including
membrane bioreactors that
use stirred-tanks to distribute the
microbes, XCeed employs a fixed cell
media that is populated by microbes.
Influent wastewater flows through
the immobilized cells, where contaminants
are removed.
" The fixed bed of immobilized microbes
allows us to create higher
microbial densities and more sophisticated
microbial communities, " says
Alan Greenberg, UOP senior water
business manager. " And since the
bugs are fixed, there is no need for
mechanical stirring, which reduces
energy usage by up to 60% " compared
A step forward for a new
titanium leaching process
R
eed Resources Ltd. (Perth, Western
Australia; www.reedresources.
com) has advanced its Barrambie
Titanium Project - about 600 km
northeast of Perth, Western Australia
- with the construction (now in its
final stages) of a mini-pilot plant in
Canada to demonstrate a transition
from laboratory-scale batch testing to
continuous operation.
Barrambie is one of the world's
highest-grade titanium deposits, containing
total indicated and inferred
mineral resources of 47.2 million metric
tons (m.t.) at 22.2% TiO2, 0.63%
V2O5 and 46.7% Fe2O3, at a cut-off
grade of 15% TiO2.
The plant will test a proprietary
chloride-based process (flowsheet),
pioneered in Canada, for the recovery
of TiO2, V2O5 and Fe2O3 from
Road
transport to
Geraldton
primary
crusher
Magnetic
seperation
Secondary
leach
Calcination
Ti hydrolysis
to alternative biological wastewater
treatment systems, adds Abigail Antolovich,
strategic marketing manager
for UOP's water-treatment business.
The immobilized-cell approach
was originally conceived in the 1990s,
and is now being leveraged in UOP's
wastewater business.
With the ability to support a more
diverse microbial ecosystem within
the fixed media, XCeed allows for biomass
retention times that can exceed
100 days, compared to typical retenMined
Barrambie
ore
AMV
precipitation
V2O5
product
tion
times of 10-21 days in other biological
treatment systems, Greenberg
says. Longer retention time leads to
reductions of up to 80% in sludge produced,
which lowers disposal costs.
While the XCeed system is available
as a pre-fabricated, skid-mounted assembly
with a relatively small footprint,
each system is customized according to
the contaminant profile of the water,
Antolovich notes. XCeed has been used
to treat contaminated groundwater and
wastewater from several industries.
Fe
hydrolysis
Secondary
crusher
Screening
Mg/Mn/Ca
residue
Hematite
Milling
run-of-mine ore at a feedrate of 10
kg/d. It will test the operation of
each of the major unit operations of
the flowsheet on a continuous basis:
12 ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com oCToBer 2014
leaching of the mineralized material,
TiO2 precipitation, iron hydrolysis,
and acid regeneration.
(Continues on p. 14)
Leach
residue
TiO2
product
http://www.uop http://www.reedresources http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering October 2014

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