Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Papermaking process require large amounts of energy and water; therefore, pulp and paper
mills can be potentially very polluting. The wastewater resulting from the papermaking
process must be carefully managed as it is very rich in dissolved organic matter and contain
compounds that make it difficult to treat. MBBR technology emerged as a possibility to
increase the treatment capacity and to make more compact treatment systems designed to
remove high organic loads, since in addition to having biomass in suspension as the
activated sludge process, also has biomass adhered to plastic supports. This research was
commissioned by Stora Enso Kvarnsveden and emerged in need of a bioreactor
modification due to reduction of the wastewater load after the closure of PM11 in 2013 and
PM8 in 2017. An evaluation of the performance of bioreactors is necessary with possible
results to only run one bioreactor in the future and save energy. For performance analysis,
two weeks of measurements were performed, one with the two bioreactors running at the
same time and one with only K150 reactor running, trying to simulate what happens if one
of them is stopped. Analysis of the main operating parameters of the MBBR system were
evaluated during this research. As result, it was recommended an action to remove the
excess of adhered biomass and an increase of the filling rating to 50%, in order to optimize
TOC reduction.
2018.
Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor, Pulp and Paper Wastewater, Performance Evaluation, Energy Efficient.