The royal treatment - Septech unveils new system

The systems are said to be ideal for palaces in remote locations in the Middle East.
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Septech presents its Underground Trickling Bio-Filter System at Al Khawaneej Palace in the UAE.

If you own a palace, chances are your problems are few and far between. However, for even the most regal of homeowners, the issue of effective sewage recycling can be a troubling one. Palaces in the Middle East are usually huge buildings which are for the majority of the time unoccupied, and can be found in remote locations.

Palaces and huge residences in the Middle East are not in a position where they can connect to a main sewer network, and to do so would be too expensive, given the rarity of their use. Septech took on the problem with its Underground Trickling Bio-Filter System concept.

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In the latest installation of this system, at Al Khawaneej Palace, the owners are enjoying a number of benefits. When compared to other systems which treat the same volumes of wastewater, the system consumes 50% less power than an extended aeration treatment process, an MBR plant or a traditional sequencing batch reactor processing plant.

“This whole system operates off a 1.5kw pump, so you don’t even need power, you can just put in a small solar panel and run off solar,” states David Heffernan, CEO of Septech.

The system itself is extremely simple, as Heffernan explains. ”Everything comes in by gravity, and there is no need for pumps - pump stations cost more than this system. In a biological process, there is 300mg of bod biochemical oxygen demand, and to get a reduction of that you have anaerobic digestion. So if you are going to do this with this type of system, you will have a 20% reduction of your BOD.”

The system can be installed incredibly quickly as there is no need for above ground site work for the erection of the tanks and treatment processes. Installation can be completed in as little amount of time as two weeks.

“We did CityCentre in Ajman and we did that job in 15 days. Our nearest competitor was about eight months to a year. We offer a turnkey solution, we come here, we excavate, these are pre engineered tanks, they are our own designs and one piece, so we cast them upside down, jack them up in moulds and spin them round so they are one piece. There is no infiltration of water either in or out,” reveals Heffernan.

The plant is also a hidden facility, meaning it can be installed in areas which need to remain aesthetically pleasing – a useful attribute in a palace. Maintenance for the system is minimal, as Heffernan describes.

“There is no mechanical process, we have two pumps; a duty and stand by and they are cyclic changeovers so you don’t have motors that burn out. So if something goes wrong with the system, you can fix it and the system won’t stop,” comments Heffernan.

“You have the fixed film, the biomass grows on the fixed film and that is what absorbs the pollutants out of the wastewater. It grows on it so the older the system gets, the better the system works. With fixed film it is a much better process, you don’t have to worry about fluctuation, if you had a party for 1000 people it would still work,” Heffernan adds.