TREATMENT OF A HIGH CONCENTRATION BEVERAGE WASTE STREAM USING MBR TECHNOLOGY

This paper will describe the steps taken to address the wastewater discharge requirements for a large bottling facility on the island of Puerto Rico. Current operation at the bottling facility was to haul its strong wastewater discharge to a plant capable of treating the significant COD loading. The bottling facility produced an average discharge quantity of 70,000 gpd at an average concentration of almost 14,000 mg/l COD – the equivalent loading of 2 mgd of municipal wastewater. Peak flows exceeded 120,000 gpd and the wastewater could approach a COD of 50,000 mg/l during cleaning operations. The publicly owned treatment works (POTW) had the hydraulic capacity to manage this flow but could not accommodate the organic loading. Accordingly, the owner decided to investigate the installation of a pretreatment facility that would allow it to avoid the expensive trucking and tipping fees as well as meet the local POTW pretreatment requirements. The solution was to install a Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) treatment system that provided high quality effluent suitable not only for discharge to the local sewer system, but also water reuse. This paper will provide an overview of the entire project from process selection to design, construction, startup, and operation, with a specific focus on operating experience and lessons learned.