MOBILIZED FILM TECHNOLOGY (MFT) TREATMENT OF A HIGH STRENGTH WASTEWATER

The first full-scale application of the anaerobic mobilized film technology (MFT) has been operating successfully for more than two and one-half years pretreating the wastewater from the Canandaigua Wine Company. The two module anaerobic MFT system, which began parallel operation February 14, 1997, with a total volume of 284 m3, was operated at approximately 35°C, and replaced 8,035 m3 of aerobic biological pretreatment. This case study reviews the results obtained during the 219-day period after startup from September 29, 1998 to May 1, 1999. The average influent wastewater flow during this period was 373 m3/d, at a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 11,500 mg COD/L and a pH of 5.9 (varying from 5 to 11). The wastestream must be pretreated to less than; 600 mg COD/L, 300 mg BOD/L (five day biochemical oxygen demand), and 350 mg TSS/L while maintaining pH between 5.5 and 10.0 before discharging to the City of Canandaigua, New York.While exceeding these pretreatment requirements, most of the preexisting 8,440 m3 of aerobic capacity was converted to flow equalization with most of the organic removal being accomplished by the MFT reactors. Though wastewater concentrations were highly variable, the MFT effluent concentrations were steady averaging 700 mg COD/L. The MFT system was a net energy producer and substantially decreased winery wastewater treatment operating costs. Average monthly electrical usage was decreased by 196,000 kWh at a demand reduction of 271 kW. The volume of sludge disposal was decreased by 2,900 m3 and the costs for nutrient and sludge conditioning chemicals were also substantially cut.