P&PAPER

WASTEWATER
TREATMENT

The Kaldnes moving bed process

for wastewater treatment
at pulp and paper mills
The pulp and paper industry is facing
ever-increasing
environmental
pressures to reduce its
pollution, and it is having
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to compty with more stringent govern- . l . .
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mental regulations on the discharge of . .

effluents. Any development which can l . l . l

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raise the efficiency of wastewater treat- , .
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ment in the paper industry must there-
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fore be welcome. The Kaldnes process, . 1
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devised in Norway, promises just such a . . l
solution. The process is already in .
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operation at mills in Scandinavia, and . l l . l ,‘*,#*:’

has now been ordered by an Australian .

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plant. As other paper-producing coun- t(-:I,
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aware, it could become one of the

major solutions for the world paper
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industry’s effluent discharge problems.

In this article Dr Steve Minett presents
the results of pilot studies of the Kaldnes Figure 1. Principle of moving bed biofilm reactor: aerobic [left) and anawobic/anoxic [right).
process conducted at four pulp and
paper mills in Scandinavia.

he discharge of pollutants from pulp

T
reduced
and paper mills has been dramatically
in Europe over the past 20 years or
so, and an increasing number of mills have
been investing in biological processes to
treat wastewater. An advantage of the
Kaldnes process is that it offers a good
alternative to conventional biological treat-
ment methods. Furthermore, plants can be
very compact, and the system is highly
flexible, often enabling existing tanks to be
converted. These factors represent savings
in both space and financial outlay. In
addition, the process can deal with high
volume loads and/or at very short retention
times.

The moving bed process

The Kaldnes process is based on a moving
With the Kaldnes process for denitr@cation screens can be used to separate the elements in the
bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), the principle ‘anotic cienittification phase from those in the aerobic nittification phase. This means that the
of which is shown in Figure 1. It is now in specialtied bacteria for these two diffe-rent phases are kept in th@r respective tanks, which raises
full-scale use at a number of plants in the e&M.ency of the process.
Scandinavia, after a series of pilot tests
proved its value.
Most plants for the biological treatment
of pulp and paper industry effluents rely on
suspended growth systems, such as aerated
lagoons and conventional activated sludge
plants. However, such systems require large-
volume reactors, and additional disadvan-.
tages include sludge bulking and the
tendency to lose sludge to the effluent.
A fixed film biological process requires a
significantly smaller reactor volume, and
The Kaldnes element
prevents washout of the reactor biomass. has internal cross-
However, there has been some reluctance to shuts inside the pipe
adopt such processes on the grounds that andjins on the outs&Se,
clogging may occur. By contrast, the moving to protect the biofilm on
bed depends on small, free-floating plastic the external sueace.

Filtration & Separation May 1995 0015-1882/95/US$7.00 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd 399
 P&PAPER
WASTEWATER
TREATMENT
elements, which are held in suspension in
MEBR Jar-test the reactor. This means that there is no
N.&P
unused space within the reactor.

Pilot tests at pulp and paper mills

Encouraged by results obtained in moving
bed treatment of municipal and food
Acmlicn M industry wastewaters, a recent study exam-
ined the performance of MBBR plants for
A Store Papyrus Ctycksbo AL+
the treatment of different types of waste-
water from four pulp and paper mills: Stora
M%%R flotation
Papyrus Grycksbo AB in Sweden; Stora Cell
lndustri AB at Skutskar in Sweden; Stora
Billerud Fors AB in Sweden; and Norske
Skog Sande Paper Mill A/S in Norway.
The pilot tests involved paper mill
effluent, bleacher-y effluent, neutral sul-
phate semi-chemical (NSSC) effluent, and
a mixture of chemi-thermomechanical pulp
B. Stora Cell Industri AI3 (CTMP) and ground wood effluent. The type
of production and composition of typical
influent wastewater of the pilot plants are
N+P MBBR shown in Table 1. Table 2 gives some
technical data for the MBBR pilot plants.
Simplified flowsheets for the four pilot
plants are given in Figure 2. Samples were
filtered, and suspended solids were deter-
mined using Whatman GF/A glass-fibre
filters. At all plants the nutrients nitrogen
and phosphorus were added to the influent.
Plant A: Stora Papyrus Grycksbo AB
This paper mill, producing coated fine
tank paper, had a full-scale coagulation/flota-
tion unit for white water treatment. The
pilot test aimed to discover by how much
biological treatment would improve the
quality of the final effluent. Standard jar-
tests with the MBBR effluent were used to
simulate the full-scale coagulation/flotation
stage.
D. Sonde Paper Mill A/S For 28 weeks the pilot plant was
operated at a flow rate of 10 m3/h. The
average COD (chemical oxygen demand)
Figure 2. Simplified flowsheets for the four pilot plants. removal increased from about 45% with
chemical treatment, to 78% with combined
biological-chemical treatment. Effluent

Filtration & Separation May 1995 391

 P&PAPER
WASTEWATER
TREATMENT

BOD7 concentrations (i.e. biological oxygen

demand over a 7 h period) were reduced
from an average of 60 g BOD7/m3 after
chemical treatment to an average of < 10 g
BOD7/m3.
Studies have shown activated sludge
plants treating paper mill effluents to have
a typical volumetric organic load of 1 kg
BOD7/m3d and achieve 65-90% BOD7
reduction. The MBBR pilot plant had
average and maximum volumetric organic
loads of about 3 kg BOD7/m3d and 7 kg
BOD7/m3d, respectively, and achieved more
than 85% BOD7 removal even at the highest
organic loads, and with only 40 minutes
retention time.
As a result of this successful pilot test,
the paper mill decided to build a full-scale
MBBR treatment plant, which is now in
operation.
Plant 6: Stora Cell lndustri AB, Skutskiir
Positive results were also achieved at this
plant, which produces bleached sulphate
pulp. Here it was important to reduce
chlorate levels as well as removing COD
and BOD from the bleachery effluent. The
pilot plant was therefore designed with an
anaerobic reactor - which has been shown
to be an effective biological method of
chlorate removal - followed by two aerobic
reactors.
The pilot plant was operated for a period
of 36 weeks. Lime was used to neutralise the
acidic influent. The total empty bed hydrau-
lic retention time over the bioreactors was
1.4 h. The MBBR pilot plant had a low
biomass surface area; the volumetric filling
of the carrier elements was 37% in the
anaerobic reactor and 47% in the aerobic
reactors. By increasing the volumetric filling
to 65- 70%, it may be possible to achieve

Inside a Kaldnes process reactor.

Filtration & Separation May 1995 393