Delivering water treatment solutions through ground-breaking technology
Innovative technology
The Gippsland Water Factory will use innovative technology to treat industrial and domestic wastewater.
The treatment process will be based on three main stages:
- biological treatment
- membrane filtration
- reverse osmosis
An explanation of the three stages of the treatment process is provided and depicted in the diagram below.
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The Gippsland Water Factory Alliance is investigating the possibility of producing electricity onsite. This electricity may be used to power operational activities and minimise environmental impacts on the site and region. Opportunities to incorporate ‘green engineering’ principles through the design process will be explored.
Biological treatment
During biological treatment, a variety of bacterial organisms feed on organic, food-like substances in the water. At this stage of the treatment process, the organic matter present in the water is converted to carbon dioxide, water and sludge. This sludge is concentrated in the bioreactor and over time the sludge builds up and is removed from the reactor tank to the sludge holding tank. This sludge is called biosolids. The remaining water moves on to the next stage of the process, membrane filtration.
Membrane filtration
During membrane filtration, the biologically treated water is separated from the sludge through a series of membranes that act as filters. Each membrane is like a straw dotted with thousands of tiny holes (pores) which are less than one-ten-thousandth of a millimetre in diameter.
The membranes, which are suspended vertically, are housed in a tank with a permeate pump attached. The pump creates a partial vacuum that draws the biologically treated water through the holes into the membrane, leaving the sludge on the outside.
Each membrane periodically cleans itself to remove the sludge from its surface so the filtration process can continue. The filtered and biologically treated water is then suitable to progress to the third stage of the water treatment process, reverse osmosis.
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is most commonly used to remove salt from water. It can remove over 90% of the salts contained in wastewater.
The reverse osmosis process uses a semi-permeable membrane that has pores around one-ten-millionth of a millimetre in diameter. The salty water is placed on one side of the membrane filter and pressure is applied to drive the water through the semi-permeable membrane. This process removes the salts and other particles contained in the filtered and biologically treated water to create a high quality, low salt water product.
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