This innovation was developed by Biothane, a 100% Veolia subsidiary that has made significant headway in its Asian business in recent months.Memthane is an anaerobic digestion technology that requires a small footprint and makes it possible to efficiently treat high-strength waste streams. These were previously considered economically untreatable through traditional wastewater processes. The system maximises the removal of COD and TSS, reducing disposal costs in the process while generating methane-rich biogas for even greater energy savings. All of these are achieved without the drawbacks inherent to energy-intensive aerobic systems, says the company.Within Asia, Biothane technologies have been adopted in various industries such as food and beverage, pulp and paper, and more recently in the palm oil market. Palm oil mills place great emphasis on better resource management and water conservation, and Veolia has met these demands through leading-edge Biothane Anaerobic technological solution. In East Malaysia, the company recently built a Biothane anaerobic system to treat the effluent generated by a local palm oil mill. The facility comprises of an anaerobic and aerobic wastewater treatment plant and a biogas power generation plant, and is expected to treat effluent of up to 20ppm of BOD. This turnkey solution is economically efficient and complies with the most stringent international environmental standards.Within the pulp and paper industry, highly concentrated effluents are common. This makes Biobed®EGSB (Expanded Granular Sludge Bed) a suitable technology for the sector. Earlier this year, Veolia was awarded a contract to install an anaerobic wastewater treatment system for Ajin Paper & Packing Co., Ltd. The South Korean company manufactures corrugated media and testliner paper from recycled paper. The BiobedEGSB process treats 7,000m3/day of effluent and converts 65% of the 14,000kg of COD load to biogas on a daily basis. Additional benefits of this installation include reduced carbon footprint, energy recovery, a small surface area requirement, as well as zero odour and noise emissions.
