The EERC has conducted wastewater treatment research for a number of wastewaters,
including those from municipal and industrial processes. Some of these processes
have included anaerobic treatment. Specifically, the EERC has examined optimization
of anaerobic treatment of sugar beet-processing wastewater, anaerobic treatment
of water from the hydrothermal treatment of coal, and anaerobic treatment of water
from oil and gas production.
Coal Conversion Wastewater
The EERC has conducted a number of studies related to the treatment of coal conversion
wastewater. This includes examination of wastewaters from the gasification of coal,
coal liquefaction, and hydrothermal treatment of coal.
The EERC has studied wastewaters from various coal gasification technologies, including
Lurgi (Great Plains Synfuels Plant), British Lurgi (Scotland), KilnGas (East Alton,
Illinois), Texaco, and the EERC fixed-bed slagging gasifier. In the mid-1980s, the
EERC conducted treatment studies on these wastewaters, including solvent extraction,
ammonia stripping, activated carbon treatment, activated sludge, cooling tower treatment,
and many other chemical and physical processes.
Biological Treatment Systems
The EERC has conducted extensive research and demonstration of biological treatment
systems. These processes have included bench- and pilot-scale treatment using activated
sludge, powdered activated carbon treatment (PACT) activated sludge, fluidized-bed
treatment, rotating biological contactors, aerobic filters, plug flow, pure oxygen
bioreactors, and nitrification/denitrification systems. A major program conducted
at the EERC in the early 1980s focused on an examination of the fate and effects
of wastewater constituents associated with the proposed operations at the then-under-construction
Great Plains Gasification Plant, now known as the Dakota Gasification Company Great
Plains Synfuels Plant. These operations involved production and treatment of wastewater,
both from the EERC gasifier and, later, from Great Plains, in a variety of pilot-scale
treatment systems and, finally, a demonstration of the operation of a pilot-scale
cooling tower with this wastewater. In addition to this program, the EERC constructed
and operated a pilot-scale PACT system at the Great Plains facility.