Future-proof wastewater treatment with MBR

Bassusary MBR Wastewater Plant, France Case story

Located in the Pyrnes Atlantiques department of France, tucked in the very southwestern corner of the country, the commune of Bassussarry is the gateway to the beautiful Basque Country which stretches for 100 miles between Bayonne in France to Bilbao in Spain. One of the communes main attractions is the Makila Golf Club, whose breathtaking, hilly and wooded site, designed by American golf course architect Rocky Roquemore, is lush, green and beautiful year-round. And thats all thanks to Bassussarrys population of around 2,400 inhabitants and some innovative, first-class wastewater cleaning. Ura is the Basque word for water and its also the name of the local inter-commune organization for wastewater management, presided over by Ferdinand Daguerre, Deputy Mayor of the village of Jatxou. Our organization covers 45,000 inhabitants in 16 communes in the area, he explains. Together, they provide us with 10,000 unique clients for wastewater treatment through eight treatment plants including that at Bassussarry, he adds.

Eight years ago, the URA embarked upon a project to renew all of their eight treatment plants. The Basque region is an extremely sought-after destination, says Daguerre, proudly. The population here is growing at a rate of 3-4% per year and given this, our old installations were becoming obsolete, and it was clear that capacity needed to be increased, he explains. So in 2003, the URA put out a call for tenders to five different wastewater treatment plant constructers for the first phase of renovations. The URA asked potential constructers to examine the different sites, and come up with a range of solutions including those using membrane bioreactors (MBRs). The choice of technology depends on several factors including the location, available space and budgetary restraints. For the first phase, the URA opted to use traditional activated sludge solutions for three plants. The remaining two were equipped MBR solutions using Alfa Laval MFM Hollow Sheet Membranes.

branes are gravity operated and the lower pressure across the surface means that fouling is minimized. Moreover, they can be cleaned in situ using chlorine without the need to remove them another plus for operators. As an extra safety precaution the Bassussarry plant is also equipped with UV lamps installed after the membrane to destroy any remaining bacteria and viruses. The Bassussarry plant is equipped with a Hollow Sheet membrane, which offers even higher quality outfall than a regular membrane. We compared the different options and the Hollow Sheet membrane is less fragile and uses less energy than other membrane solutions so thats another bonus, says Daguerre.

Fig. 1 MBR with Alfa Laval Hollow Sheet membrane modules

For the Bassussarry site it was absolutely clear that an MBR using a Hollow Sheet membrane solution was the way to go, Daguerre explains. It took some convincing to win over the other members of the URA given the extra cost, but they eventually came around, he adds. Key to the plan was being able to sell the treated wastewater to the Makila Golf Club to irrigate the course. Moreover, the outfall of treated water at Bassussarry flows into a river where there is lots of sporting activity including swimming, and the river itself is also a resource for drinking water production we needed to be certain there could be no questions over the quality of the wastewater outfall, he stresses. In addition to the purity of the outfall, the URA was attracted to the simplicity of installation. The Hollow Sheet Membrane solution is much easier to install than a classic sewage solution which was very desirable. We really wanted to keep complexity down to a minimum, says Daguerre. Furthermore, Hollow Sheet membranes are very easy to maintain which was another factor in their favor. Alfa Laval memFig. 2 The Alfa Laval Membrane Filtration Module with Hollow Sheet membranes visible

Parameters BOD5 (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) SS (Suspended Solids) N (Nitrogen) P (Phosphorus) Fecal coliforms Total coliforms Helminth eggs

Level Authorized <5 <60 <4 <10 <1 100 CFU/100ml 500 CFU/100ml 1/l

Levels obtained 5 35 Undetectable 10 1 100 CFU/100ml 500 CFU/100ml absence

PEE00249EN 1102

How to contact Alfa Laval Up-to-date Alfa Laval contact details for all countries are always available on our website at www.alfalaval.com