Saving OPEX for a reputed Pharma Giant using bioaugmentation

By Staff Report September 11, 2024 2:19 pm IST

A reputed pharma giant partnered with Team One Biotech to enhance their wastewater treatment efficiency using bioaugmentation, reducing COD/BOD, scaling in MEE, and commodity costs. This resulted in 20% OPEX savings and improved overall treatment performance.

The reputed pharma giant is known for contributing to the pharma sector worldwide. This unit is one of the largest API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) producers that manufacture products such as Tamsulosin, Metformin, Esomeprazole, etc. The unit has a full-fledged ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant), a traditional ASP system. It also treats its wastewater religiously. The unit had an MEE (Multi Effect Evaporator) installed to treat the high COD (Chemical oxygen demand) stream. Due to the production of multiple products, the ETP received multiple effluent streams with tough-to-degrade pollutants like toluene, benzene, Metformin, Acetic Acid, Methanol etc. Due to such streams, it was difficult for them to control ETP operations leading to heavier expenses specifically on the MEE part as it was receiving a heavier load compared to its capacity. 

ETP details: 

The industry had primary treatment, biological treatment, and then a tertiary treatment. 

Flow (current)	450 KLD
Flow (design)	500 KLD
Type of process	ASP
No. of aeration tanks	3 (in series)
Capacity of aeration tanks	500 KL, 450 KL, 300 KL respectively
Retention Time	67 hours(combined)

MEE Details: 

Capacity (current)	12 KLD
Current inflow	10 KLD
Inlet COD	150000 ppm
Inlet TDS	60000 ppm

Challenges: 

Parameters (PPM)	Avg. Inlet parameters	Avg. Outlet parameters
COD	18000	9900
BOD	5000	3000
TDS	15000	9500

Operational Challenges: 

• The primary treatment was working at 5 percent efficiency for COD reduction.
• The Biological treatment worked at an average 45% efficiency for COD reduction.  

They struggled to effectively treat tough-to-degrade pollutants such as toluene, benzene, Metformin, Acetic Acid, and Methanol which compelled them to run the ETP at 10% less hydraulic load. 

A separate stream of higher COD was directed to MEE leading to scaling and fouling in MEE. 

The volume of the stream to MEE: 10 KLD 
COD: 150000 ppm 
TDS: 80000 ppm 

Financial Challenges: 

1. Urea -DAP consumption: 2160 Kg/month of Urea and 1200 Kg/month of DAP are required to boost the poor biomass in the biological tanks.  

2. Electricity consumption: Due to high COD effluent the power requirement went up from a normal 14250 KWH to 20250 KWH monthly. 

3. Raw Water Consumption: Due to High COD influence, there was a need for higher evaporation hence around 100000 litres of water was used monthly for MEE. 

4. Chemical Consumption: Due to high COD inflow in MEE there was extensive scaling due to which the MEE needed to get cleaned up regularly from Chemicals such as HCL: 22500 kg/month, EDTA: 11250 kg/month. 

Extra Costs incurred per month: 

Commodity	Units required
Urea(in Biological tank)	2160 kg/month
DAP(in Biological tank)	1200 kg/month
Raw water consumption	100000 litres/ Month approx
HCL (10 % )	5500 kg/month
EDTA	3200 kg /month
Electricity(MEE)	20250 KWH/month

The MEE cost per litre was coming to Rs. 1820/KL for 10 KLD capacity while the overall WWTP cost to treat 450 KLD effluent swelled to Rs. 200/KLD. 

The approach: 

The industry partnered with Team One Biotech to improve the efficiency of biological units and get rid of the burned-off extra expense they incurred in their WWTP.  

Team One Biotech adopted a 3D approach that included: 
1. Research/Scrutiny :  
• Team One Biotech visited their facility to go through the process of the existing ETP and to scrutinise the pain points and areas of improvement if any. 
The visit allowed Team One Biotech to explore potential improvements in the plant, specifically in the biological system and provided a ground for future troubleshooting during the treatment period.

2. Analysis :
• Analysis of the previous 3-month cumulative data of their ETP was done to see trends in the inlet-outlet parameters’ variations and the permutation combinations related to it. 

3. Innovation : 
• After the research and analysis, Team One Biotech curated customised products and their dosing schedules with a plan of action to get the desired results. This process is called bioaugmentation.

Desired outcomes : 

1. Reduction of COD/BOD thereby improving the efficiency of biological tanks.

2. Degradation of tough-to-degrade effluents and develop robust biomass to withstand shock loads.

3. Reduction in scaling of MEE by reducing COD in biological systems and saving cost.

4. Reducing consumption of UREA-DAP. 

5. Cost saving by treating high COD streams in main ETP. 

Execution: 
Team One Biotech selected two products: 

1. T1B Aerobio: This product consisted of a blend of microbes selected as per analysis secrete enzymes that can degrade tough-to-degrade pollutants such as Toluene and Metformin etc. 
Apart from this, T1B Aerobio ensured the reduction of COD/BOD, stability in shock loads, and robust biomass. 

2. T1B MacMi: The product was introduced as a replacement for UREA-DAP. It is a plant-based gel that acts as a nutrient source for bacteria consisting of both essential macro and micronutrients. 

Plan of action: 

1. Diverting 2 KLD of MEE inlet to the main ETP Inlet with COD 150000 ppm. 

2. Diverting 3 KLD of MEE reject to main ETP inlet with COD 25000 ppm  

3. Dosing of T1B Aerobio in all three biological tanks. 

4. Dosing of T1B MacMi in all the three tanks

Average Inlet COD after the addition of streams from 2 KLD MEE inlet and 3KLD MEE reject in 450 KLD ETP: 18406 PPM. 

Results: 

Parameters	Inlet parameters	Secondary Outlet parameters  (ppm)
COD	18406-19000 ppm	2200 ppm
BOD	9290 to 10000 ppm	1400 ppm

Cost Savings:

Commodity	Units required before treatment	Units required after treatment
Urea	2160 kg/month	432 kg/month
DAP	1200 kg/month	240 kg/month
Raw water consumption	100000 litres/ Month approx	50000 litres/Month
HCL (10 % )	5500 kg/month	4000 litres/month
EDTA	3200 kg /month	2050 litres/month
Electricity(Extra)	675 KWH/day	478 KWH/day

With the reduction in commodities used for MEE and wastewater the cost to operate MEE came down to Rs. 1220/KLD and the overall ETP cost was reduced to Rs. 160/KLD.

The implementation of the bioaugmentation program resulted in significant improvements in the performance of biological units in their WWTP: 
• The unit achieved around 85% to 89% reduction from their current inlet parameters in COD & BOD.

• The overall ETP OPEX was reduced by 20%. 

• The ETP achieved full capacity operations in terms of hydraulic load. 

• The biological process became more stable and resilient to fluctuations in the influent characteristics. 

• Dependency on MEE to treat high COD effluent reduced. Source: Team One Biotech
www.teamonebiotech.com