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Evaluation ViewAttendees 12

Water Resource Recovery Facilities

Nanobubble Technology for Wastewater Treatment Intensification and Enhanced Nitrogen Removal

Thursday, April 24, 2025
11:15 AM - 12:05 PM  
Location: Smoketree D-E (Convention Center)
Contact Hours 1
Presentation Description: Increasingly stringent nutrient discharge limits, compounded by the intensifying impacts of climate change and water conservation on influent wastewater characteristics, necessitate innovative and cost-effective solutions to enhance wastewater treatment process efficiency within existing infrastructure. This presentation explores the application of nanobubble technology as a means to improve treatment plant performance, reduce operational costs, maintain compliance during construction, and potentially defer or eliminate the need for major upgrades or expansions.

Nanobubble technology involves the injection of nano-sized ( < 200 nm diameter) air bubbles into wastewater. These nanobubbles create a unique environment that promotes microbial activity, enhances oxygen transfer, and reduces the inhibitory effects of contaminants. The result is improved treatment efficiency, increased nitrogen removal, and better solids separation. Full-scale demonstration projects conducted in California and across North America have evaluated the performance of nanobubble systems in treating various wastewater characteristics.

This presentation will present data collected across multiple installations that demonstrate the effectiveness of nanobubble technology in improving nitrogen removal (25-40%), reducing energy consumption (15-40%), reducing or eliminating chemical consumption (10-100%), and increasing biogas production (10-25%). The impact of nanobubbles on sludge characteristics and overall treatment capacity will also be discussed. By increasing the efficiency of existing treatment processes through process intensification, nanobubble technology offers the potential to increase treatment capacity and improve nutrient removal without major capital improvements.

The underlying mechanisms of nanobubble-induced process intensification will be explored, providing insights into potential applications for various wastewater treatment configurations based on the findings from multiple full-scale demonstration projects.

.1 SWRCB Education Units

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe how nanobubble technology offers a practical and cost-effective solution to address the increasing challenges faced by wastewater treatment facilities due to stricter regulations and changing environmental conditions.
  • Define the key treatment metrics, including nitrogen removal, energy consumption, chemical usage, and biogas production. Real-world data from multiple full-scale installations demonstrates the technology's ability to enhance treatment plant performance.
  • Describe how nanobubbles interact with wastewater and biological processes to achieve improved treatment outcomes and identify where nanobubbles should be applied to various wastewater treatment configurations for process intensification.