Tag Archives: sugar creek

General, Wastewater, Water Quality

Unlocking a New Level of Progress with a Plant: Nuvoda Pilot

Are small plant pieces key to a new level of greatness in the Queen City’s wastewater treatment process? Charlotte Water’s Sugar Creek Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) has set out on a 12-month mission to learn.

Kenaf sample in an Imhoff Cone, the tool used to check how much kenaf is currently in Sugar Creek WRRF’s basins.

Nuvoda, a wastewater solutions company in Raleigh, NC, created the Mobile Organic Biofilm (MOB™) Process. The star of the show called kenaf is a fast-growing plant that can get rid of up to 10 tons of carbon dioxide per acre while growing. That’s eight times as much as evergreen trees! 

So, how does it work? Small pieces of kenaf are in all stages of Sugar Creek’s secondary treatment process. Its job is to help make space for helpful biofilms to grow.

Biofilms, a slime-like layer found in nature, grow on surfaces to eat the “waste” in wastewater and help solids settle faster.  This leads to treated water that can be safely returned to the environment.

The kenaf material is also reusable! A giant sift-like tool separates kenaf from the water. Screens inside of the filter are small enough to catch and make sure no kenaf is wasted or left to come out in your kitchen sink. Sugar Creek’s maintenance team even added some helpful features, like a ramp for it to fall out of the sift, into the bin below.

Muriel Steele, Water Process Engineer, guiding kenaf down a custom-made ramp through the final stages of the MOB cycle.

MOB and kenaf have other perks, too.

Chemicals like ammonia have to be controlled carefully while treating wastewater. The microorganisms needed to treat ammonia can be hard to grow in cold temperatures, but biofilms can provide a cozy space for these specialists to grow. Kenaf boosts the amount of space for the biofilms.

Treatment facilities need to run as smoothly as possible during storms. Improved settling thanks to the kenaf can help with higher water flows during rainy days. So, as the extra water comes into the plant from bad weather, solids settle faster and there is a lower chance of anything unwanted continuing to the next treatment stage.

Kenaf is grown in Cameron, NC, and Charlotte Water is working to include these fields in our biosolids program. Biosolids are a nutrient-rich material made from treated wastewater, used to help plant growth and keep a healthy environment.

The Nuvoda MOB pilot is a chance for Charlotte Water to improve for the future by lowering costs and getting ready for the city to grow. By exploring this new process, Sugar Creek WRRF is gathering useful data to help make decisions for improvements. All thanks to a plant! 

To learn more about MOB and kenaf, visit Nuvoda’s website.

Video | Nuvoda: The MOB™ Process

Video | Nuvoda: Natural Ballasted Media for the MOB™ Process

Construction, Repairs and Spills

Sugar Creek WWTP Discharge of Highly Treated Wastewater

The Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (near Fairview and Park road intersection) experienced an electrical outage in the afternoon of Tuesday October 17, 2017, and for approximately 12 minutes discharged highly treated wastewater to Little Sugar Creek that had not completed the normal treatment process. It is estimated 39,800 gallons was discharged from the final disinfection process over the 12 minute period. This is approximately 0.3% of the total flow of 11.1 million gallons of wastewater treated on that day. All NPDES treatment permit requirements were met for the day.

This water was completely treated (steps 1 through 4 below) with the exception of the final polishing step of ultraviolet disinfection (step 5 below) during the 12 minute power outage. No impacts to the stream were observed and none are expected.

Wastewater Treatment Process

  1. Primary Treatment – Solid particles & objects are captured by screens, grit chambers, and primary clarifiers.
  2. Aeration/Secondary Treatment – Wastewater is aerated to support growth of microorganisms that remove harmful pollutants.
  3. Clarification – Solids and microorganisms settle out in large basins.
  4. Advanced Treatment – Wastewater flows through granular filters to remove fine particles.
  5. UV Disinfection – Water is disinfected to remove any remaining pathogens, and then the treated water is released into creeks.