Demonstration of Advanced Primary and Secondary Treatment Technologies for Energy and Performance Benefits to Wastewater Treatment

This project successfully demonstrated and evaluated advanced primary treatment (APT) and advanced secondary treatment (AST) technologies at the Linda County Water District Wastewater Treatment Plant in Olivehurst, California. The project represented a first-in-its-kind full-scale integrated demonstration of multiple APT and AST technologies operating alongside with conventional treatment processes such as primary clarifier, conventional activated sludge, enabling a direct and comprehensive comparison of treatment performance, energy efficiency, and Operational and Maintenance (O&M) requirement.

Caliskaner Water Technologies, Inc. (CWT) led the project and carried out the installation, operation and evaluation of four (APT) technologies, including the Cloth Disk Primary Filter (CDPF) (Aqua-Aerobics System), Proteus Primary Filter (Tomorrow Water BKT), Compressible Membrane Biofilter (CMBF) (WesTech) , and Microscreen filtration system (Huber Technology). The project also evaluated three (AST) technologies: Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS), Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR), and MicroVi.

A comprehensive evaluation program was conducted, including laboratory analysis focusing on Nitrogen speciation, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total suspended solids (TSS), as well as energy consumption, Measurement and Verification (M&V), and capital and operating cost assessments. The project was led by CWT in collaboration with technology providers, utilities, research partners, and subject matter expert to evaluate the performance, assess the scalability and implementation feasibility, and advance the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of  emerging wastewater treatment solutions.

Demonstrated benefits

The demonstration successfully validated key benefits associated with integrating APT and AST, including:

• Up to 85% TSS removal and 65% COD removal by APTs

• Stable effluent ammonium concentrations below 1 mg/L after ASTs

• Up to 50% reduction in treatment footprint requirement

• Up to 65% reduction in aeration energy demand due to improved carbon diversion in APTs and more efficient nutrient removal in ASTs

• 30–40% increase in secondary treatment capacity due to improved carbon diversion in APTs and more efficient nutrient removal in ASTs

The project also provided valuable design and operational guidelines for the full-scale implementation of advanced wastewater treatment technologies. The result demonstrated practical pathways for process intensification, energy efficiency improvement, and capacity expansion of existing wastewater treatment facilities, while supporting California's decarbonization and water sustainability goals.

The project team also conducted a wide range of technology transfer and outreach activities, including hosting technical tour, workshop, seminar, and giving conference presentation in collaboration with organization such as Water Research Foundation (WRF), Water Environmental Foundation (WEF), California Water and Environmental Association (CWEA), and University of California, Davis. These efforts helped disseminate the project findings and bridge knowledge gap related advanced wastewater treatment technologies across the industry.