Paper and microbiological growth don’t mix: What you need to know about paper breaks
Water is an instrumental ingredient in the manufacture of paper products. When wood products are broken down into pulp, water is used to move the slurry onto the paper machine, which is something akin to a fast moving, very long conveyor belt. Being an organic product, both pulp and paper tend to facilitate the… Read More
Most Wanted Microbe – Escherichia coli
From the editor: This is the inaugural post in an ongoing series profiling microorganisms of particular significance in water and wastewater systems. In this series we will cover microorganisms of many types including some that are beneficial, inhibitory and pathogenic. Escherichia coli or E. coli is a species of bacteria commonly found in the… Read More
Using ATP in a Legionella Water Management Plan
Between December 2014 and September 2015 there were three clusters of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks in the Bronx, New York City. Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, is caused by inhaling aerosolized water containing certain pathogenic strains of Legionella bacteria. Legionella thrive in warm, stagnant water with low disinfection residuals such as hot water… Read More
Hydroelectric power: Challenges in the 21st Century
Hydroelectric power has been around for a long time. You might say that, along with windpower, it’s one of the original sources of clean energy. More than 2,000 years ago, the Greeks were using water wheels to grind grain into flour. Jumping forward all the way to the eighteenth century, French engineer, Bernard Forest… Read More
Water and the Olympics
At the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, hundreds of millions of people around the world watched as athletes competed in dozens of sports over two weeks. For some sports, water (usually in the form of snow or ice) is crucial. Where the Summer Olympics need pools and lakes filled with clean water for… Read More
Water Associations and Foundations from Around the World
There’s a vast collection of water-related resources available online. It seems like whatever aspect of the water sector you can imagine, there is an organization devoted to its study. Here at LuminUltra, we provide microbiological management solutions for water systems but we like to keep an eye on what’s happening across the water industry…. Read More
The cost of high solids in your wastewater treatment plant
Conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) operate with solids (mixed liquor suspended solids – MLSS) concentrations ranging from approximately 1500 to 5000 mg/L. In membrane bioreactors (MBRs), typical MLSS concentrations are even higher (10,000 to 12,000 mg/L). A higher concentration can be advantageous as they allow for smaller aeration tanks while performing the… Read More
Drinking Water – A Global Concern
Issues related to drinking water and municipal water systems are all over the news these days. In North America, the troubles that Flint, Michigan has faced with its water supply and distribution system have been in the headlines for a number of years now. Government officials continue to struggle to replace aging infrastructure and… Read More
Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal – Who’s doing the work?
Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) was first documented in the early 1970’s. Traditionally it has been understood that EBPR requires a first stage anaerobic zone that is free of nitrate and nitrite. In the anaerobic zone, phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAO) utilize energy from stored polyphosphate to assimilate volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and produce polyhydroxybutyrate… Read More
Investigating biomass density in biological activated carbon media with 2nd Generation ATP
Editor’s note: This post was authored by one of our clients – Research Laboratory Services (RLS). They are a research, consultancy, and laboratory testing service provider based in Melbourne, Australia with offices in the USA and New Zealand. With over 20 years of experience in the portable and wastewater treatment industries, RLS specializes in… Read More