Biological Trickling Filter for Waste Water Treatment of Biomass Gasification Power Plants
Bangalore, India

Summary of Project  Activities Implemented

At the RV College of Engineering in Bangalore (RVC), a pilot trickling filter containing 3 m3 of light-expanded clay aggregate was installed. A greenhouse covering was provided to ensure good growth conditions for tomato and papyrus plants that were planned to grow in the trickling filter.
The experiments were planned to be done by a diploma student from ETZ Zurich and a chemical scientist. During five months, they helped to install the pilot plant and to upgrade the laboratory infrastructure of RVC to enable analysis of water samples.
Due to lacking cooperation by the Indian project partners RVC and Netpro, the installation procedure of the pilot plant could be completed only by the end of 2005. The human resources planned for running the test program were thus spent after the installation phase. Netpro assured to run the experiments as planned, but did not deliver any data until the end of the project. The project has to be concluded without results of the trickling filter and thus must be declared as failed.

Goal

The overall objectives was to conduct a long-term test on a biological trickling filter treating waste water of a biomass gasification plant in India, measuring its performance and evaluating its potential for commercial applications.

Results Expected vs. Results Achieved by Swiss Technical University and by Partner

In tests in Switzerland, the trickling filter could treat waste water containing ammonium, nitrate, phenol and other hazardous contaminants such as PAH. As no experiments could be done in India, long-term performance remains unknown.

Validation of Results by Swiss Technical University and by Partner

Installing the trickling filter spurred interest among students at RVC, spreading the idea of nutrient recycling. Enhancing the laboratory infrastructure at RVC was a sensible long-term investment. Hope remains that RVC will make good use of these resources in student education and environmental research work.

Sustainability / Outlook

In India, the trickling filter technology is not recognized as an applicable solution to gasifier waste water problems yet. By presenting the technology in a conference in India in Nov 2008, we hope to spur new interest and cooperation.

Project Duration

March 2005 - June 2008

Contact

A. Graber, Project Coordinator
Zurich University of Applied Sciences, CH-8820 Wädenswil
www.unr.ch , andreas.graber@zhaw.ch
Prof. T. N. Ramamurthy, Coordinator RV-TIFAC-HETP
RV College of Engineering, Bangalore
http://rvce.ac.in , hetp@sify.com
Dr. H. N. Sharan, Chairman
Netpro Renewable Energy (India) Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore
www.netprorenewable.com , netpro1@vsnl.com, hari.sharan@bluewin.ch