Challenge
A global garment supplier for the apparel industry, owned and operated a large manufacturing facility in Tangerang, Indonesia. The production plant is slated to increase its manufacturing capacity significantly to fulfil an increased demand of his garment products within a six-month window. As a result of this rapid expansion, the Management is seeking to upgrade its existing activated sludge process plant (with chemical pre-treatment) capacity by 250% to meet Indonesia Direct Surface Water Discharge Guidelines. The existing activated sludge plant (with chemical pre-treatment) is already reaching its maximum capacity and has a very limited footprint to accommodate the rapid expansion. The Management decided to choose an MBR process to treat an increased flow of 700 m
3/d with the following design loadings.
| Characteristics |
Concentration (mg/L) |
| COD |
1,540 |
| BOD |
840 |
| TSS |
80 |
| Colour |
High |
Solution
PT Tirtakreasi Amrita was engaged for the MBR upgrade project. The existing treatment system consists of a pre-sedimentation tank and flocculation/coagulation tank with chemicals addition as a pre-treatment to degrade the colour in textile wastewater and solubilize the wastewater for downstream biological process. The Contractor increased air capacity of the aerobic reactor, installed four (4) units of Supratec MicroClear
® MB3-4 modules into the existing two clarifiers (converted into two MBR trains), and added recycle pumps, all within the existing limited plant footprint. Sodium hypochlorite is added into the MBR effluent to reduce the effluent colours to meet Indonesia Direct Surface Water Discharge Standards.
Results
The plant upgrade successfully increased the plant treatment plant capacity by 250% and meets Indonesia Direct Surface Water Discharge Standards, within the six-month time frame using existing limited plant footprint.
