Environmental discharge
Cleaner return to nature
Advanced polishing reduces the contaminant burden returned to rivers, groundwater and downstream water users.
Municipal wastewater · Quaternary polishing and water reuse
Water returns. The question is: in what condition?
A quaternary treatment stage added after conventional biological treatment, targeting pharmaceutical residues, hormones, pesticides, micropollutants, viruses and bacteria that can remain in the effluent. Built around adsorbent regeneration, operating cost and retrofit into the existing plant.
Prepared for the requirements of EU Directive 2024/3019 · The outflow is not the end. It is the beginning of another water cycle.
I · Wastewater is not waste
Wastewater is water at the end of one cycle — and potentially at the beginning of the next one.
Conventional treatment protects rivers and communities. Quaternary polishing protects the next use of the water.
The biological stage was designed for organic loading, suspended solids, nitrogen and phosphorus — not for residues in the ng/l to µg/l range. Modern water cycles also carry pharmaceutical residues, hormones, pesticides, metabolites, microplastics and microbial contamination that can pass through conventional treatment.
Water security
A new local water resource
Where water is scarce, treated effluent can become a controlled source for selected reuse applications after project-specific verification.
Existing infrastructure
Retrofit instead of rebuilding
The polishing module is added behind the existing plant and adapted to the real hydraulic and operating conditions.
II · Why this matters wherever water is reused
The substances are the same everywhere. The consequences are not.
Pharmaceutical residues, hormones and pesticides enter the water cycle in every country that has pharmacies, farms and households. Where water is scarce and treated effluent is returned to irrigation, aquifers or industry, whatever passes through the plant comes back into use.
AC MWW adds the stage that removes those substances — as a module behind the existing plant, without rebuilding the line.
01 / Water security
Effluent becomes a resource
Where fresh water is limited, the plant outflow is the most reliable local source available. Its quality decides whether it can be used for irrigation, industry or recharge — or only discharged.
02 / Independence
No reactivation infrastructure needed
Spent activated carbon normally has to be shipped to a reactivation furnace, often in another country. ART CARBON is regenerated at the plant, so the operation does not depend on foreign facilities or import logistics.
03 / Site constraints
Small footprint, no civil works
Contact time is measured in seconds rather than minutes, so the adsorption stage is far smaller than a conventional filter bed and fits onto existing sites as equipment, not construction.
04 / Direction of travel
The standard is being set now
Directive (EU) 2024/3019 requires additional treatment of micropollutants at larger municipal plants, with phased deadlines. Other regions increasingly benchmark reuse and discharge quality against similar criteria.
III · How AC MWW is built
Three layers. The middle one is optional — the technology adapts to the plant.
AC MWW is installed after the existing treatment line. The line is not rebuilt. During service the module runs in bypass and the plant keeps operating.
Layer A / Biology
Intensified biological stage
Selected probiotic cultures are dosed into the aeration tank. The organic load falls before the water reaches any filter, and no civil works are required. Sludge settling improves by 20–30 %, oxygen levels in aeration by 25–30 %, with less odour and less corrosion of equipment.
COD 45 → 15 mg/l before filtration
Layer B / Filtration
Optional stage
Ceramic ultrafiltration
A flat-sheet ceramic membrane with a pore size of about 0.1 µm holds back undissolved solids and most bacteria. The stage can be left out where the biological effluent is clean enough, or where a membrane system is already installed — which lowers the capital cost.
Pore size about 0.1 µm
Layer C / Adsorption
ART CARBON®
The stage that captures what the biology cannot: pharmaceutical residues, hormones, pesticides and other dissolved organic compounds, together with bacteria and viruses. Adsorption happens on the outer surface of the nanotubes rather than by diffusion into pores, so contact time is measured in seconds and the stage is far smaller than a conventional filter bed.
Contact time in seconds, not minutes
Layer C is delivered either as parallel columns — one in operation while the other regenerates, so the line never stops — or as slurry adsorption on a ceramic filter for higher and fluctuating flows.
IV · What the tests measured
Laboratory results from real municipal wastewater.
Column testing was carried out on a wastewater sample from the central treatment plant in Prague. The bacteria figures come from a separate remediation case and are shown for that reason. Full analytical protocols are provided to plant technologists during project assessment.
35 / 37
Pharmaceutical residues
Thirty-seven active pharmaceutical substances were identified in the sample. Thirty-five were completely removed after filtration; the other two were substantially reduced.
8 M → 0
Rotavirus A
Eight million virus particles per millilitre at the inlet, none detected at the outlet. Analysis: Institute of Virology, Masaryk University, Brno.
100 → 0
Bacteria in a flooded well
Remediation of a flooded well at a beverage producer: E. coli fell from 100 to 0 MPN/100 ml, coliform bacteria from 20,050 to 12 MPN/100 ml, and colony counts from over a million to roughly two thousand CFU/ml. Protocol: University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague, 2022.
45 → 1
COD across the full line
Chemical oxygen demand falls from 45 to 15 mg/l after the intensified biology, to 10 after ultrafiltration and to 1 mg/l after adsorption.
The COD figures come from a model balance of one tested configuration. The microbiological and pharmaceutical results relate to the referenced samples. Performance for a specific plant is confirmed by pilot testing on that plant's own water.
V · Operational concept
The objective is not another disposable filter. It is a controllable treatment stage that can be regenerated and monitored.
Designed for continuous operation and retrofit.
The final design defines hydraulics, bypass operation, regeneration, sampling points, monitoring, concentrate handling and the acceptance criteria for the specific plant. Supporting stages are selected according to the existing wastewater treatment line rather than imposed as a fixed catalogue package.
- 01 Parallel or bypass operation during service
- 02 Regeneration designed into the operating concept
- 03 Sampling and performance verification at defined points
- 04 Optional ceramic membrane according to effluent quality
- 05 Project-specific handling of regenerate and concentrate
- 06 Integration without rebuilding the biological plant
VI · What it costs to run
The adsorbent is not a consumable. It is regenerated on site and stays at the plant.
€ 0.12 / m³
Indicative direct operating cost per cubic metre of treated water, based on the AC MWW process balance: about 0.6 kWh/m³ of electricity (0.10 kWh/m³ ultrafiltration plus 0.50 kWh/m³ pumping) and roughly € 0.04/m³ for chemicals, regeneration, recycling, concentrate handling and adsorbent replacement. The energy share depends on the local tariff. Service, maintenance and operating labour are not included.
No hauling the adsorbent away. No reactivation furnace.
Granular activated carbon has to be transported off site and reactivated at 700–900 °C, which in many markets means shipping it abroad. ART CARBON is regenerated in place with a diluted ethanol-based solution. The regenerating solution is recycled through reverse osmosis; a small liquid concentrate is removed for disposal.
- 01 Regeneration on site — in the column, or after dewatering in the slurry configuration
- 02 32 regeneration cycles verified in laboratory and operational testing, including stress tests, with sorption capacity preserved
- 03 Electricity: 0.10 kWh/m³ for ultrafiltration, 0.50 kWh/m³ for pumping
- 04 No dependence on external reactivation facilities or import logistics
- 05 Regenerating solution recycled by reverse osmosis; small liquid concentrate removed for disposal
- 06 Without regeneration, service life is at least two years; beyond that the adsorbent is regenerated again or replaced
- 07 At end of life, the solid nanotube material can be dispersed and used as a concrete additive
Service life for a given water is established by the pilot. The regenerating agent, number of cycles and handling of the concentrate are defined project by project.
VII · Return or reuse
Polished wastewater can become a controlled local water resource.
The final use is always determined by local legislation, required water quality and project-specific verification.
Environmental return
Cleaner discharge
Reduced pharmaceutical, pesticide, organic and microbial burden before water returns to rivers or other receiving waters.
Non-potable reuse
Irrigation and technical water
Polished water may support irrigation, street cleaning, technical water systems and other locally defined applications.
Industrial water cycle
Process and utility water
Advanced treatment can create a controlled source for selected industrial, cooling or operational uses after project-specific verification.
VIII · From plant data to a defensible project
A disciplined pathway for advanced wastewater polishing.
The first step is to define the wastewater, existing process and required output — not to select a catalogue machine.
01 / Assess
Review the treatment plant
Flow, wastewater composition, current biological process, discharge conditions and intended reuse.
02 / Define
Configuration options
Design variants and their integration into the existing line, with outline CAPEX / OPEX and a schedule.
03 / Verify
Pilot and laboratory monitoring
Confirm the process architecture and the treatment performance under representative operating conditions.
04 / Integrate
Installation and handover
Engineering, installation, trial operation, monitoring and the agreed acceptance criteria.
The first two steps are offered as a non-binding assessment with no contractual commitment.
IX · Technical documentation
Explore the concept and request supporting evidence.
The technical document presents the quaternary polishing concept. Additional laboratory, pilot and operational documentation is available during project assessment.
BAC/GAC approach and ART CARBON®.
A focused comparison of the established BAC/GAC approach and ART CARBON®, including the different adsorption mechanism and operational implications.
- 01 Pharmaceutical and micropollutant analytical results
- 02 Microbiological and viral test protocols
- 03 Laboratory column testing and comparative material data
- 04 Regeneration, regenerate recycling and concentrate handling
- 05 Process-integration and operating documentation
- 06 Project-specific water-reuse assessment
X · Contacts / Get in Touch
Start with the wastewater and the required result. We will define the next treatment stage.
Send the available analyses, plant capacity, current process description, operating data, discharge requirements and intended use of the polished water.
Strategic consultation
Management
+420 777 321 846
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Technical applications
Technical Support
+420 777 919 877
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Commercial enquiries
Sales Department
+420 773 992 321
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International projects
Export / International Dept.
+420 730 330 353
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E-mail
info@aquananotech.eu
Operating hours
Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM (CET/CEST)
DANIEL-LM s.r.o., AquaTech North Bohemia Division
This page presents the technology. It is not design documentation and not a performance guarantee for any given wastewater.