Improving sustainability in hospital wastewater management a Danish case study

Transcription

1 Improving sustainability in hospital wastewater management a Danish case study Jakob Søholm Segment Director Grundfos BioBooster A/S Member of FSTA Denmark jasoeholm@grundfos.com

2 Agenda Why Hospital wastewater pose a risc Significant source of pollution How to do it On-site treatment What do you get out of it Economics Sustainability More benefits

3 Grundfos in brief Grundfos is a global leader in advanced pump solutions and a trendsetter in water technology. We contribute to global sustainability by pioneering technologies that improve quality of life for people and care for the planet. Turnover 3,441 mio EUR in ,776 Employees +55 countries HQ in Denmark

4 and Grundfos BioBooster a 100% subsidiary of Grundfos working with wastewater treatment solutions based on our own membrane technology. Developed a full solution for hospital wastewater treatment concept in a public private partnership with the Capital Region of Copenhagen from at the Herlev Hospital. AND NOW WE ARE READY TO BEGIN

5 The Herlev Hospital at a glance Biggest emergency hospital in Copenhagen Many specialities Research 949 beds 6,300 employees Local water stream Kagsåen WWTP

6 Hospital wastewater characterization Parameters Toxic and persistent antibiotics, painkillers and cytostatics Contrast media (e.g. iomeprol) Antibiotic resistant bacteria Raw untreated wastewater Factor exceeding of effect limits (PNEC Freshwater ) for water living organisms High concentration (2,5-7 mg/l) High occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria Norovirus High concentration (1.7x10 5 ) Eco-toxity: Fish fry (zebra fish) Eco-toxity: Crustacean (daphnies) Estrogenic activity (A-YES) 100 % mortality within 96 hours No offspring (all test animals died) Estrogen effects (Factor 7-10 exceeding inland water EQS)

7 Hospital wastewater pose a risc PNEC = Predictable No Effect Concentration (no negative impact on living organisms)

8 Hospitals in the capital region of Copenhagen (1,6 mio inhabitants) Discharges to Solrødgård WWTP Serving People New Northern Sealand Hospital Discharges to Lynetten WWTP Serving People Discharges to Avedøre Holme WWTP Serving People Discharges to Damhusåen WWTP Serving People

9 Hospitals can be significant sources of pollution Hospital New Northern Zealand No. of A: Highly B: Hazardous Sum of Antibiotics Classification beds hazardous pharmaceuticals pharmaceuticals exceedance of limit values contribution (excl. penicillins) as point source Minor (Major >100) [kg/yr] (Major >500) [kg/yr] (Major >20) [MC/GLV]* (Major > 20 ) [%] Medium Major NA 79 Major source Hvidovre Major source New Bispebjerg and Major source Rigshospitalet 1, , Major source New Herlev Major source * Measured Concentration / Guiding Limit Value for discharge to public sewer

10 The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant In operation since May 2014 Max capacity 650 m3/day Annual volume (2016) = m3 Building measures only 15x33 meters 2 tanks each ø 9 m x 6 m tall No odour or noise complaints since start-up

11 The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant 1. Screening 1.5 mm 2. Flow equalization and biological process 3. Membrane filtration_200 nm 4. Ozonation + Granular Active Carbon 5. Air treatment on all air emissions Complete solution Water treatment Safe and odour free air emissions Incineration of bio-sludge/screenings

12 The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant Some learnings Radioactivity Inlet pump blockings Membrane intactness and ozonation vital for GAC operations.

13 Excellent effluent water quality Parameter Raw untreated sewage Final outlet from plant Toxic and persistent antibiotics, painkillers and cytostatics Factor exceeding of effect limits for water living organisms X-ray contrast media (eg iomeprol) High concentration (2,5-7 mg/l) 99% removal Antibiotic resistant bacteria High level of multi-resistant bacteria No bacteria Ecotox effect - Fish fry (zebra fish) 100 % mortality within 96 hours 0 % mortality All below effect limits for water living organisms Ecotox effect - Crustaceans (daphnies) No offspring (all daphnies died) Survives like in clean water Hormone disrupting effects Estrogene effects No estrogene effects Effluent quality meets drinking water quality except for a few elements (Phosphorous, Chloride, Potassium, Natrium).

14 Economics Investment cost around 1 EUR/m 3 Around 4.5 mio EUR has been spent in building this plant. The Hospital depreciates the cost over 30 years. Around 4.5 mio m3 of wastewater will be treated during these 30 years Operation and maintenance around 2 EUR/m 3 In total for an on-site advanced WWTP around 3 EUR/m 3 Todays price for discharge to public sewer with conventional treatment 3.4 EUR/m 3 So better does not always equal more expensive 3 EUR = 4.85 AUD = 3.53 USD ( )

15 More sustainability 1 Water re-use Safe on drinking water resources by re-using the re-claimed water on-site Potential re-use purposes Cooling towers Technical water Irrigation and other recreational purposes The Herlev Hospital will re-use m 3 (10%) annually in their cooling towers.

16 More sustainability 2 Energy recovery Often a lot of energy is used for building heating and hot water production. Some of this heat is lost via the wastewater. Energy can be saved by recovering this heat. At the Herlev Hospital, the wastewater has an all year round temperature between C if used for heating water, the possible savings is around 1 EUR/m 3 of wastewater.

17 More sustainability 3 More life in local water streams Often discharging to a public WWTP means transporting the wastewater many kilometers for final discharge into a large marine recipient. This means less water and life in the small local fresh water streams. At the Herlev Hospital, the wastewater will be discharged to a small local water stream Kagsåen/Harrestrup Å which suffers from draught during the summer season

18 More benefits Reduce the number of carry-over infections. The wastewater can be used to determine and benchmark the state of health of the hospital in relation to antibiotic resistant bacteria. Herlev Hospital and DHI are running a project where they combine DNA analyzes from the wastewater and from inpatients to identify sources of resistant bacteria. They try to develop an early warning system for faster localization of the sources of infection in order to reduce the number of carry-over infections.

19 Closing comment On-site wastewater treatment often is considered not our responsibility but actually it will reduce risks for people and the environment, it may bring economical savings, it can improve sustainability of operations and it can bring potentially life saving information to the hospital. So why keep thinking like that..