Paques – Biopaq Clean Bottom Digester

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Paques – Biopaq Clean Bottom Digester

Leading the biotech revolution in wastewater and biogas

About the Company:

For over 30 years, Paques has helped industries to reduce water and carbon footprints and reclaim valuable resources. Paques’ anaerobic water purification systems produce energy (biogas) from wastewater, while purifying the water and facilitating water reuse. After the introduction of the first BIOPAQ® reactor in 1981 Paques developed a broad portfolio for integrated water and gas treatment in close cooperation with partners. All the solutions proved to be cost-effective and highly reliable. Leading companies from a variety of industries worldwide select Paques as their partner for meeting their purification and sustainability obligations.

In more than three decades, Paques became one of the leading players in water and gas treatment and currently Paques has offices and/or production facilities in the Netherlands, China, Brazil, the United States of America and India and a network of professional partners worldwide. Since 2021 Paques is fully owned by the SKion group.

About the Solution:

The innovative clean bottom digester BIOPAQ®CBD® effectively treats high-strength influent and high-solid effluent in an anaerobic bioreactor.

The BIOPAQ®CBD® is an anaerobic reactor operating at a low to medium loading rate employing flocculent biomass. It is capable of effectively treating high-strength influent (25-150 g/l COD and up to 100 g/L TSS) and is designed to handle heavy solids, such as sand, struvite and other inert material by continuously removing them from the process stream to eliminate detrimental accumulation within the reactor.

The advanced engineering of the CBD Reactor System virtually eliminates the occurrence of operational difficulties and process failures typically caused by poor mixing, dead zones and top layer scum buildup as frequently experienced in many conventional CSTR’s and similar anaerobic digesters. The utilization of the Bottom Scraper for heavy sludge removal, the efficient Influent/Biomass distribution through nozzles at the top of the reactor, along with the downflow of the biomass, operating as a plug flow reactor, results in the highest possible conversion efficiency of COD to valuable biogas.

Advantages:

  • No dead zones: no accumulation of heavy solids and precipitates
  • The plug flow regime results in lower fatty acid concentrations in effluent compared to completely mixed systems
  • No short-circuiting
  • No scum buildup
  • No mechanical mixers
  • Optimized mixing
  • Maintenance external to tank only
  • Simple operation
  • Compact footprint
  • Worldwide availability

  • Working principle of BIOPAQ®CBD®

    Wastewater (See image label 1) is together with recirculation water (6), pumped from the bottom to the top, evenly distributed across the top of the reactor. The water is pumped through nozzles oriented to break up any floating scum. The scraper collects heavy solids from the bottom of the reactor, moving them to a series of hoppers in tank floor, where they are pumped to the recirculation line (2). In certain applications where detrimental solids, such as sand, struvite and other inert solids are expected, a hydrocyclone (3) is employed to selectively remove these unwanted solids from the process stream.

    The treated final effluent (8) is discharged for further treatment and ultimate disposal. Biodegradable COD from the influent is converted by the anaerobic biomass to biogas, which leaves the reactor via the biogas pipe (7) at the top of the reactor and is delivered to the downstream biogas handling system.

    The design intention of the CBD is that all service functions are performed while the System is in operation and the interior of the reactor tank should not require access for at least 10-15 years of continuous operation.

    PAQUES 102 Stiles Rd, Suite 102 Salem, NH 03079 USA (781) 362-4636 Visit Company Website

    Solution Type

    • Anaerobic Digestion

    Vendor

    • Equipment Vendor

    Product

    • Concentrated Nutrients
    • Energy
    • Fiber

    Problem

    • GHG
    • Odor
    • Pathogens

    To view additional information about this vendor, click below.

    Solution Strengths, Weaknesses and Critical Indicators

    Anaerobic Digestion:

    • Long usable life and can be run reliably
    • Creates energy and generates environmental credits
    • Proper feeding & system monitoring is required to avoid system downtime
    • Proven technology for odor control
    • Proven technology for GHG reduction
    • Proven technology for pathogen reduction
    • Different types of systems produce varying gas production rates
    • Requires proper preparation of the feedstock
    • Requires other technologies for energy utilization
    • Requires other technologies for digestate handling
    • Requires other technologies to prevent nitrogen loss
    • Complex systems may require expertise not available on-farm

    Newtrient Comments/Opinions:

    The Paques CBD has recently been added to the Newtrient catalog. Newtrient will continue to work with Paques to further refine the cost and performance information on their solution. Newtrient will update this entry as more information becomes available and as new commercial dairy installations come online.

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