#IFHEcongress2018
Jakob SøholmSegment DirectorGrundfos BioBooster A/SMember of FSTA [email protected]
Improving sustainability in hospital wastewater management – a Danish case study
#IFHEcongress2018
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
Agenda
#IFHEcongress2018
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 201718,776 Employees+55 countries
HQ in Denmark
Grundfos in brief
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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 2012 – 2016 at the Herlev Hospital.
…AND NOW WE ARE READY TO BEGIN
…and Grundfos BioBooster
#IFHEcongress2018
The Herlev Hospital at a glance
Local water stream Kagsåen
• Biggest emergency hospital in Copenhagen
• Many specialities• Research• 949 beds• 6,300 employees
WWTP
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Hospital wastewater characterizationParameters Raw untreated wastewater
Toxic and persistent antibiotics, painkillers and cytostatics
Factor 10-300 exceeding of effect limits (PNECFreshwater) for water living organisms
Contrast media (e.g. iomeprol) High concentration (2,5-7 mg/l)
Antibiotic resistant bacteria High occurrence of antibiotic resistant bacteria
Norovirus High concentration (1.7x105)
Eco-toxity: Fish fry (zebra fish) 100 % mortality within 96 hours
Eco-toxity: Crustacean (daphnies) No offspring (all test animals died)
Estrogenic activity (A-YES) Estrogen effects (Factor 7-10 exceeding inland water EQS)
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Hospital wastewater pose a risc
PNEC = Predictable No Effect Concentration (no negative impact on living organisms)
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Hospitals in the capital region of Copenhagen (1,6 mio inhabitants)
Discharges to Lynetten WWTPServing 750.000 People
Discharges to Avedøre Holme WWTPServing 275.000 People
Discharges to Damhusåen WWTPServing 350.000 People
New Northern Sealand HospitalDischarges to Solrødgård WWTPServing 100.000 People
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Hospitals can be significant sources of pollutionHospital No. of
bedsA: Highly
hazardous pharmaceuticals
(Major >100)[kg/yr]
B: Hazardous pharmaceuticals
(Major >500)[kg/yr]
Sum of exceedance of
limit values (Major >20)[MC/GLV]*
Antibiotics contribution
(excl. penicillins) (Major > 20 )
[%]
Classification as point source
MinorMedium
MajorNew Northern Zealand
670 130 989 NA 79 Major source
Hvidovre 800 111 818 25 27 Major source
New Bispebjerg 860 108 708 48 and 172 8 Major source
Rigshospitalet 1,100 436 1,381 105 28 Major source
New Herlev 950 181 700 104 18 Major source
* Measured Concentration / Guiding Limit Value for discharge to public sewer
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In operation since May 2014
• Max capacity 650 m3/day • Annual volume (2016) = 142.000 m3
• Building measures only 15x33 meters• 2 tanks each ø 9 m x 6 m tall
• No odour or noise complaints since start-up
The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant
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1. Screening 1.5 mm2. Flow equalization and biological process3. Membrane filtration_200 nm4. Ozonation + Granular Active Carbon5. Air treatment on all air emissions
Complete solution•Water treatment•Safe and odour free air emissions•Incineration of bio-sludge/screenings
The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant
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Some learnings
• Radioactivity• Inlet pump blockings• Membrane intactness and ozonation vital for
GAC operations.
The Herlev Hospital wastewater treatment plant
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Excellent effluent water quality
Effluent quality meets drinking water quality except for a few elements (Phosphorous, Chloride, Potassium, Natrium).
Parameter Raw untreated sewage Final outlet from plant
Toxic and persistent antibiotics, painkillers and cytostatics
Factor 10-300 exceeding of effect limits for water living organisms
All below 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
Ecotox effect - Crustaceans (daphnies) No offspring (all daphnies died) Survives like in clean water
Hormone disrupting effects Estrogene effects No estrogene effects
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Investment cost around 1 EUR/m3
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 yearsOperation and maintenance around 2 EUR/m3
In total for an on-site advanced WWTP around 3 EUR/m3
Todays price for discharge to public sewer with conventional treatment 3.4 EUR/m3
So better does not always equal more expensive☺3 EUR = 4.85 AUD = 3.53 USD (24.09.2018)
Economics
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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 15.000 m3 (10%) annually in their cooling towers.
More sustainability 1
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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 16-25°C – if used for heating water, the possible savings is around 1 EUR/m3 of wastewater.
More sustainability 2
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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
More sustainability 3
#IFHEcongress2018
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.
More benefits
#IFHEcongress2018
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…..
Closing comment