Foz do Brasil, environmental engineering company from Odebrecht Group, invests in and operates the sewer system of the municipality of Blumenau (SC).

Due to the extensive urban area already built and high topography (factor that hinders the collection and transportation of sewage), installation of Sewage Treatment Stations (STPs or ETEs) has, as the principal obstacle, the available area. Thus, it is essential the adoption of treatment technologies that have high efficiency (allowing the discharge of treated sewage within the standards of the law) and limited area of ​​implementation.

Besides this, the technology to be adopted should also consider the cost of sludge disposal, which is an important part of the cost of operating a treatment system. This challenge has been imposed on H2O Engenharia Ltda. who was hired to develop the technological design of WWTP´s Garcia, Fortaleza e Itoupava, that will compose the sewage system to the city of Blumenau (SC) and should operate in an integrated manner.

WWTP Garcia, which will serve a total of 66,600 inhabitants, will use as a treatment technology an anaerobic upflow system followed by an aerobic system Biodisk type, which is the use of rotating disks of large diameter, responsible for mixing and aeration of sewage. The sludge generated at the plant will be thickened and dewatered, thus facilitating the disposal thereof.

WWTP Fortaleza, which will serve a total of 260,000 inhabitants (divided into 4 modules of 65,000 people), will use, as a treatment technology, a Conventional Activated Sludge system followed by an Anaerobic Digestion Sludge, providing high-quality treated sewage and digested sludge, which after thickened and dewatered, can be easily disposed.

 As both stations are located close to major population centers, we sought to minimize the generation of odors in view the welfare of citizens.

Thus, H2O Engenharia Ltda. sought to market a system to burn the gases generated in the Anaerobic Digester and a system for purification of odors generated in the WWTP, introducing to Foz do Brasil the solutions and providing support at the time of deployment of technology.

Always in search of technological innovations, H2O Engenharia Ltda. presented to Foz do Brasil a solution that can be used for the treatment of sludge generated in WWTP Itoupava, since the available area for this WWTP is quite small. Through the application of ultrasound, we intend to send the sludge generated in WWTP Itoupava to be digested in the Anaerobic Digester of WWTP Fortaleza, through a sludge pipeline. The use of ultrasound will allow that the same digester is used for treatment of sludge generated from two stations, reducing the cost of implementation and operation of the units.