MUNICIPAL / PLANT PERFORMANCE
Biological Treatment Optimization for Wastewater Plants Running at Their Limit
Waste Water Innovations (WWI) improves biological treatment at a wastewater plant by giving the bacteria already working in its basins the oxygen they are currently missing, so they remove more biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) without a new tank or a bigger blower. DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries that oxygen to the bacteria, in aerobic and anaerobic zones alike, with no added bacteria, no enzymes and no chemical additives. We build the program from your own operating data, dose it monthly, and test water quality so BOD and COD tell you whether it worked.
Your plant already has the bacteria. They are short on oxygen, not numbers.
- Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) measures the oxygen bacteria need to break down organic material in wastewater, and it is the number most treatment permits limit directly.
- Chemical oxygen demand (COD) measures the oxygen demand of the organic material in wastewater, including material the 5-day BOD test does not fully capture, and is typically tracked alongside BOD.
- Water dissolves only a small amount of oxygen no matter how hard it is aerated, so aeration blowers reach a physical ceiling on the dissolved oxygen they can add.
- DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already present in a wastewater system, with no bacteria or enzymes added.
- When usable oxygen is available, native bacteria respire with it instead of reducing sulfate for energy, and it is that sulfate reduction that produces the sulfide behind hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
- Aerobic bacteria multiply and digest grease and organic solids faster when they have a reliable supply of oxygen.
- Wastewater dosed as far upstream as possible arrives at a treatment plant with lower BOD, less grease and smaller solids, which lightens the load the plant's own basins have to process.
BOD and COD are what your permit is built around
Biochemical oxygen demand, BOD, measures how much oxygen the bacteria in your basins need to break down the organic material in your wastewater, and it is the number most permits limit directly. Chemical oxygen demand, COD, measures that same organic load plus material that is not biodegradable, and it usually moves alongside BOD in your reports. Both numbers come down when the bacteria doing the work have enough oxygen. Aeration is the usual answer, and it has a limit: water can dissolve only a small amount of oxygen no matter how hard you push air through it, so a blower running harder eventually stops moving the numbers. DRP Accelerator gives the bacteria already in your basins a second source of usable oxygen, one that reaches sludge blankets and anaerobic pockets aeration never gets to, with no chemical additives.
What DRP Accelerator does inside a treatment plant
DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries oxygen in a form your native bacteria can use right away. We add no bacteria and no enzymes. The workforce is already in your basins, and BOD and COD removal is the job it already does. When those bacteria have oxygen available, they respire with it instead of reducing sulfate for energy, so sulfide, and the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas it becomes, is not formed in the sludge blankets and anaerobic zones the way it otherwise would be. With oxygen supplied, the aerobic bacteria, the fast ones, multiply and work through grease and settled organic solids faster. It works in aerobic basins and anaerobic zones alike, so it is not competing with your aeration system. It is extending what that system can reach.
We build the program from your operating data
You send us influent and effluent data, flow records and aeration run times, and that baseline sets the program rather than a generic dose off a chart. We determine flow rate and volume and calculate the dose and frequency your basins need, then walk the site to choose the delivery point. The product arrives dry. We mix and activate it in a tank on site, and it drips into the flow continuously. We monitor the tank remotely and come back to replenish it on a schedule set by its size. There is no capital purchase and nothing new for your operators to learn. It is priced monthly, for as long as you want the result, and water quality testing runs alongside so BOD and COD tell you whether it worked.
Dosed upstream, the load reaching your plant gets lighter
The earlier in the flow DRP Accelerator is dosed, the more of the work happens before wastewater ever reaches your headworks. We call that upstream approach AerobicShift: dosed as far up the collection system as we can reach water and power, a lift station or a wash-down line, the accelerator travels with the flow, and bacteria along the way start breaking down BOD, grease and solids in the pipe itself. What arrives at your plant carries less of all three, so your basins are working a lighter load inside the same footprint. The [AerobicShift page](/technology/aerobic-shift/) covers the full mechanism.
What we promise, and what we do not
We will say this plainly. Permit compliance is your facility's responsibility, and no dosing program changes that. What we design for is BOD and COD removal, using the oxygen your native bacteria are currently missing. We start from your own operating data, calculate a dose and frequency, and measure the result against your own baseline rather than someone else's numbers. If BOD and COD move, you have a record built from your own instruments to take to your board. If they do not, that same record shows it, and we would rather you know.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Straight answers.
What does biological treatment optimization mean for a municipal wastewater plant?+
Biological treatment optimization means giving the bacteria that already live in a treatment plant's basins more of the oxygen they need to break down BOD and COD, so the plant removes more organic load without adding tanks or blowers.
Why do BOD and COD numbers stall even in a well-run plant?+
BOD and COD numbers stall when the bacteria doing the work run short of oxygen, and aeration alone has a ceiling because water can dissolve only a small amount of oxygen no matter how hard it is aerated.
Does DRP Accelerator add bacteria or enzymes to a treatment plant?+
No. DRP Accelerator is an inorganic compound that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already present in a treatment plant. No bacteria or enzymes are added, and it works in both the aerobic basins and the anaerobic zones of the plant.
Can pretreating wastewater upstream reduce the load a treatment plant has to process?+
Yes. Dosing wastewater as far upstream as possible, an approach we call AerobicShift, lowers BOD, grease and solids before the flow reaches the plant, which lightens the load the plant's own basins have to process.
Who is responsible for permit compliance when a plant uses this program?+
The treatment facility is. A biological dosing program is designed to support BOD and COD removal and is measured against the plant's own baseline. It does not take over the facility's responsibility for meeting its permit.