The EERC has conducted wastewater treatment research for a number of wastewaters, including those from municipal and industrial processes. Some of these processes have included anaerobic treatment. Specifically, the EERC has examined optimization of anaerobic treatment of sugar beet-processing wastewater, anaerobic treatment of water from the hydrothermal treatment of coal, and anaerobic treatment of water from oil and gas production.

Coal Conversion Wastewater

The EERC has conducted a number of studies related to the treatment of coal conversion wastewater. This includes examination of wastewaters from the gasification of coal, coal liquefaction, and hydrothermal treatment of coal.

The EERC has studied wastewaters from various coal gasification technologies, including Lurgi (Great Plains Synfuels Plant), British Lurgi (Scotland), KilnGas (East Alton, Illinois), Texaco, and the EERC fixed-bed slagging gasifier. In the mid-1980s, the EERC conducted treatment studies on these wastewaters, including solvent extraction, ammonia stripping, activated carbon treatment, activated sludge, cooling tower treatment, and many other chemical and physical processes.

Biological Treatment Systems

The EERC has conducted extensive research and demonstration of biological treatment systems. These processes have included bench- and pilot-scale treatment using activated sludge, powdered activated carbon treatment (PACT) activated sludge, fluidized-bed treatment, rotating biological contactors, aerobic filters, plug flow, pure oxygen bioreactors, and nitrification/denitrification systems. A major program conducted at the EERC in the early 1980s focused on an examination of the fate and effects of wastewater constituents associated with the proposed operations at the then-under-construction Great Plains Gasification Plant, now known as the Dakota Gasification Company Great Plains Synfuels Plant. These operations involved production and treatment of wastewater, both from the EERC gasifier and, later, from Great Plains, in a variety of pilot-scale treatment systems and, finally, a demonstration of the operation of a pilot-scale cooling tower with this wastewater. In addition to this program, the EERC constructed and operated a pilot-scale PACT system at the Great Plains facility.