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ublic concern over the environmenthas caused sweeping legislativechanges in O ntario recently. Th ereis now greater awareness of air pol-

lution. Many are concerned about thegeneration, transportation and disposalof hazardous waste. And by now, everyperson in the province has thought abouthis or her drinking water.

Stringent regulations and standardschallenge industry to come u p with n ewsolutions to reducing pollution and clean-ing up p rob lems f rom the pas t . T hechanges in environment al legislation have

helped fuel technological advancementsthat protect the environment and providehealth benefits.

The water we drink

The events in Walkerton in May 2000made all Canadians realize how essentialclean water is. Seven people died andthousands fell ill because of the contam-ination. M any people took drinking waterfor granted before the t ragic incidentcaused by the deadly E. coli bacteria. Inresponse, the Ontario government movedswiftly to ensure that a similar situation

would not occur again. It ordered theinspection of over 600 drinking watertreatment plants and promulgated theDrinking Water Regulation that specifiesthe requirements for treating and t estingdrinking water.

A key aspect of safe drinking water isthe treatment of wastewater. One com-pany specializing in biotreatment of waste-water is Concord-based CMS Group Inc.Since beginning operations in 1974, CMShas been involved in t he design, devel-opment and manufacture of RotatingBiological Contactors (RBCs) and has

registered several patents for these andother waste treatment systems. China,Israel, and Jamaica are among the manycountries where these bioreactors areworking successfully.

Closer to home is the leachate treat-ment facility at Mississaugas Britannialandfill, points out Audrius Vaidila, P.Eng.,vice president, special projects, for CMS.Leachate is produced when groundwateror rainwater pass through refuse. Thewater that passes through can absorb con-taminants, so allowing the leachate toenter the water table is unacceptable.

An RBC is a biological treatment sys-tem that comprises a series of discs ormedia blocks mounted on a shaft, whichis driven so that the media rotates at rightangles to the flow of wastewater. Th e discsare normally made of plastic and are con-tained in a trough or tank so that about40 per cent of th eir area is imm ersed. Thebiological growth that becomes attachedto the m edia assimilates the organic mate-rial in the wastewater. Aeration is pro-vided by the rotating action, which expos-es the media to the air after contactingthem with the wastewater.

Its in the airRecognizing the serious health concernsassociated with air pollution, the Ontariogovernment is moving forward with a num-ber of air initiatives. On May 1, 2000, itimplemented a regulation requiring theelectricity sector to monitor and report on28 air pollutants. The plan is to expandthe regulation to require other industrialsectors in Ontario to monitor and reporton air pollutant s, including greenhousegases. Once in place, the governmentbelieves this system will provide incen-

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b y J o h n N i c h o l s o n , P . E n g . , a n d J a m e s S b r o l l a

P

Tough new legislation, technological

advancements in bioremediation, and

Ont ario engineers repair the environment.Cleaning up

with biotech

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tives for generators to reduce their emis-sions above regulated limits.

In March 2001, the Ontario govern-men t proposed strict emission limits for theelectricity sector. It also proposed that th eLakeview Generating Station in Mississaugacease burning coal by April 2005. At thesame time, Q ueens Park announ ced it is

updating or developing 145 air standardsin th e first major overhaul of environmen-tal standards in more than 20 years. Thegovernment announ ced that it would imple-ment a new provincial guideline for com-mercial and industrial boilers and heatersas well, which would impose limits on nitro-gen oxides (NO x) emissions by large boil-ers and heaters.

Meeting the new air pollution controlsmay prove difficult for some indu stries. Butthe use of biotechnology could make thingseasier. Biofilters can remove contaminants

from the air without t ransferring the prob-lem to water or soil.Biofiltration uses naturally occurring

microorganisms to biologically break downsuch organically based air pollut ants as sol-vents and volatile organic compounds

(VO Cs). Th e byproducts of biofiltrationare carbon dioxide and water. T he processis comp letely natural and does not employchemicals or prod uce waste. Foun ded in1991 by former U niversity of Waterloo

research engineers, G uelph-based BioremTechnologies Inc. is one company that tack-les air pollution problems by utilizing suchbiotechnology.

Derek Webb, P.Eng., operations man-ager, feels biotechnologically based solution sto environmental problems are the way of thefuture. O ur challenge is to harness the nat-ural forces of nature to work at cleaning upindustrial air streams, he says. Some peo-ple mistakenly think that the microorganismsare genetically altered, but they are, in fact,naturally occurring. We just engineer con-

ditions that allow them to grow and prosper.T hey do the rest by eating the contaminantsfrom the air and sendng water vapor andcarbon dioxide up the stack.

Biofiltration is a relatively new pollutioncontrol technology that treats organic gaseslike volatile organic compou nds or hydro-carbons or inorganic air toxins such asammonia or hydrogen sulfide. The basiccompon ent o f the biofilter is the filter bedand a piping system that forces the gas topass through the biofilter. A typical biofil-ter comprises one or more beds that are usu-

ally about on e metre in height.

When waste is a hazard

In N ovember 2000, Q ueens Park passedthe t oughest hazardous waste regulation inth e provinces history. T he ch anges to

O ntarios Waste ManagementG eneral Reg-ulation (Reg. 347) aimed to strengthen andmodernize the rules governing hazardouswaste management and to protect the air,water and land. T hey took effect on M arch

31, 2001.The new regulation requires the use of

the Toxicity Characteristic Leachate Protocol(TCLP) to determine if a waste is hazardous.This procedure is more advanced than theleach test now being used in Ontario. Theregulation also introduces a new derivedfrom rule stating that any listed hazardouswaste will keep this classification until itcan be clearly demonstrated that it is nolonger hazardous.

Petrozyme Techn ologies Inc. developsand supports inn ovative biological process-

es to treat petroleum industry sludge andoily wastes. W illiam M ullin, P.En g., saystreatment is on-site so that hazardous wastedoes not need to be transported. The wasteis rendered n on-hazardous th rough bio-logical degradation with the byproductsbeing carbon d ioxide and water.

The companys process uses a bioreac-tor that enables indigenous bacterial pop-ulations to efficiently consume waste hydro-carbons in a b atch p rocess. T he aeratedbioreactor is supplied with a proprietarynut rient blend and bacterial culture. Reactor

design and process operating conditionspromote growth of highly active popula-tions of bacteria that rapidly degrade thehydrocarbon sludge to water and carbondioxide. Typical oil concentration inpu t tothe reactor is in the 10 to 30 per cent range.

Our technology is exported to theUn ited States and Venezuela. Wh en bid-ding t hese projects, we were competingagainst some tough international players.It feels good to know that our technologyis competitive and at the same time that weare cleaning up the environment through-out the world, says Mullin.

Protect ion of the environm ent h asbecome a priority for all engineers, regard-less of their area of practice or th eir area ofexpertise. Bioremediation offers a solution tosolve some of the challenges associated withcleaning our air, water and hazardous waste.As these three examples illustrate, engineersand technologies from O ntario are reshap-ing the way that environm ental challengesare being dealt with, here, and abroad. x

John Nicholson, P.Eng., is an environ-mental engineer, and James Sbrolla is a

management consultant based in Toronto.

No conta mina tion: A Rotating Biological Cont actor built by CM S Group Inc. can

help protect the w ater table .

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