A3 Water Solutions supplies highly efficient sewage installation to Mali − further mobile membrane sewage units for the Dutch UN contingent

A3 Water Solutions GmbH, specialist in water purification and a subsidiary of EnviTec Biogas AG, has supplied a mobile wastewater purification unit to the Dutch contingent of the UN mission in Mali.

Dutch soldiers and helicopters are in the Mali town of Gao as part of the MINUSMA UN mission. The airport there serves as the Dutch base and already accommodates UN soldiers from many parts of the world.

The soldiers in the Dutch camp will be using A3’s latest technology to treat their wastewater. A number of identical A3 sewage plants are used by both the German and Norwegian armies in their camps in Afghanistan. The Dutch army already has extensive experience using this highly efficient process − a similar wastewater treatment installation has already been used successfully in Tarin Kowt camp in Afghanistan for approximately 300 soldiers. The technology‘s simple operation and excellent treatment results convinced A3’s clients to use the same technology in Mali.

The mobile unit consists of a 20-foot standard container which allows it to be transported easily worldwide. The plant is also constructed as a turn-key design so that it can be made operational or decommissioned at short notice, thereby offering the required flexibility.

Sewage, kitchen and laundry wastewater is purified in the module using the membrane process, producing filtered water which is clean enough either to be reused as process water, introduced into public waters or which can simply be allowed to seep away.

The membrane recycling process itself is based on biological wastewater purification processes in which the biomass breaks down the dissolved matter in the water under the application of oxygen. The water is sucked through filtration membranes under low pressure. Solids, fine suspended matter and even bacteria remain in the reservoir. The clean water is then directed to an extraction chamber by filtration pump for reuse.

In addition, air is bubbled over the length of the membranes to clean the membrane surfaces through air scour. This also oxygenates the aerobic bacteria which are responsible for the breakdown of carbon, and prevents the deposition of the activated sludge.