A South American paper mill experienced regular upsets in 1992, at their 7,000 M3/day (1.8 MGD) flow waste water treatment plant. Primary settling in this facility typically removed 50 - 75% of the raw COD, resulting in an average of 1,411 kg/day (3111 lb/day) COD and 283 kg/day (635 lb/day) TSS, however frequent violations of the daily maximum effluent load occurred in response to a highly variable influent.

A USA consultant advised the plant manager to try microbial augmentation using live culture formulas from Interbio, but after this trial failed to stabilize their effluent and provide buffering capacity to recover from shocks, the plant manager attended a local aquaculture trade show with a shrimp-farming client of Alken Clear-Flo 1200. Stopping by the Alken-Murray booth, the plant manager discussed his problems and the failure of the Interbio treatment trial with Mr. Jon Luce, Marketing Director of Alken-Murray Corporation, at that time. The plant manager completed an Alken-Murray waste water Diagnostic Form and faxed it to Alken-Murray's New York research laboratory. Mr. Albert Waltien, VP Technical, discussed this situation with the head research microbiologist at the time.They advised the client to send a 1 gallon sample of their primary effluent waste water, packed in an ice chest with cold packs to keep the sample cold in transit, shipped via Federal Express International, so that the waste water would maintain parameters as close to plant conditions as possible.

An Alken-Murray laboratory technician performed the Alken-Murray WWT bench test procedure, comparing Alken Clear-Flo 7005, Alken Clear-Flo 7008 and a discontinued formula named Alken Clear-Flo 7026* alone and blends of two or three, in various proportions, all supplemented with Alken Bio-Nutrient 3 to balance the high carbon level in paper mill effluent.  This bench test study demonstrated significantly superior results from the flask treated with Alken Clear-Flo 7005 and Alken Bio-Nutrient 3, so this was the treatment prescribed to the paper mill by Mr. Luce.

 After the infamous 9/11, it is no longer possible to ship polluted waste water or soil samples to the USA, so Alken-Murray now sends a written protocol for the most appropriate proprietary bench scale analysis procedure, along with a 1 oz. sample of whichever formulas or blends Alken-Murray President, Valerie Anne Edwards, decides are most likely to deliver the desired results. The Alken-Murray proprietary bench test protocols have proven to correlate an average of 98.5% with field results. All fully authorized Alken-Murray distributors, posted to the Alken-Murray website distributor lists, have their own laboratories and can perform the Alken-Murray bench scale analysis procedures to determine the optimum treatment, whether a single product or a blend or two or more products are selected, before the potential client buys any treatment. If a potential client does not have access to a laboratory to perform diagnostic tests or requires assistance completing the Diagnostic Forms, or designing a better plant,Alken-Murray authorized distributors are ready to assist. Distributors often sell various types of equipment, from aerators and test kits to filtration systems, in addition to Alken-Murray microbial, polymer, demulsifier, or fuel treatment products.

The following results were the goals of administering the Alken-Murray treatment:

1. to reduce the average final effluent COD to less than 1,000 kg/day (2200 lb/day) with a maximum of 1200 kg/day (2650 lb/day)
2. to reduce the average TSS to less than 200 kg/day (400 lb/day) with a maximum of 300 kg/day (600 lb/day)
3. improve buffering capacity of biomass to more rapidly recover from shocks

Dosage for this South American paper mill began November 15th, 1992, utilizing an on-site, locally manufactured bioreactor to continuously seed the aeration basin mixed liquor with high concentrations of actively growing, selectively adapted bacteria and reduce the quantity of microbial cultures required to achieve results. The bioreactor was dosed with 10 kg/day of Alken Clear-Flo 7005 for three days, then cut to 5 kg/day for five days. Treatment continued with 1.5 kg/day thereafter. Influent waste water to the aeration basin was monitored for nitrogen, ortho-phosphate and dissolved oxygen uptake rates (DOUR). Retention time was adjusted by adjusting the DOUR, to assure that the highest rate of uptake was maintained.

The table below documents the averages, standard deviations and variances of the primary and final effluent COD loads and effluent TSS load before and during treatment. Please note that significant reductions in final effluent COD and TSS were obtained despite a strong increase in primary effluent variability, as measured by the standard deviation and variance of the COD during the 90 day review period. The increases were caused by two shocks, in which the load to the biomass exceeded 18,143 to 22,680 kg/day (40,000 to 50,000 lb/day. The absence of an accompanying increase to effluent variability demonstrates typical buffering capacity to absorb shock loads, when an ideal biomass is seeded to an industrial waste water treatment system