Last 15th December, AENA selected the joint venture composed of MP Environment and CYES for the Construction of the new wastewater treatment plant at Valencia Airport. The contract is for approximately two million, three hundreds thousand euros and is scheduled for completion within nine months.

Valencia airport is now equipped with two wastewater treatment plants; the first being in disuse and a military property, the second is civil and in operation. However, the capacity of the second one provides very inadequate treatment for the discharge that is currently generated. It appears even more insufficient according to the forecast for 2020, due to the considerable expected growth of passenger volume attributable to the expansions planned for the airport installations.

In order to fulfil the treatment needs, a treatment plant with a capacity of 1200m3/day has been designed. This capacity is deemed adequate to treat the discharge generated by the number of passengers estimated for 2020.

That the airport has adequate wastewater treatment is made essential by the amount of discharge produced by passengers, visitors, shops, etc. In addition, there is also discharge from the old military installations and from rain water; in both cases it is impossible to quantify the amounts. In order to fulfil the treatment needs, a treatment plant with a capacity of 1200m3/day has been designed. This capacity is deemed adequate to treat the discharge generated by the number of passengers estimated for 2020.

The plant is equipped with a modular MBR (Membrane Biological Reactor) clarifying system. Each module has a capacity of 1 quarter of the overall: 300m3 /day for each water treatment line. This system, made of individual units, is set up to use only the number of modules required by the volume of discharge generated on a given day; the rest of the modules, as well as the electro-mechanical equipment connected to them, can therefore remain in energy saving standby mode. They work in proportion to the discharge produced, thus allowing for energy saving and a reduction of mechanical wear.

In addition, in order to reuse the treated water, the project includes the construction of a storage tank with a capacity of 350m3 that, together with an existing tank of 250m3 capacity, guarantees the irrigation of the current and planned landscaped surroundings of the airport. The surplus treated water is then discharged into the collector of Manises, through the drainage collector of the existing civil treatment plant.

The process can be summarized as follows:

Water line

• A pre-treatment plant pumping of the various discharges to cause them to converge at the same plant.
• Pumping from the well where discharge generated by the airport and leisure zone of military installations is stored, (along with an unquantifiable amount rain water) to the distribution drum located in the plant enclosure.
• Distribution well-sink and pumping of discharge to the treatment plant, equipped with overflow system Waste products to the drain collector connecting to the mains connector.
• Water is pumped from the well to storage tanks for irrigation.

Pre-treatment

• Compact pre-treatment equipment composed of the following: grinding screen, with a 3 mm. span between bars; transport system, sand washing and removal of grease by air injection; extraction and tank pumping for grease removal.
• Fine screening
• Pumping of 385 m3 homogenisation deposit. The deposit will be equipped with cover to avoid odour nuisance and entrance of solids which could provoke failures in the treatment plant. The deposit is equipped with an aeration and agitation system.
• Pumping of homogenisation deposit with an aerobic reactor. Reactor’s power supplied by centrifugal bedplate mounted pumps.

Biological Treatment

• Biological Aerobic Reactor of approximately 715 m3, provided with heavy-duty aeration system of oxygen transfer; equipped with a 220m3 anoxia tank to carry out the denitrification process. Both reactors (Aerobic and Anoxic) will be equipped with cover to avoid odour nuisance and entrance of solids which could provoke failures on the treatment plant.
• MBR clarifying system by ultrafiltration, membranes filtering into an independent tank; necessary pumping, valves, pipes and stages included.
• Pumping of treated water to the airport storage tank and to the new tank with a capacity of 350 m3.

Sludge line

• Sludge conditioning by polyelectrolyte system.
• Dehydration of the sludge produced during the biological treatment by centrifugal decantator.

Deodorization system

• All the elements of the treatment line are located in an industrial building equipped with air an treatment system.

By this new implementation, MP Engineering and Environmental Services Area expands its flagship projects in the field water recycling, we strengthen our position within such a major sector as that of  infrastructure and by using the MBR technology, we are able to minimize the environmental impact. Since this technology is capable of fitting into space restricted environments it makes integration into pre-existing structures easy while also lending itself to sealing in the noise pollution produced by such a building.  All these elements determined that it was to be MP, endowed with this special technology of wastewater treatment and regeneration for irrigation, who was to be awarded the contract for the project.

Antonio González Fadrique
Industrial Area Manager