Aqualoop
Recycle and save up to 70% of your water consumption.
AQUALOOP is the culmination of a number of years research and development by INTEWA GmbH into the most effective way of treating source water of varying degrees of contamination to such a level that the water is clean enough to be stored and safely used back within the building again for a second time.
The result is AQUALOOP a scalable system comprising a three stage natural treatment process capable of treating varying levels of contamination at varying levels of daily volumes – from 300 litres to 60000 litres per day.
AQUALOOP’s design and operation is regarded as so ground-breaking that its further development has been co-funded by the European Commission’s Eco-Innovation initiative.
Our GW300 (the residential system) is designed as a scable treatment unit specifically for residential homes for up to 6 people, with a daily greywater production (bath, showers and basins) of around 300 litres.
Tank 1 (bioreactor) contains the pre-filter, biological growth media, areation and an ultra-fine filtration membrane(s).
Daily household greywater volumes are treated within 24 hours and transferred into Tank 2 (clear water tank) for safe storage and re-use.
The quality of AQUALOOP treated water fulfills most criteria of the European Bathing Water regulations. This is a standard regulating European outdoor water resources such as lakes, dams, rivers & public swimming areas. The water must be biologically free from 99.9% of viruses and bacteria and other biological contaminants that may harm humans.
We DO NOT recommend that this water be used for any POTABLE use (without further treatment protocols) but it can be SAFELY stored and used back inside the house for toilet flushing and laundry washing & outside for high pressure irrigation systems, pool top-up, car washing etc.
Aqualoop systems can be scaled to treat up to 100,000 litres (100m3) per day.
System components & basic concept
Bioreactor & Clear Water Tanks
Aqualoop 300 utilises locally specified bioreactor & clear water tanks.
For processing volumes of greywater larger than 300l/day larger local tanks are sourced to keep system costs down. All AAqquuaalloooopp components are easily integrated into these larger tanks, dimensioned based on the daily processing volume requirement.
Pre-Filter
Aqualoop pre-filtering ensures heavy items of biological load, such as hair and skin, are taken out of the greywater prior to the treatment process. This ensures the greatest biological load factors are eliminated making the cleansing process easier and more effective. The filter features a customer self-cleaning basket which should be looked at, and emptied, once every 2-3 months.
Growth Media
Hundreds of small plastic shapes, known as “growth media”, are poured into the biorector. Just as in the human body, greywater comprises both “good” & “bad” bacteria. Good bacteria flourish quickly on the growth media and within 4 weeks of system start-up the media turn brown indicating good colony numbers.
Within 12 hours, these “good” bacteria consume the bad bacteria from the days greywater input. As simple as they are (just small plastic shapes) the growth media represent a very important part of the greywater biological degradation treatment process.
Membrane Station, System Controller & Blower
The Aqualoop membrane station is mounted within the bioreactor tank. This membrane station is designed to hold up to six membranes. A suction pump, back-flush pump, back-flush tank and blower connection are all integrated here. Multiple membrane stations can be used in parallel for even higher water volume requirements.
A fully automated system controller runs the system operating membrane backflushes, monitoring the integrated pumps and the blower.
The blower simultaneously fulfils the jobs of automated membrane cleaning and the supply of air to aid “good bacteria” growth within the bioreactor.
Ultra-fine filtration membranes
Aqualoop patented ultra-fine filtration membranes (MBR) are the core of the water treatment process. The membranes special hollow fibres (at 0,02 μm) are designed to effectively filter and trap over 99.9% of bacteria and viruses.
Aqualoop’s modular design supports the full functioning of the membranes ensuring regular automated back-flushing and aeration of the hollow fibres. This allows for a long service membrane life of up to 10 years* with only minimal maintenance (* based on treating greywater of 200mg/l BOD – this may be longer when used to treat less contaminated water).
Aqualoop can improve the treated water to exceed European Bathing Regulations (safe swimming quality of lakes, rivers, swimming pools in Europe) quality without chemical additives such as chlorine or ozone.
System service maintenance intervals vary based on the level of source water contamination. Greywater system service intervals are recommended every 6 months whereas surface, river or lake water treatment system service intervals may be every 12 or 24 months.
Larger systems are now fitted with membrane dosing equipment, which slows the fouling of the membrane fibres, increasing the flow rate and making the systems more efficient.
These factors are determined and taken care of by your system installer.
Aqualoop Tested Water Quality
AQUALOOP complies with:
- BS 8525-1:2010, UK
- BS 8525-2:2011 British Standard for greywater treatment
- NSF/ANSI 350 US Standard for Commercial greywater treatment
- WHO / EU Bathing Water Directive
- NSW Health Department, Australia 2005
- H201 for grey water systems
- DIN 19650 quality requirements for irrigation water
NB: To precisely grade the level of source water contamination a water sample needs to be tested.