How clean is the cleaned sewage water?
The water from a BioKube is always cleaned to the degre required by the local authorities. BioKube systems are typically operated in a regulated environment and to get permits to operate from the authorities, the requirements must be met.
The typical cleaning requirements BioKube delivers to are:
BOD < 10 mg/l and NH4 < 5 mg/l (EU Elite requirements)
BOD < 20 mg/l and NH4 < 20 mg/l
BOD < 25 no HH4 requirement (EU standard requirement)
BOD < 30 mg/l no NH4 requirement.
BioKube also makes systems with removal of P (Phospate) and N-Total.
BioKube systems are as needed modified so the local requirements can always be fulfilled.
BioKube is certified and approved in accordance to the CEN norm for prefabricated wastewater systems CEN 12566-3 with the following maximum outlet values:
BOD5 < 7,3 mg/ltr (97 % reduction)
NH4 < 2,5 mg/ltr (96 % reduction)
SS < 11,9 mg/ltr ( 96 % reduction)
Ntot < 28,1 mg/l (80 % reduction)
[Ntot = (2,5 mg/l NH4 + 19,3 mg/l NOx + 6,3 mg/l Nkj) = 28,1 mg/l]
In Denmark BioKube has installed over 2.300 systems. On these systems BioKube by law preforms a yearly service and as part of this service a water sample is taken and the results are sent to the local authorities.
The average results for all these 2.300 systems are:
COD < 37.63 mg/l
NH4 < 3.04 mg/l
P < 0.95 mg/l
See here the measured results for all 2.300 Systems.
See here some exampels of the test results sent to the municipalities. There is also se a description of BioKubes quality controle system when preforming service.
On large BioKube systems BioKube has the same excellent cleaning results. On a system installed in a small city in Denmark the municipality preformed a official laboratory analysis on the outgooing water every month for four years. The results of these measurements were:
BOD5 < 2.82 mg/l
COD < 38,7 mg/l
NH4 < 0,89 mg/l
SS < 9,9 mg/l
See here these cleaning results for a Jupiter system.
How do we remove dangerous bacteria?
The BioKube contains more water than compatible systems. This gives us the possibility to treat the sewage water for a longer period of time (approx. for one week). This has the effect, that there basically is not enough food for E-coli or other dangerous bacteria to survive. As the bacteria living on the bio blocks are quite aggressive, they will eliminate most of the E-coli before they reach the last cleaning section, which provides poor living conditions for E-coli bacteria.
The number of E-coli in the cleaned sewage water is normally below 300/100 ml.
For safety: Treatment with ultra-violet light or chlorine.
Even though the sewage water is clean enough for irrigation or swimming, we recommend treatment of the outgoing water with ultra-violet rays, if you wish to reuse the cleaned water for airborne irrigation with sprinklers.
We recommend this precaution, because bacteria entering the body through the lungs are much more harmful than bacteria entering the body through the mouth. Ultra-violet light completely eliminates all harmful bacteria and is a much better solution than the use of chemicals, such as chlorine.
The price for a Ultra-Violet treatment equipment for a BioKube is approx. 300 €, and the energy consumption is below 50 watt.
In some countries, chlorine is the preferred method of eliminating all harmful bacteria if the water is to be reused
All information on this website is copyright BioKube.
If you wish to redistribute the information, please contact BioKube. Permission to redistribute will normally be given.
Peter Taarnhoj, pt@biokube.dk.