Nanobubble technology is an effective pretreatment solution for improving clarification and biological processes across a variety of wastewater streams, including those from municipal, food and beverage, refining, and other industrial sources. It helps address treatment challenges posed by surfactants, oils, greases, and other difficult-to-remove contaminants.
Nanobubbles are gas bubbles approximately 2,500 times smaller than a grain of salt. Unlike regular bubbles that rise and burst, nanobubbles remain suspended in liquids due to their size and neutral buoyancy, allowing them to stay active in liquid for extended periods. Their negatively charged surface helps them bind to contaminants, and their large surface area enhances gas transfer, allowing oxygen and other gases to dissolve more efficiently. This same surface area also allows nanobubbles to catalyze chemical, physical and biological reactions, enhancing overall treatment performance. As a pretreatment step, nanobubbles improve separation, neutralize inhibitory compounds, and boost downstream biological performance.
Nanobubbles in food wastewater
Nanobubbles act as natural coagulants, improving separation processes in wastewater streams from food processing facilities, especially those with high levels of fats, oils, and greases (FOG). They help break emulsions and serve as an effective chemical-free pretreatment for clarification using dissolved air flotation. In systems where wastewater is treated biologically, nanobubbles can also improve nitrification performance by neutralizing disinfectants such as quaternary ammonium compounds.
Nanobubbles in municipal wastewater
Municipal wastewater often contains elevated levels of surfactants and quaternary ammonium compounds (quats), positively charged chemicals commonly found in household and industrial products such as soaps, detergents, disinfectants, degreasers, fabric softeners, and personal care items. These surface-active agents pose significant challenges to wastewater treatment by disrupting solid-liquid separation and inhibiting biological processes. As water conservation efforts reduce the volume of water entering sewer systems, the concentrations of surfactants and quaternary ammonium compounds continue to rise, increasing the complexity of treatment.
Nanobubbles can improve total suspended solids removal (TSS) in primary clarification and reduce biological inhibition, particularly nitrification caused by quaternary ammonium compounds. This helps stabilize biological processes and improve overall treatment system efficiency.
Delivering smarter pretreatment with nanobubble technology
Nanobubble technology solutions from Xylem support more efficient, resilient, and sustainable wastewater treatment. Whether integrated into existing systems or designed into new ones, it helps utilities and industries meet stricter effluent standards, reduce chemical use, and improve overall process performance.
