The groundwater in Muttenz, Switzerland will be purified using a combination of advanced oxidation, adsorption and ultrafiltration. The water is subject to organic trace substances and occasionally impacted by Rhine filtrate.
Difficult to treat compounds will be oxidized using ozone and hydrogen peroxide. The ozone and peroxide react to form hydroxyl radicals that are fast reacting and non specific oxidants that will break down virtually all organic molecules. Technologies like ozone peroxide combination that produce these radicals are geneerally referred to as advanced oxidation processes.
In the next phase powdered active carbon (PAC) will absorb the residual substances and finally ultrafiltration will be employed to filter out the activated carbon in combination with the adsorbed contaminants. Such a combination ensures that micro-pollutants, which are otherwise difficult to degrade, can be safely removed or reduced. This fact has already been confirmed by the operational results from the pilot plant at the location.
Muttenz is the first plant in Switzerland to be equipped with this particular process technology. The new drinking water treatment plant will produce about 5 MGD of ground water and is expected to start operation in December 2014.