At the end of 2009, a Czech biotechnological company LentiKat’s a.s. started its first three full-scale applications of their highly efficient system for the removal of nitrogen from wastewater. This novel solution, Lentikats Biotechnology, is based on the immobilisation of common nitrification and denitrification bacterial cultures in small lentil-like shape pellets made of polyvinyl alcohol.
The first installations create both compact and highly efficient add-on treatments to existing conventional treatment plants (2 municipal, 1 industrial), thus enhancing the systems’ nitrogen-removal capacity without the need for extensive reconstructions. This seems to be an ideal solution for many of the traditional wastewater treatment plants that increasingly find themselves being pushed to the extremes of their capabilities by the constantly tightening regulations for nitrogen effluent limits, yet with no financial sources for large retrofit projects. Lentikats solutions are easy to control and stable process units with minimum impact on the environment, in the form of reduced energy demands and waste production. Moreover, the systems can achieve removal efficiency as high as 98%. Apart from the retrofits, Lentikats Biotechnology can also be applied as a main treatment process. This is especially feasible for industrial effluents with high concentration of nitrogen, where traditional technologies usually fail. The technology has been successfully tested in sludge water from biogas plants, effluents from abattoirs and the production of fertilisers.
LentiKat’s a.s. has already planned several new projects for 2010 in the Czech Republic and the UK, yet the company is also actively marketing in other European countries, South America and Australasia. LentiKat’s a.s. is currently seeking potential strategic partners for a number of projects worldwide