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Turning space constraints into high-performance Wastewater Treatment with BIO-CEL L+

The city of Pikeville, Kentucky - famous for its Pikeville Cut-Through, one of the largest earth-moving projects in the Western Hemisphere - faced a unique challenge in upgrading its municipal wastewater treatment facility. Tight space limitations and a previously underperforming MBR installation had prevented the plant from treating its full design capacity.

With new BIO-CEL L+ membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, the plant was able to overcome operational hurdles and meet discharge requirements to protect the Levisa Fork tributary.

Project background

In dairy ultrafiltration, performance cannot be reliably predicted from standard membrane specs like clean water flux or nominal cut-off. Each dairy product presents unique separation challenges, and the membrane must consistently perform across a broad range of compositions and processing modes.

The object of the study was to validate a membrane that could:

  • Handle diverse dairy applications.
  • Deliver significantly higher flow rates.
  • Maintain consistent retention and transmission performance across trials.

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The challenge

Pikeville’s wastewater plant operates in a narrow valley where space is at a premium. Traditional treatment systems were impractical, and the previous MBR setup failed to meet design flow rates.
 
As a result, the facility could not handle peak loads and struggled to maintain regulatory compliance, especially during colder months.

The solution

To solve the capacity and performance issues, the plant was retrofitted in 2024 with five parallel MBR basins. Each basin houses 14 BIO-CEL L+480 ultrafiltration membrane modules, delivering a total treatment capacity of 4.0 MGD.

With a nominal pore size of 0.06 µm and superior membrane design, BIO-CEL L+ enables:

  • High solids retention with low transmembrane pressure (TMP).
  • Compact installation suitable for space-limited facilities.
  • Enhanced operational stability at low temperatures (minimum 10°C).

 

A smarter future for Municipal Wastewater

Since commissioning, the plant has successfully treated its full design flow during the winter season for the first time. Thanks to the robust BIO-CEL L+ modules, the facility has also seen:
 
  • Lower membrane pressure.
  • Reduced energy consumption.
  • Exceptional effluent quality.

By upgrading to BIO-CEL L+, the Pikeville plant not only met its regulatory obligations but also set a new benchmark in performance and efficiency for wastewater treatment in space-constrained locations.