Hongcheon, Korea

Energy Independence Through Livestock Manure and Digestate  

With livestock production at the core of Hongcheon’s economy, managing the livestock and food waste that comes along with it can be difficult. Hongcheon was able to utilize their high-strength wastes as a source for renewable biogas, however, due to the high concentrations of nitrogen in digestate, nitrogen removal remained an issue. 

Without pretreatment, high removal efficiency was achieved, while maintaining excellent effluent water quality. 

Hongcheon overcame this challenge by introducing Tomorrow Water’s Two-Stage AMX™ technology into its treatment process. For the first time, anammox was successfully used to treat codigested livestock and food waste in full-scale. The benefit of a two-stage configuration made it possible to handle high concentration levels of nitrogen, COD and TSS compared to single-reactor systems. 

AMX™ confirmed stable nitrogen removal performance at a rate of 89.8%, while delivering a: 

• 53% reduction in aeration energy 

• 100% reduction in carbon source 

• 80% reduction in sludge volume 

With the help of Tomorrow Water’s AMX™, Hongcheon was able to gain energy independence and was designated as an Eco-Energy Town by the Korean Ministry of Environment. By successfully turning their nuissance cost streams into profit streams, Hongcheon added tremendous value to the city and it’s community in the process.