IBN-WWT Wastewater Treatment

With surface and interfacial tension reduced, agitation from your existing aeration or circulation equipment, the same blowers, diffusers and pumps already running, converts the oxygen already present in the water into ultra-fine bubbles. IBN-WWT doesn't generate oxygen. It transforms how efficiently the oxygen you're already paying for gets distributed. These ultra-fine bubbles carry far more surface area per unit of oxygen than the coarse bubbles they replace, and they penetrate deeper into aggregated organic material, fats, oils, grease, protein solids, exposing significantly more internal surface to the surrounding water.

On the surface exposed by those ultra-fine bubbles, hydrolysis accelerates. Triglycerides break down into free fatty acids and glycerol, complex proteins into smaller, soluble fractions, the same molecular outcome associated with enzymatic action, but achieved through a stable, non-living physico-chemical mechanism.

Many treatment plants begin with an anaerobic stage, an anaerobic lagoon or UASB reactor, for instance, before water moves into aerobic treatment. In that anaerobic stage, IBN-WWT's surface tension and hydrolysis mechanism works exactly as described, breaking down organic material into soluble fractions, without any oxygen-related effect, since none is needed or wanted there. The free fatty acids this produces feed directly into whatever anaerobic biology is present, in the same way they feed methanogenesis in a digester. Once the water reaches the aerobic stage downstream, the oxygen-transfer benefits described above take over. The same mechanism, contributing at each stage in the way that stage actually uses it.

Solubilised, hydrolysed organic material is measured as soluble COD rather than suspended particulate load, contributing to lower TSS. Because that material becomes biologically available rather than sitting inert, BOD and COD removal across the process becomes more complete.

Nitrifying bacteria, Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, require a steady supply of dissolved oxygen to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrate. By increasing oxygen availability without raising aeration demand, IBN-WWT supports more consistent nitrification performance. In anoxic zones further along the process, denitrifying bacteria need an available carbon source as an electron donor to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas. By increasing soluble COD through hydrolysis of organic material, IBN-WWT contributes to a more consistent carbon supply for this step, supporting both halves of the nitrogen removal pathway from the same underlying mechanism.

In collection systems and lift stations, dissolved sulfide is a major driver of corrosion to concrete and metal infrastructure. Sulfide oxidises to the far less corrosive sulfate when sufficient dissolved oxygen is present. By increasing oxygen availability throughout the water column, IBN-WWT supports this chemical conversion, contributing to reduced corrosion risk in collection infrastructure.

Stabilises activated sludge conditions, supports nitrification and denitrification, and reduces peak oxygen demand without expanding aeration capacity, particularly valuable where organic input is continuous and variable.

Particularly effective in food processing, dairy, rendering, and other FOG-heavy industrial streams where organic loading is variable or high.

Better hydrolysis upstream means less accumulation and fewer blockages downstream, across grease traps and sewerage networks alike.

Low-infrastructure systems, aeration lagoons and stabilisation ponds included, gain more effective oxygen transfer without adding mechanical aeration capacity.

Reduced organic loading on the membrane surface supports more consistent flux and permeate quality in MBR configurations, without any change to the membrane itself or its cleaning regime.

No substrate-specificity limits, no cofactor requirements, no sensitivity to the pH swings or temperature extremes that deactivate biological enzymes over time. Once formed, the free fatty acids produced by hydrolysis are metabolised further by the treatment plant's own bacteria through their natural metabolism, IBN-WWT opens the door, the existing biology does the rest.

IBN-WWT supports physical and process-related conditions in water and wastewater systems. It is not intended to function as a biocidal product and does not carry biocidal claims under EU Regulation 528/2012. Use it alongside your existing disinfection and process controls, not instead of them.