The Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport has selected an advanced wastewater treatment solution from Parkson Corp to expand the nearby Elijah Creek Stormwater Treatment System. One of the fastest-growing airports in the United States, Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky has seen its annual traffic volume double to more than 20 million passengers over the last 10 years.

Parkson's Biolac® extended aeration activated sludge treatment system is being used to treat stormwater from the airport's deicing runoff, which contains glycol and potassium acetate. With an influent average flow of 5 million gallons per day, the Biolac system was installed in the 15 million gallon per day equalization basin and treats an average of 30,000 pounds of BOD per day.

The Biolac system uses extended retention of biological solids to create an extremely stable, easily operated system, far exceeding the capabilities of ordinary extended aeration treatment.

In addition, the system has replaced two sequencing batch reactors, and the SBR tanks have been converted to sludge holding tanks. The installation includes Parkson's flat-bottom type SS Clarifiers, which use the company's SuperScraper™ Sludge Removal System to remove settled sludge.

The Biolac system meets two unique treatment challenges for this application. First, it can treat deicing wastewater with a minimum temperature near 0°C. Second, it treats a wide variety of wastewater loads, ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 lb per day, with the ability to absorb one-day peak loads approaching 60,000 lb per day.

URS Corp's Cincinnati, OH office was the engineer for the project, and Danis Industrial Construction Co of Dayton was the contractor.