OpenCEL’s – Focused Pulsed Technology cuts the operating cost of wastewater treatment by reducing solids requiring disposal, killing pathogens, increasing digester capacity and increasing energy capture from biosolids.

Are you making decisions about municipal, industrial or agricultural wastewater processing? Your wastewater treatment plant will operate more efficiently and cost-effectively with OpenCEL.

Biosolids

Safer Sludge

The OpenCEL process kills pathogens--the patented process breaks down cell membranes, making organic matter easier to biodegrade. The food industry uses a similar process to disinfect food. The biosolids obtained after OpenCEL treatment have significantly lower counts for pathogenic organisms.

Energy Capture from Biomass

Just like the organic matter in crops used for ethanol, biomass from a treatment facility can be converted to energy. OpenCEL breaks apart the cells and releases their energy. The treatment plant can recover this energy in the form of methane, hydrogen, or electricity.

Methanogenesis is the oldest form of wastewater treatment. Bacteria break down organic matter during anaerobic treatment, and as a byproduct, these bacteria produce methane. Methane can be burned for heat or used to produce electricity.

Biomass also produces hydrogen gas. It, too, can be burned, or it can be siphoned off for use in a fuel cell. Conventional fuel cells produce electricity directly. But the new, microbial fuel cell (MFC) offers the highest potential for recapturing energy from treated waste.

A microbial fuel cell works like this: A biofilm (a layer of bacteria) grows on the anode of a fuel cell through which wastewater flows. The bacteria on the anode capture electrons. The anode converts the electrons to electricity.

Any of these processes can be coupled with OpenCEL technology. The important thing to remember is that OpenCEL breaks down the organic matter. When cells break open, they release energy. Energy recovery is already part of the standard operating procedure in many treatment plants around the world. With OpenCEL, there’s more energy available. Recovery makes stronger economic sense.

Proven Technology

To reduce sludge, OpenCEL technology penetrates the cell membrane (cell lysis). This makes it easier for standard treatment operations to digest the biomass. Compared to other methods that rely on biological, ultrasonic, or mechanical breakage, OpenCEL’s method gives results. It’s the least expensive, most efficient, and most effective way to achieve cell lysis. To learn more about how the OpenCEL system works, see FP Technology.