Biogill tower is the device within which the purification process takes place. It is essentially based on the growth of a biological biofilm on the surface of the laminated ceramic nanomaterial at the base of the technology, which is enclosed inside a percolation tower usually positioned above ground and powered by a pump. The system represents an efficient, proven and affordable wastewater treatment solution. Each single tower, depending on the type of wastewater to be treated and the polluting load to be removed, can sustain a flow rate between 1 and 12 m3/day.
The wastewater raised at the top of the tower is distributed inside it through an anti-occlusion system, patented by Biogill, called Hydroswirl placed at the top ,which has the purpose of favouring the gravity spraying of the wastewater to be treated through the nanoceramic material contained inside the tower.
The particular surface structure of the “gill” creates a dense web, shaped like a spiderweb, with a multitude of attachments points in which the biological film can form, reproduce and grow by feeding on the COD present in the wastewater and the oxygen that is exchanged by the atmospheric air circulating in the tower by natural convection. The lamellar nanoceramic material of which the inside of the tower is composed is organized in the form of a coil circuit that allows the creation of two distinct zones for the biological process: the external one in contact with the wastewater, and the internal one in contact with the atmospheric air. Oxygen diffuses inside the biofilm passing from the side in contact with atmospheric air to that in contact with the wastewater, while nutrients such as dissolved COD move in the opposite direction thanks to counter-diffusion processes that are 4 to 5 times faster than in oxygen diffusion.
This aspect gives the Biogill technology the ability to trigger and/or restart the purification process in a very short time compared to traditional biological processes.