Arvia helps biotech companies and R&D facilities remove recalcitrant compounds down to below measurable levels that conventional treatment may leave behind. Our Nyex™ technology supports greater compliance, protection of existing treatment assets and a more practical route to safe discharge and water reuse.
Biotech wastewater can change significantly as research programmes, production campaigns and chemical processes change. A treatment system that performs effectively against the bulk wastewater load may still leave low concentrations of difficult organic compounds that require further treatment before discharge or reuse.
Arvia provides targeted treatment for these remaining contaminants. Nyex™ can be installed as a tertiary polishing stage downstream of established wastewater processes, removing recalcitrant organics that have passed through conventional treatment.
It can also be positioned earlier in the treatment train where problematic organic compounds need to be removed before they reach sensitive processes. This can help protect biological treatment from inhibitory chemicals or reduce the contaminant burden reaching reverse osmosis membranes.
For biotech and R&D facilities, this flexibility provides a practical way to address individual wastewater streams without replacing treatment processes that are already working effectively.
Talk to an Arvia specialist about the compounds present in your wastewater.
Arvia’s innovative Nyex™ wastewater treatment systems are capable of removing many organics, including APIs, antibiotics, steroids, hormones, endocrine disruptors, and recently banned organic chemicals still in use in legacy manufacturing. All these types of recalcitrant pollutants can be removed to below trace levels.
Arvia’s innovative water treatment systems remove many persistent chemicals that other more complex legacy systems struggle with. Our tertiary systems are an essential polishing step in a facility’s water treatment plant and are essential when planning for a ZLD (zero liquid discharge) strategy in the future.
Some blowdown water treatments leave behind too many recalcitrant compounds. Sometimes a blowdown does not reduce COD to optimum levels for immediate reuse. Either way, Arvia’s next-generation treatment systems offer a cost-effective and viable solution, complementing and adding to your existing water treatment kit.
The for biotech facilities is often a specific compound or side stream that existing wastewater treatment processes cannot manage effectively. Nyex™ is designed to fill that treatment gap. It can be positioned where it provides the greatest value, from final effluent polishing to targeted pre-treatment ahead of biological or membrane processes.
Our Nyex™ water treatment processes provide biotech and R&D facilities with these key benefits:
A Different Approach
Unlike conventional methods, the Nyex process combines adsorption with in-situ electrochemical destruction. Contaminants are concentrated onto the media surface then destroyed, instead of transferred to another waste stream. The media regenerates continuously, eliminating the saturate-replace cycle.
Rather than attempting to oxidise contaminants throughout the entire water volume, Nyex™ brings the target compounds into close contact with the treatment surface. This allows adsorption and oxidation to work together, while continuous regeneration of the media supports ongoing treatment without the conventional saturate-and-replace cycle.
Persistent organic compounds are attracted to the surface of the Nyex™ media, concentrating them from the surrounding wastewater. This provides a targeted treatment mechanism for low-level contaminants that can remain after conventional processes, including residual active compounds and other recalcitrant organics.
Once concentrated on the media surface, the adsorbed organic compounds are exposed to electrochemical oxidation. A low-voltage current drives the oxidation process at the treatment surface, destroying the target contaminants.
The oxidation process restores adsorption capacity on the media surface as treatment takes place.
This regeneration reduces the need to stop operation for frequent media replacement or secondary disposal, supporting a lower-maintenance treatment approach.
For many biotech facilities, Nyex™ provides tertiary polishing downstream of conventional treatment, targeting recalcitrant organic compounds that remain in the final effluent. In other applications, it can treat a specific side stream or operate upstream of sensitive biological or membrane processes to remove compounds that could interfere with their performance.
Pre-treatment
Upstream Process
Screening, pH adjustment, solids removal and flow balancing
Biological Treatment
Biological Stage
Biodegradable organic load is reduced, while more persistent compounds associated with synthesis, production or cleaning processes may remain.
Nyex™ Treatment
Arvia Solution
Targeted adsorption and electrochemical oxidation remove recalcitrant organic compounds that require further polishing.
Discharge or Reuse
Output
Treated water can progress towards site-specific discharge requirements, further treatment or water reuse objectives.
Biotech wastewater can contain a complex and site-specific mixture of compounds, so Arvia begins by testing the actual water.
A sample is assessed in our laboratory to determine how the target contaminants respond to treatment and which Arvia technology is most appropriate. The resulting data provides an evidence base for treatment selection and the next stage of system development.
Where further validation is required, a pilot system can be operated using wastewater from the facility.
This allows performance to be assessed under real operating conditions and across changes in contaminant concentration, flow and wastewater composition. Pilot data helps establish treatment performance and provides the information required for confident scale-up.
Data from laboratory and pilot testing is used to develop a full-scale treatment system around the specific wastewater stream and treatment objective.
Modular Nyex™ systems can be integrated into existing treatment infrastructure, with Arvia providing support through installation, commissioning and ongoing operation.
Jerome Budin
Wastewater consultant
Schedule a trial to assess how Nyex™ performs against the persistent organic compounds in your biotech wastewater.
Biotech wastewater challenges are often defined by the specific chemistry of the process rather than the overall volume of water being treated. Arvia works with operators to identify the persistent organic compounds creating the treatment gap, test their response to Nyex™ and develop a treatment approach around the actual wastewater matrix.
