Industries and municipalities are under increasing pressure from water quality regulators to clean up dissolved metals, nitrate and other inorganic contaminants. Waste streams and water bodies with even trace amounts of certain inorganic compounds are attracting more and more attention of the public and of government agencies.

Conventional precipitation, ion exchange and absorption methods for metals removal often have difficulty in consistently treating certain compounds to the low levels being enforced by state and federal regulators. That is why environmental and water resource managers are looking for better, more cost-effective alternatives to conventional water treatment for metals and other inorganics.

The GE ABMet system is built around an advanced biological wastewater treatment process that uses naturally occurring non-toxic, non-pathogenic microbes in specially developed mixtures, which reduce and precipitate target compounds from solution, or convert target compounds into their insoluble chemical components.

The ABMet Process

Biological Reduction and Precipitation

The ABMet® system is built around a biological water treatment process that uses naturally occurring microbes in specially developed mixtures or "cocktails" to chemically reduce and precipitate target compounds from solution, or convert target compounts into their harmless chemical components, for example turning nitrate into nitrogen gas.

Unlike other biological methods which pay passive, little or no attention to the types of microbes employed, the ABMet® system relies on specific and proprietary microbial mixtures to perform specific treatment activity. Not all microbes, even of the same species, will perform the same in all types of water chemistries. More than a decade of research was spent in isolating the most effective strains of useful microbes to use in a range of ABMet® system configurations that address differing treatment goals in differing types of water.

Optimized ABMet® cultures are established as robust biofilms inside a bioreactor or set of bioreactors designed into existing water treatment trains or as stand alone units. ABMet® nutrients are automatically delivered to the system on an optimized schedule to maximize only targeted microbial activity and to minimize costs. Target contaminants are precipitated as elements (i.e. elemental selenium) or sulfides (i.e. arsenic sulfide), depending on the ABMet® culture used, or are destroyed or degraded as in the case of compounds such as nitrate.

The results are a highly effective and efficient biological system, one that remains stable over the long-term. ABMet® systems can be controlled precisely and consistently to achieve targeted contaminant removal to target levels.

ABMet Features and Benefits

Saves Money

Simple system designs make the ABMet system very inexpensive to operate and maintain over the long term.

	Sludge generation is minimal since removal is done biologically and not chemically.
	Sludge is removed on a batch basis over a period spanning several months instead of daily or weekly.
	Power consumption is minimal as no mixing or aeration is involved.
	Virtually no chemical addition is involved aside from nutrients required for microbial growth.
	Meets the Toughest Targets.
	Besides the lower cost and minimal sludge generation, the greatest advantage of the ABMet® system is its ability to consistently remove metals and other inorganics to below 10, 5 and even 0.5 parts per billion with some metals.

Treats Multiple Contaminants

The ABMet system has been proven effective for the removal of metals, metalloids, nonmetals and inorganic compounds such as nitrate. ABMet® systems can treat both arsenate and arsenite without pre-treatment. Selenate and selenite complexes can be successfully removed.

The Most Flexible

ABMet systems are configured for site specific waste streams and contaminant groups and have been used to successfully treat water for mining, refining, chemical, power generation (for FGD selenium removal), agriculture and other industries. ABMet systems can stand alone or work in tandem with existing water treatment systems already removing organics or treating acidic streams.

ABMet Treatment Results

99+%* Removal of:

	Selenium			Zinc
	Arsenic			Cobalt
	Mercury			Nickel
	Chromium			Antimony
	Cadmium			Nitrate
	Copper

*Depending on site-specific optimization

ABMet Services

GE specializes in solving water quality problems using low-cost and effective biological water treatment.

GE offers you...

Help to Understand Your Compliance Options

	Information about biological water treatment (what it does, how it works, what it costs) relative to other options.
	Site monitoring services including site-characterization and evaluation.
	Bench-scale treatability and testing.

Expert Assistance with Biotreatment

	Evaluation of existing or proposed biotreatment systems.
	Lab services like characterization and treatability testing.
	Culture optimization, development and bulk supply.
	Nutrient optimization and bulk supply.
	On-site pilot testing.
	Treatment plan design.
	In-situ treatment assistance.
	Treatment system design for active or passive treatment plants.

Turn-Key Treatment Solutions

	Treatment plan preparation including treatability and pilot testing.
	Culture and nutrient optimization and bulk-supply.
	Treatment plan design - in-situ, passive or active.
	Treatment plan execution and project management.
	Active or passive system construction management.
	System start-up, optimization and stabilization.

ABMet water treatment is the sum of technologies and methods in biotreatment developed over the last 10 years. The key to successful biological water treatment is site-optimization of cultures and nutrients. Patented and proprietary methods of optimization make ABMet systems the most effective biological treatment solutions available.

ABMet technology and the ABMet approach can make any biotreatment plan more effective: in-situ, passive or active.