Norwegian Water Treatment Test Centre
Background
Based on the regions comparative advantage, namely an outstanding research community within
water treatment at NTNU and SINTEF, and a strong industrial development within the same area
(i.e. Aqualyng and Salsnes Filter), an initiative was taken by central actors in the region to
establish the Norwegian Water Treatment Centre (NWTTC) in Vanvikan.
The Centres main objective is to serve as a connecting point between industry, development and
research in order to support industrial development within water and waste water treatment.
This initiative is headed by Leksvik Industrial Growth (LIV) (www.liv-holding.no), an industrial
owned development company.
It is supported by several stakeholders:
 The Lyng Group (www.lyng.no)
 Aqualyng Holding (www.aqualyng.com)
 StatoilHydro (www.statoilhydro.com)
 SpareBank 1 Midt-Norge (www.smn.no)
 The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (www.ntnu.no)
 SINTEF (www.sintef.no)
 The Municipality of Leksvik (www.leksvik.kommune.no)
Vanvikan is a small community (picture 1) in Leksvik municipality just across the fjord from
Trondheim in which a cluster of small industries are cooperating through Leksvik Industrial
Growth (LIV AS) in a very active industrial environment. One of these companies is Aqualyng
Holding, a company dedicated to delivery of RO-plants for desalination based on their own
patented energy recovery system. The pictures are showing the community of Vanvikan (picture
1) and the LIV building (left) close to the Aqualyng Building (right) (picture 2).
Objective
The objective of NWTTC is to provide a facility in which suppliers of water and wastewater
treatment equipment, products and commodities can test, evaluate and develop the equipment,
products and commodities that they market. This will include biological, physical and chemical
reactors, chemicals, sensors, instrumentation etc.
The distinctive characteristic of the centre will be that the customer will have to his disposal
several kinds of water qualities, ranging from seawater to freshwater, from wastewater to
drinking water, from raw water to treated water (to various degrees). This will make the centre a
perfect facility for testing and developing equipment for desalination, freshwater treatment
(especially for NOM-containing water), wastewater treatment and treatment for wastewater reuse.
The centre will be especially focused on the use of membranes and energy efficiency in water
and wastewater treatment.
Description of the NWTTC facilities
Norwegian Water Treatment Test Center (NWTTC)
Full scale wastewater
treatment plant
Test facilities for wastewater
equipment and commodities
WASTEWATER
PRIMARY
TREATMENT
(Bar screen
followed by a
fine screen)
Test facilities for drinking water
equipment and commodities
Equalizing basins
MEMBRAN
BIOREACTOR
(MBR)
COAGULATION /
SEPARATION
COAGULATION /
SEPARATION
REVERSE
OSMOSIS
(RO)
????
????
(Moving bed bioreaktor followed
by a coagulation/
filtration unit)
Outlet treated wastewater
to the Trondheim fjord
(ca. 500 m3/d)
Equalizing basins
OXIDATION /
BIOFILTRATION
Full scale fresh water
treatment plant
Treated drinking water
(500 m3/d)
Equalizing basins
M
SECONDARY
TREATMENT
Full scale RO-plant for
drinking water production
from sea water
UVDESINFECTION
UVDESINFECTION
REVERSE
OSMOSIS
(RO)
NANO
FILTRATION
(NF)
PRETREATMENT
(Micro sieve)
PRETREATMENT
(Micro sieve)
SEA WATER
(Raw water)
FRESH WATER
(Raw water)
ULTRA
FILTRATION
(UF)
Figure 1. Sketch of the facility.
Full scale fresh water works
A fresh water treatment plant for the village of Vanvikan (average flow 500 m3/d) will be
established in the centre. This will treat NOM containing freshwater in a plant consisting of pretreatment, NOM-removal using membrane filtration (process to be decided among NF or
coagulation/UF or MF or ozonation/biofiltration/UV or MF) and final disinfection (UV).
Full scale RO-plant for fresh water production
A RO-plant for water taken from the sea (Trondheim fjord) – also with a capacity of 500 m3/d –
will serve as a reserve drinking water plant for Vanvikan and at the same time as a full scale test
facility for RO pre-treatment and energy recovery installations for RO-systems.
Test facilities for drinking water equipment and commodities
A test-lab of 250 m2 will be available. Water for testing can be taken from the full scale plants
including:

Fresh water: raw water, pre-treated water, NOM-removed water, final water (after UV),
concentrates (various kinds of wash waters).

Sea water : raw water, pre-treated water, desalinated water, concentrate water
The drinking water test-lab will include facilities for flows in the range of 1- 5 m3/h.
Full scale wastewater treatment plant
The plant will treat the wastewater from Vanvikan village at a flow of about 500 m3/d based on
primary and secondary treatment. The primary step will consist of a fine screen installation and
the secondary step of a moving bed biofilm reactor followed by a coagulation/flotation unit. The
wastewater will be discharged to the Trondheim fjord. The plant will supply wastewater streams
(1 – 5 m3/h) to the wastewater test-lab
Test facilities for wastewater equipment and commodities
A test-lab of 250 m2 will be available. Water for testing can be taken from the full scale plants
including:

Wastewater after primary (fine screened) treatment

Wastewater after chemically enhanced primary treatment (bioreactor bypassed)

Wastewater after biological treatment for BOD-removal (chemicals not used)

Wastewater after biological/chemical treatment
In the wastewater test lab all wastewater treatment process reactors, equipment and commodities
(chemicals etc) may be tested and treated water may be produced for testing of equipment for
wastewater reuse.
Certification lab
The water and the wastewater test lab will provide facilities for certification and verification of
treatment processes, such as (examples):

Biodosimetric testing of UV-equipment

Integrity testing of membranes

Oxygen transfer testing of aeration equipment

Ozone production capacity testing of ozone generators
Energy efficiency lab
The NWTTC will include facilities for testing energy efficiency in hydraulic machinery and
energy recovery systems in water and wastewater treatment processes (in particular membrane
filtration systems) including a reservoir of 2-300 m3 and a circulation systems (effect up 2 MW)
providing a flow up to 4-500 l/sec and pressure up to 70 bar.
Water analysis laboratory
The NWTTC will include a commercial water analysis lab that will be able to carry out all the
conventional chemical and microbiological water and wastewater analysis. Advanced analysis
may be carried out by the research institutions in Trondheim (NTNU, SINTEF, StatoilHydro etc).
Work-shops and facility operation
The NWTTC will have access to a variety of workshops and craftsmen nearby including metal
working, plastic working, wood working and electrical instruments and sensors working.
The equipment to be tested may be operated by the customer of by NWTTC employed operators.
The NWTTC link to the technology research institutions in Trondheim
In addition to offer facilities for testing of the customer’s equipment and commodities, the centre
will provide a link to the research institutions in Trondheim, including NTNU, SINTEF,
StatoilHydro, NGU and others. The centre will be cooperating with these institutions and
facilitate contacts and establishment of research projects between these research institutions and
the customers of NWTTC.
These institutions cover most of the technologies used in water and wastewater treatment. In the
following, the web address and the specialities of the most central research groups will be
outlined.
NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology – the only polytechnic university in
Norway (10.000 MSc-students and 1000 PhD-students). NTNU is active in water and
wastewater treatment research in several departments, but especially in the:

Department of Water and Hydraulic Engineering (Faculty of Engineering Science and
Technology) (www.ntnu.no/ivm)
The water treatment research is active under the leadership of professor Hallvard
Ødegaard and professor TorOve Leiknes.
SINTEF - The SINTEF Group is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia.
In the water treatment area SINTEF work in close cooperation with NTNU sharing laboratories
and facilities.
StatoilHydro is the largest oil and gas company in Norway. They have operations world-wide,
with the main office in Stavanger. The R&D department is situated in Trondheim, Bergen and
Notodden, with the R&D management in Trondheim. Statoil has initiated their own R&D in
connection with water treatment.