RABAC: A QUINTESSENTIAL OPPORTUNITY ZONE PROJECTAn Innovative Wastewater Treatment Technology Poised to Save Energy,

Reduce Environmental Footprint, and Create Jobs for the Central Valley Region

“Innovations” in this day and age are likely to conjure up images that can range from robotics and autonomous vehicle to brain science and space travel. These are snazzy technological advancements that can potentially bring about fundamental changes to our lives. And yet, our sewage systems and the treatment of wastewater, while invisible and far from being snazzy, can have much greater impact on our basic quality of life. While incentive to innovate is sorely lacking, these systems are ubiquitous and there are significant opportunities to improve the overall sustainability goals at global scale through innovations, including meaningful reductions in energy consumption and environmental footprint. One such innovation of particular interest to California’s Opportunity Zone program is RABAC system.

What is RABAC?

RABAC—Rotary Activated Bacillus Contactor—system (U.S. Patent No. 7452469) is an advanced secondary wastewater treatment technology that uses Bacillus species, a fermentation culture used commonly in production of kimchi and soybean paste in S. Korea and Japan, to remove critical organic wastes and nutrients. RABAC’s Bacillus spp. is a patented and specialized mixture of very efficient endospore forming microorganisms—requiring very low oxygen and able to survive in extreme environment—that can achieve far superior contaminant removal results than most other existing technologies today.

The RABAC removal process combines both attached and suspended growth methods of microorganisms and is handled through a system consisting of RABAC equipment (attached growth), Biological Reaction Basin (BRB; suspended growth), and Sedimentation Basin (SB).

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Of special importance is the RABAC equipment consisting of high-density woven fiber mesh that provides very high surface areas where Bacillus spp. are seeded with exceptional oxygen and nutrient transfer kinetics. BRB, a series of four aeration basins, is used to both lower oxygen and BOD concentration and to produce endospores. SB separates biosolids from clean wastewater and returns part of the sludge to the RABAC process to deliver a mixture of active and endospore forming Bacillus spp., thus eliminating the need for further addition of Bacillus to the system after the initial seeding.

How does RABAC compare to current systems in the U.S.?

The basic Bacillus technology underlying RABAC system was conceived as early as 1990s in Japan and S. Korea and has since been continuously improved and refined over the last three decades. RABAC is an emerging but proven technology with over 30 real world

applications in Asia and Middle East for municipal sewage, agricultural (e.g., dairy farms) and industrial (e.g., food processing) wastewater treatments.

Compared to the most common activated sludge methods used in the U.S. (e.g., AO2, Bardenpho, VIP, SBR), the RABAC system fares far better in key performance metrics, such as contaminant removal efficiency, cost, and footprint (see table). In addition, Bacillus absorbs odor and produces substances that kill other bacteria with minimum disinfection needs. RABAC system also produces up to 20% less sludge and, unlike secondary treatment processes used in most conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), it can also directly treat both T-N and T-P.

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MetricRABAC

Relative to Activated

Sludge

Waste Removal:

BOD +10%

Nitrogen +30-50%

Phosphrus +25-45%

Cost:

Construction -25-50%

Operation/Energy -30-50%

Maintenance -30-40%

Footprint -20-60%

RABAC also fares better when compared to more advanced wastewater treatment systems such as MBBR and MBR. While it shares comparable key performance meaures, a major drawback associated with MBBR system has been its fixed film media that tends to wash out over time, which is not the case with RABAC’s woven fiber mesh. RABAC system also solves the major odor problems linked to MBR systems, a critical flaw especially for treating high strength industrial plants.

RABAC and Opportunity Zones in California

RABAC is an innovative but proven technology that can easily be transferred to California with significant benefits in wastewater treatments in general but, more importantly, in economically distressed areas that are currently certified as qualified opportunity zones (QOZs). RABAC equipment are modularized into standard units that are easily scalable over a wide range of uses and capacity needs. In addition to small municipal treatment plants in distressed urban areas, RABAC systems are particularly suited for larger and more intense waste treatment needs in dairy farms, cattle ranches, and food (e.g., cheese) processing plants in agricultural and rural areas found in the Central Valley region where economic revitalization is much needed.

RABAC system rollout typically entails overall system design, Bacillus cultivation, RABAC equipment manufacturing, construction and installation, test run, operations training and maintenance support. A new QOZ business can be created to handle every aspects of this implementation lifecycle not only to create new jobs but also to cultivate a new skilled local labor force. In particular, a major manufacturing complex for producing standardized RABAC units can be established in the heart of the Central Valley QOZs in Fresno, Tulare, Kings counties with well-designed and formal technology transfer and training programs.

Through Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs), private investors can invest their unrecognized capital gains to inject new capital into the new RABAC QOZ business with an equity interest. In return, the investors receive preferential tax treatment with significant incentives. If they hold their investments for at least 10 years, for example, these incentives can mean as much as 15% reduction and 8 year deferral on their past capital gains taxes, while paying no new taxes on any capital appreciations from the new business.

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The new RABAC business can serve both public (e.g., municipal) and private (e.g., food processing) sector clients. Depending on the market needs, the RABAC system rollout can also be structured either as a traditional turnkey contract—where the RABAC assets belong to the client upon construction completion—or some form of a public-private partnership (P3)—e.g., build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-own-operate (BOO)—where the asset ownership remains with the new business.

Potential Pilot Projects and Fresno’s BlueTechValley Initiative

To start building the basic foundation for the RABAC manufacturing base thus envisioned, a RABAC system rollout could be piloted in one or more of the Central Valley QOZs to kickstart the Opportunity Zone program and trigger private capital injections. For example, these pilots can involve dairy farms or cattle ranches to help reduce green house gas (GHG) emission or retrofitting existing public and private WWTPs that are faced with meeting the new nitrogen and salt discharge standards in San Joaquin Valley recently adopted by the State Water Resource Control Board. The pilot project can also be linked closely to the BlueTechValley Initiative and Fresno State’s Water Energy and Technology (WET) Center for engaging the incubator resources and establishing formal technology transfer and on-the-job training programs. Beyond the Central Valley region, other potential RABAC pilot projects could include retrofitting an existing municipal WWTP in distressed urban areas to improve energy and treatment efficiency (e.g., Los Angeles County) or an Indian reservation in rural areas facing severe violation of wastewater discharge standards.

Long Term Outlook

In the long run, potential benefits from the RABAC system are in lock step with the comprehensive economic and work force development strategy outlined in An Economic Growth and Competitiveness Agenda for California unveiled by Lt. Governor Newsom in 2011. RABAC system, when fully market tested in the U.S., would have significant export potential for both advanced and emerging markets with the opportunity to scale up the real world applications that are already outside the U.S. One of the important business goals of the new RABAC venture is to establish a new manufacturing base with new technology in the Central Valley. This goal, when fully realized, would reinvigorate the manufacturing base in California in areas where most needed and help cultivate a local labor force with higher skill sets. Finally, the RABAC technology represents an innovation in much neglected area and can help fulfill critical infrastructure needs more efficiently and with less energy and environmental footprint, thus also helping to accelerate clean economy.

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“The performance of RABAC systems installed in Asia is excellent, as of BOD, TSS, and nutrients and fecal coliform removal, with less sludge and less odor than classical plants.”

—Dr. Miroslav Colic, Research Director, Clean Water Technology, Inc.

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