ENGINEER’S REPORT

THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY

Station 1, Balabag, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan

WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY

THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

OVERVIEW / BACKGROUND

The MUSE HOTEL BORACAY formerly known as NANDANA HOTEL was established as one of the major
4-star hotels in the island on 2012.

 Facility components / amenities: restaurants, bakeshop, spa, jacuzzi, swimming pool

 Maximum no. of guests: 69,350 tourists
 Actual no. of employees: 32 personnel

 Volume of water supply: 24.05 m3 average

 Wastewater usage/activities generating wastewater:

o Washing / cleaning of process equipment: 0.6 m3
o Domestic: 23.45 m3

 Water balance:
o Others (drinking water, gardening, evaporation, leaks, product components, etc.):
3.45 m3

 Volume of effluent discharge: 20.0 m3 (average)

The Wastewater Treatment Facility of The Muse Hotel Boracay was constructed in compliance to
the present regulatory requirements which points to the imposition of the Water Quality Guidelines
and General Effluent Standards of 2016 (DENR DAO 2016-08) pursuant to Section 19c and 19f of R.A.
9275 otherwise known as “The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004” and Executive Order 192 dated
June 10, 1987.

 The system acquired to treat the wastewater from the hotel is a two-stage electrochemical
process which include electrocoagulation and electro-oxidation and has a design capacity of
sixty (60) m³ per day.

 Volume calculations:
o 2.0 m³ volume per cycle
 1 cycle = 90 minutes running time
 24 cycles per day

 Skid-type Electrochemical Reactor (STER)

 15 minutes running time (Flow-through) to fill the 2.5 m³ capacity
retention / holding chamber of BER, pumped by a 1HP-capacity
submersible pump from the equalization tank

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

o Inside dimension of the STER chambers: L - 300mm, W -

224mm, H-900mm

 Overflow of colloidal sludge

 1 minute, allowing surfaced coagulated colloidal sludge to overflow
to sand bed filter; liquid that passed through will return to leaching
tank

 Batch Electrochemical Reactor (BER)

 60 minutes (treatment time) disinfection and polishing
o Inside dimension of the BER chamber: L – 1600mm, W –
1000mm, H – 1400mm

 Settling time
 2 minutes to allow all suspended solids to surface

 Pump out / release

 12 minutes to release to treated water line of BTSI

 Expected efficiency
 Effective removal of wastewater contaminants based on the
parameters of DENR DAO 2016-08
o BOD, COD, TSS, Oil and grease, Color, Total Coliform, Fecal
Coliform, Ammonia as NH3-N,Nitrate as NO3-N, Phosphate,
Surfactants (MBAS)

The initial treatment stage is composed of two (2) skid-type electrochemical reactors for initial
treatment where solids will be separated.

Also in this process, organic pollutants, emulsified oil, suspended solids, color and other contaminants
will be removed. (See fig.1 in page 4)

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

Fig. 1 – Complete assembly of twin skid-type electrochemical reactor

The final treatment is the disinfection stage for the destruction of residual pathogens, removal of
dissolved solids and enhancement of initial treatment as well. (See fig.2 below)

Fig. 2 – A drawing of batch reaction chamber. Installed inside is a batch electrochemical reactor

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

The foamy sludge due to oxidation will be screened by a sand bed for dripping and drying. (See fig. 3
below)

Fig. 3 – Sand bed filter use to catch the foamy sludge for further processing

The wastewater treatment facility is consisting of three (3) electrochemical reactors powered by
heavy duty rectifiers, fiberglass reaction chambers, submersible pump (for influent) and centrifugal
pump (effluent for discharge or to the holding tank if desired for reuse) and a stainless steel sand bed
filter. (See fig. 4 below)

Fig. 4 – The complete components of the wastewater treatment facility designed with electrochemical process

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

The entire system was adapted to the existing septic vault and chambers of the establishment (See
figs. 5-7 on pages 7 and 8):
 1st chamber - Septic vault – gross solids from wastewater will be removed
 2nd chamber - Leaching tank – normal settling tank
 3rd chamber - Equalization tank – homogenization, source of waste matters to be treated
 4th chamber – (optional) holding tank for non-potable reuse

Fig.5 – Perspective drawing of the facility – FRONT/TOP

Fig.6 – Perspective drawing of the facility – LEFT

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

Fig.7 – Perspective drawing of the facility – RIGHT

A programmable logic controller (PLC), is the heart of the automation system, was installed to easily
operate the wastewater treatment facility by sequence, for monitoring and maintenance, as designed to
meet the desired treatment and volume capacity.

1. WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS DESCRIPTION

At low production cost, electrochemical reactors effectively remove all contaminants from the
liquid by destabilizing suspended, emulsified or dissolved contaminants in an aqueous medium
through electrical current. It provides a locomotive force to drive oxidation/reduction chemical
reactions. This will eliminate the use of heavy-duty air pumps and motors in aeration and
chemicals in coagulation, flocculation and disinfection. It further aims to shorten the treatment
time of the complete process to lower the cost in electricity and increase the volume of
wastewater being treated for discharge and for non-potable use of water if recycled. The
equipment will be adaptive to space limitations and can even be retrofitted to any existing sewage
treatment plants (STP) and wastewater treatment facilities (WWTF).

1.1. INITIAL TREATMENT

MANUAL MESH BOX SCREEN – the influent firstly, will pass thru a mesh box made up of
stainless steel mesh at the overflow of the septic vault to trap large objects such as plastic
materials, meat scraps, cigarette butts, sanitary napkins, toilet papers, baby wipes and
other debris that could clog in the submersible pump and reactor chambers, and could
also affect the treatment process.

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

As the sewage naturally overflows to the succeeding chambers, it will pass thru the other
sets of mesh box screen with smaller slots to filter other light and floating solids.

EQUALIZATION TANK – as the influent is inconsistent in most cases, it is necessary to

provide a buffer tank to equalize the sewage. It is used to stabilize the variations of inflow
and effluent characteristics. A sufficient retention time in the tank is enough to achieve
required homogenization. A submersible pump with level switch is installed in the tank to
regulate the flow and to convey the sewage to the reactor chambers for initial treatment.

SKID-TYPE ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTORS – the Skid-Type Electrochemical Reactor

(STER) are sets of special electrode slabs coated with minerals installed inside the reaction
chambers made up of fiberglass materials that serve as the conduit of the sewage for the
flow-through design of electrochemical process. As the influent pass through the STER,
chemical reactions transpired due to oxidation; stabilized dissolved oxygen were infused
into the water removing the contaminants for initial treatment.

STER produced foamy and colloidal sludge that float and coagulated in the surface of its
reaction chamber due to hydrogen gas. Through PLC, a 60-seconds delay was timed to
allow the conglomerated mass to overflow to the sand bed filter for dripping and drying.
It can be easily collected as the sludge when dried as it turns into a highly mineralized
whitish powder.

1.2. FINAL TREATMENT

REACTION CHAMBER – the sewage will overflow into a 1.5m³-capacity fiberglass chamber
for further treatment. As it reached the desired volume capacity, through a level sensor
installed beside the chamber, the submersible pump will stop and the initial treatment as
well. Then, final treatment will start.

BATCH ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTOR – the Batch Electrochemical Reactor (BER) was

installed at the bottom of the 2.5m³-capacity fiberglass reaction chamber (Inside
dimension: L-1.6m, W-1.1m, H-1.4m) and was sequenced to function automatically when
the overflowing of sludge (to the sand bed filter) will stop.
Electro-oxidation using a BER composed of special electrode slabs coated with minerals
set to a 40-minute retention / treatment time to complete the process. Here,
enhancement and polishing of the prior treatment through STER, including disinfection
transpired.

CENTRIFUGAL PUMP – after the process time for the final treatment, the system will
pause for 120 – 300 seconds to allow all colloidal and foamy sludge to go up to coagulate.
Then, through PLC, the centrifugal pump to the treated water line. Through a level sensor,
the coagulated sludge on top will remain in the tank and be part of the next cycle to
overflow again in the sand bed filter for proper sludge management.

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THE MUSE HOTEL BORACAY - ENGINEER’S REPORT

PROGRAMMABLE LOGIC CONTROLLER (PLC) – the operation of the facility will be carried
out by a PLC installed in a NEMA enclosure control panel. It controls all sequence as
designed per operation. Detection of any malfunction or failure in any of the major
electric and electronic component will activate the alarm tower that is visible to the
nearest camera of the CCTV for immediate human intervention and action. The unit
control of each component is provided with manual override.

SLUDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM – the sludge generated during the electro-oxidation

process is foamy and colloidal. As it floats in the surface of the reaction chamber of the
Batch Electrochemical Reactor, it overflows to the sand bed filter for dripping. When
dried, it can easily be scraped for proper sludge management.

Prepared by:

Eustaquio T. Cabueños
Innovator / Provider

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