Organic slurry treatment process

A process for treating an organic slurry comprising a mixture of solids suspended in a liquid, colloidal solids and dissolved pollutants including nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, the process comprising:

• flocculating a slurry stream with anionic polymer or a coagulant, or both, to aggregate suspended and colloidal solids into a floc, to form a flocculated steam;
• removing flocs from the flocculated stream to form a deflocced stream;
• feeding the deflocced stream into a biomass concentration suspended growth system to remove biologically at least a portion of the organic and inorganic nitrogen, and remove by biological luxury uptake at least a portion of the phosphorus, wherein the system comprises:
• a multi-stage sequence of an anaerobic zone, an anoxic zone, and an aerobic zone, each zone separated with baffles, operating in a biomass recycle pattern from the anoxic zone to the anaerobic zone, and from the aerobic zone to the anoxic zone, with biomass wastage from the aerobic zone;
• and
• microfiltration membranes to filter liquid out of the aerobic zone to form a low-turbidity permeate.