The BioKube system is certified and type tested to European Standard EN 12566
"Small wastewater treatment systems for up to 50 PE"
Over the past 8 or 9 years the European Union has been developing a new
standard. We have tried here to give a general overview of this new
European Standard and how it is used to certify the BioKube system. If
more information is required then reference must be made to the original
documentation.
EN 12566 currently consists of 7 parts. Some parts are still in preparation
whilst others are now considered as finished and published for adoption as
National Standards. Thus Part 3 below is now a British Standard and
designated as BS EN 12566-3:2005.
The list of EN 12566 parts are:
Part 1: Pre-fabricated septic tanks;
Part 2: Soil infiltration systems;
Part 3: Packaged and/or site assembled domestic wastewater treatment plants;
Part 4: Septic tanks assembled in situ from prefabricated kits. (in
preparation);
Part 5: Pre-treated effluent filtration systems;
Part 6: Prefabricated treatment unit used for septic tank effluent (in
preparation);
Part 7: Prefabricated tertiary treatment unit (in preparation);
Part 2 and Part 5 are to be considered as Codes of Practice and do not
specify treatment requirements. Those parts in preparation are pre-fixed
by "pr". i.e part 6 is currently referred to as prEN 12566-6. The date that
it is published in the European Journal is indicated by the date at the end.
Thus Part 3 is now referred to as BS EN 12566-3:2005 The announcement was made in EU
Directive 89/106/EEC for construction products.
As there are no other UK standards for small treatment plants. BS EN
12566-3:2005 is now in force. Any system that has BS EN 12566
certification may be installed in the UK so long as it meets the discharge
consent granted by the Environment Agency or SEPA. If a system does not
have BS EN 12566 certification you may be asked to prove that it will meet the
standard... The manufacturer must provide this information in the form of
rigorous independent test results. Failure to produce this information
might lead to Trading Standards being involved... Don't buy a system that does
not have BS EN 12566 certification unless you are certain that its efficacy can
be proven.
The parts that cover a BioKube system are Part 1, 3 and 6.
Part 1 specifies the requirements for the Settlement Tank in the BioKube
System. Part 3 contains the type testing and effluent treatment
requirements that are needed to certify the BioKube AWTS tank within the BioKube
system and part 6 ties together the previous parts when the two tanks are used
together as in a BioKube system.
Initial type testing, (mechanical testing, water tightness, load bearing
capacity etc.) requires that the largest size of tank in a series be tested.
Thus if a manufacturer produces a range of tanks from say 5 PE up to 50 PE then
the 50 PE tank will be type tested, as this will be the likely tank that is
going to fail due to its size.
Effluent quality testing will be carried out on the smallest tank in a range.
Again, it is considered that the smallest tank in a series will be most likely
to fail the treatment efficiency tests due to the wide variation of flow rates
and types of domestic sewage that are found. Larger tanks perform better
where efficiency is concerned.
The tests have to be carried out by an approved test laboratory.
Effluent testing efficiency is measured over a period of 38 weeks after the
system has been fully commissioned by the manufacturer and has been allowed to
develop full efficiency. Once this has occurred there is series of tests
that stress the unit over time. Under loading, overloading, loss of power
and regular usage are all applied to the units. Effluent samples are taken
regularly during the testing to determine compliance with the stated standard.
(This can vary from one country to another and has to be stated in the
documentation when the tank is finally certified.)
Once a tank has passed the testing sequence it can be CE Marked by the
manufacturer and then sold across Europe in all EU countries so long as it was
tested to the countries effluent standard or better.
The BioKube system has an effluent standard that is twice as efficient as the
current UK standard of 20:30:20 and can treat Phosphorous as well if required.
A copy of the test
certificate for the BioKube system can be downloaded here.
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