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MLVSS/MLSSRatio
RuleofThumb:Whenindoubt,youcansafelyassumetheMLVSS/MLSSratiois0.80.Havingsaidthat,Idonothesitatetouseaslightly
lowervalue,say0.75or0.78,whenIneedtocalculatethequantityofmixedliquorvolatilesolidsinthebioreactoraspartofdeterminingthe
foodtomicroorganismratio.InthiscaseIwanttobeconservativeinmyestimate(underestimatingthequantityofbiomass)tobecertainI
haveenoughbugsonhandforagivenorganicload.IfImcalculatingtheoxygendemandinthebioreactorIwanttobeconservativeagainbut
intheoppositedirection.SoImightusearatiovalueof0.82or0.85tooverestimatetheoxygendemandtobecertainIhaveenoughaeration
equipmenttosatisfythatdemand.

Thetotalsuspendedsolidsconcentrationinthebioreactor(activatedsludgeprocess)representsthemixedliquorsuspendedsolidsconcentrationorMLSS.
TheMLSSvalueincludesinorganicornonbiologicalsolidsinadditiontoorganicbacterialcellsorbiomass.Assuch,theMLSSoverestimatesthe
concentrationofmicroorganismsinthereactor.

Inordertogenerateamorerepresentativenumberfortheconcentrationofmicroorganismsinthebioreactor,themixedliquorvolatilesuspendedsolids
(MLVSS)concentrationisdetermined.BurningofftheorganicfractionoftheMLSSat550Cleavesbehindtheinorganicfractionofthemixedliquor,the
weightofwhichisthensubtractedfromtheMLSStoobtainabetterestimateoftheorganic,biomassquantity.ThelabtestingforproducingMLSSand
MLVSSisdoneeasilyenoughbutIoftenfinddiscrepanciesinthedataIget.Forexample,theMLVSSwillbereportedasbeing97%oftheMLSS
concentration.AndthoughmanywastewaterplantsgenerateMLSSvaluesdailytherecanbegapsintheMLVSSdatabecausethistestingisdoneonly
occasionally.

WhenyoudonothavetheMLVSSconcentrationitcanbeestimatedsimplybymultiplyingtheMLSSconcentrationbythetypicalvalueof0.80(MLVSS=
MLSSx0.80).InthiscaseyouareestimatingthattheorganicfractionoftheMLSS,thefractionthatcontains,intheory,microorganisms,isapproximately
80%ofthetotalsuspendedsolidsinthebioreactor.Itshouldberecognizedthattherewillbedeadcellsandburst,orlysed,cellsthat,thoughorganic,are
nonethelessnotpartoftheactivebiomass.IprovideyouwithseveralsourcesofinformationinsupportofwhatIamsayingregardingtheMLVSS/MLSS
ratio,shownbelow.TherangeoflikelyMLVSS/MLSSratiosisalsoshowngraphically,below,afterthereferences,inFigures1,2,and3.

1.Metcalf&Eddy.WastewaterEngineering:TreatmentandReuse.4thed.Boston:McGrawHill,2003.Pgs.682683.

theVSSfractionofthetotalbiomassisabout0.85,basedonthecellcompositiongiveninTable74(Table74hasbeenreproduced,below).

2.vonSperling,Marcus.ActivatedSludgeandAerobicBiofilmReactors.Volume5.London:IWAPublishing,2007.Pgs.2021.

MLVSS/MLSSratioistypically80percent.

ConventionalactivatedsludgeratioMLVSS/MLSS=0.70to0.85.

ExtendedaerationactivatedsludgeratioMLVSS/MLSS=0.60to0.75.

3.WaterEnvironmentFederation.ActivatedSludge.2nded.ManualofPracticeOM9.Alexandria,VA,2002.Pg.4.

MLVSS/MLSSratiorangesfrom70to80percent.

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Figure1:RangeofMixedLiquorSuspendedSolidsValues

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ItismyexperiencethatMLSSvaluesabove3,600mg/Lmostoftenoccurbecauseofinsufficientwasting,notbydesignorintenttoachieveoptimal
operation.ItshouldalsoberealizedthatastheMLSSconcentrationincreases,therateatwhichtheMLSSwillsettleinthesecondaryclarifieractually
decreases.Theslowerrateofsettling,duetoahigherMLSSconcentration,canthenleadtoahighertotalsuspendedsolidsconcentrationleavingthe
clarifier.ButitdoesalsohappenwhereIfindtheMLSSispurposelyincreasedtolowertheF:Mratio.Unfortunately,ifaplantissufferingfromchronically
highF:MratiostherealsolutionismoreaerationvolumeratherthananincreaseintheMLSSconcentration.

Figure2showstheexpectedratioofmixedliquorvolatilesolids(MLVSS)tomixedliquorsuspendedsolids(MLSS),arangethatspans60to85%.Ihave
seenMLVSS/MLSSratiovaluesashighas90%butIconsidersuchhighvaluestobesuspect.

Figure2:RatioofMLVSStoMLSS

WithatypicalMLSSconcentrationthatrangesfrom1,800to4,000mg/LinconventionalactivatedsludgesystemsandanexpectedMLVSS/MLSSratio
thatrangesfrom60to85%,wecanexpecttheMLVSSconcentrationtorangefrom1,080to3,400mg/LasshowninFigure3.

TopofPage Figure3:RangeofMixedLiquorVolatileSuspendedSolidsValues

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Forthoseofyouthathaveaninterestinstatistics,or,morespecifically,inuncertainty,risk,orprobabilityanalysis,Iprovidesomeadditionaldetailsonhow
tobetterestimatetheMLVSSconcentrationusingagreatsoftwareprogramcalled@RiskfromthePalisadeCorporation(www.palisade.com).This
softwareisabighelpindevelopinganymodel,allowingyoutorefineandclarifyyourmodelingeffortusingaprobabilitydistributiontodefinetherisk
profileassociatedwithagivenvariable,andtoimproveconfidenceintheanalysisyougenerateandtherecommendationsyouoftenneedtomakebasedon
modelresults.

AverybasicmodelforestimatingtheMLVSSconcentrationfromMLSSdatastartssimplyfromthefewExcelinputsshownFigure4,below.Here,Ive
arbitrarilyassumedtheMLSSconcentrationis2,500mg/L.ThisMLSSvalueitselfcouldbeaneducatedguessitcouldbebasedonanactuallabanalysis
itcouldbeanaveragevalueobtainedfrommanyrecentvaluesoritcouldhavebeeneasilygeneratedinthefieldusingaspectrophotometer.

Figure4:BasicExcelModelforEstimatingMLVSSfromMLSSUsingaRatioValue

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ThetruevalueoftheMLVSS/MLSSratioisoftenmuchhardertodeterminethantheMLSS.Itcanbehardtotellifsomeratiovaluesareduetosampling
error,laberror,ordataentryerror.InFigure5youcanseeahistogram(producedusingMinitabstatisticalanalysissoftware)withanormalcurve
superimposedonthedatashowingseveralyearsworthofratiodataforMLVSS/MLSS.Ifrequentlyuseahistogramwithanydatasetasameanstolook
foroutliersandasyoucansee,wehaveoutliersatbothendsofthespectrum.ThemeanMLVSS/MLSSratioisshowntobe85.9%.Butwecantusethis
valuebecauseweknowwehavesomenumberofvaluesinthedatathataregreaterthan100%whichisimpossible.Soweeitherneedtocleanupthedata,
deletingexcessivelylowvaluesandcertainlyallvaluesequalto,orgreaterthan,100%.Orwecanuse@Risktohelpusdeterminealikelyrangeof
MLVSSconcentrationvalues.

Figure5:HistogramwithNormalCurveProducedbyMinitab

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Thereissuchsimplicityandbeautyinmodelinguncertaintywith@RiskandInevertireofdoingit.InFigure6youcanseehowIhavesetupmyfirst
assumption,whereIhaveastartingMLSSconcentrationof2,500mg/LandIbelievethisconcentrationtobenormallydistributed.Icouldhavepicked
anotherdistributionandmanyareavailablewithin@RiskasshowninFigure7.WithenoughdataIcouldalsohaveused@Risktoautomaticallyfita
distributiontothedata.

Figure6:SettingUpan@RiskModelinExcel

Figure7:ManyProbabilityDistributionsAreAvailableWithin@Risk

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InFigure8,havingoriginallychosenanormaldistributionasbeingrepresentativeofthemostlikelyrangeofvaluesfortheMLVSS/MLSSratio,theresults
ofasimulationareshown.FromFigure8youcanseethatthereisa90%probabilitythattheMLVSS/MLSSratioislikelytorangefrom6.2to86.7%.

Figure8:ResultsofaSimulationRunUsing@Risk

Fromthemodelresults,startingwithanormallydistributedMLSSconcentrationof2,500mg/LandanormallydistributedMLVSS/MLSSratiocentered
onavalueof75%,wecanbe90%confidentthattheactualMLVSSconcentrationwillrangefrom1,454to2,324mg/LasshowninFigure9.

Figure9:ModelResultsofaSimulationRunUsing@RiskShowingRangeofMLVSSConcentration

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