Appendix E.

Mass and Energy Balances at the Gaobeidian

Wastewater Treatment Plant in Beijing, China

N. Gans, S. Mobini and X. N. Zhang

Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund Institute of Technology, Lund
University, P.O. Box 124, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract

Wastewater treatment is an important component in the infrastructure of every country. However, with
increasingly strict outlet demands, wastewater treatment requires more and more energy. In China most of the
energy is produced from coal, which leads to major problems with air pollution, especially in urban centres such
as the capital Beijing. Hence, energy conservation in wastewater treatment plants does not only reduce the
operational costs for the plants but can also aid in the improvement of the air quality.

In this study mass and energy balances are carried out for the Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant in Beijing,
China, in order to identify the needs for process optimisation and energy conservation.

The calculations of the mass balances based on measured data suggest that there might be problems with the
reliability of the measurements. It was furthermore found that at the moment the removal of nutrients is not
optimal and that the capacity of the sludge treatment might not be high enough. The largest electricity consumers
at the treatment plant are currently the blowers for the aeration of the activated sludge tanks and the influent
pumps. Up to 31% of the total electricity consumed could maximally be produced from the cogeneration of biogas.

Keywords: Wastewater treatment, sludge treatment, mass balance, energy balance, energy conservation

Introduction
After the opening of the Chinese economy under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970´s, the Chinese economy
developed into one of the fastest growing economies in the world. This did not only improve the living standards
of the Chinese population, but also put strain on the natural resources and the environment. At present China is
the 2nd biggest energy consumer after the USA (IEA, 1999) and the 2nd largest producer of greenhouse gases in
the world (Wagner, 2006). Since most of the energy is generated from coal (IAE, 1999), this leads to major
problems with air pollution causing severe health problems, especially in the cities. Another important issue
concerning public health and the environment is the pollution and, in more than 50% of the Chinese cities, the
shortage of water resources (Butler, 2005 & Horton, 2000).
The Chinese capital Beijing suffers from severe water shortage as the city’s per capita water reserves are less
than 300 m³. According to the United Nations a region is in a water crisis if it has 500 m³ water per person (Lu,
2004). Furthermore, the water quality in the city is said to represent one of the three most severe environmental
problems in Beijing (Hou & Hunter, 1998). The Guardian’s journalist Watts (2005) calls Beijing the “air
pollution capital of the world”. Although this might seem exaggerated, Chinese experts classified the air quality
in Beijing as “very dangerous” causing the premature death of up to 411 000 citizens (Watts, 2005). One of the
main sources of the air pollution is the generation of energy from coal (China Internet Information Center, 2003).
One keystone in improving the water quality in the city is wastewater treatment. However, energy conservation
should play a role in the operation of the wastewater treatment plants in order not to further aggravate the air
pollution problem. Therefore, this study aims to calculate mass and energy balances for the biggest wastewater
treatment plant in Beijing, the Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant (Gaobeidian WWTP), in order to suggest
possible methods for optimising the wastewater treatment processes as well as for energy conservation. Mass
balances are valuable tools to assess the performance of a WWTP and its processes and to detect possible
weaknesses, while energy balances can identify the major energy consumers in the WWTP which should be the
focus of energy conservation plans.
The Gaobeidian WWTP was constructed in two phases. The first one was completed in 1993 and the second one
in 1999. The two parts of the plant are now called the first and second project. The wastewater treatment consists
of bar screens and aerated grit chambers as preliminary treatment, primary sedimentation, activated sludge tanks
with nitrification, denitrification and to some extent biological phosphorous removal and finally secondary

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sedimentation. The excess sludge from the biological treatment is removed via the primary clarifiers and enters
the sludge treatment together with the primary sludge as mixed sludge. The sludge treatment consists of
thickening tanks, anaerobic mesophilic digestion and dewatering. Additionally there is a thickening-dewatering
house which is connected to the digesters as back-up for the dewatering.

Materials and Methods

The theoretical mass balances over the wastewater and the sludge treatment at the Gaobeidian WWTP are based
on literature values. If no such values could be found, assumptions were made based on studies published in
scientific magazines. The mass balances based on measured data were calculated based on data and information
gathered during a two-months study visit at the Engineering Consultation Company located at the Gaobeidian
WWTP.
An investigation of the main equipment and its electrical energy consumption at Gaobeidian WWTP was carried
out. The annual power consumption was calculated using the average power rating of the motors and mean
running times.

Results and Discussion

Mass Balance over the Wastewater Treatment

Figures 1a to 1e show the results of the theoretical mass balances for the major pollutants of concern in
wastewater treatment: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen
(TN), total phosphorus (TP) and suspended solids (SS). The calculations were carried out with even kg/d for
masses and m3/d for flows. However, it should be recognized that the last three digits of the masses are not very
reliable and there are small inconsistencies due to rounding.

Influent BOD oxidized Influent COD oxidized

115 294 kg/d 53 921 kg/d 230 589 kg/d 83 223 kg/d
Effluent Effluent
46.8% 7 258 kg/d 36.1%
C 17 084
100%A B C 6.3% 100%
A B 7.4%
33.5% kg/d
40.5%
2.5% 1.2%
Debris & Debris & grit 38.4%
69.4% 93.7%
grit 113.9% 2 882 kg/d 33.5% Excess
40.5%
2 882 kg/d Excess sludge
sludge Supernatant 77 140 kg/d
Excess sludge
46 665 88 603 kg/d
Excess sludge 77 142 kg/d
Supernatant kg/d
46 665 kg/d Waste
80 044 kg/d
sludge
A – Preliminary treatment A – Preliminary treatment
216 006 kg/d
Waste B – Primary treatment
B – Primary treatment
sludge C– Biological treatment and secondary
C– Biological treatment and secondary
131 277 kg/d sedimentation
sedimentation

Figure 1a. Theoretical mass balance for BOD5 over Figure 1b. Theoretical mass balance for COD over the
the wastewater treatment in the Gaobeidian WWTP. wastewater treatment in the Gaobeidian WWTP.

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 Influent Effluent
N2 gas released Influent
34 655 kg/d Effluent 1 630 kg/d
5 389 kg/d 3 332 kg/d
24 113
15.6% 48.9%
A kg/d A B
100% B C 69.6% 100% C
18.9% 46.3%
24.6%
18.9% 39.5% 62.5%
Excess
Supernatant Excess 113.6%
sludge
8 522 kg/d sludge 46.3% Excess sludge
6 557 kg/d
6 558 kg/d Waste sludge 1 543 kg/d
13 677 kg/d Supernatant
2 083 kg/d

Excess sludge
1 543 kg/d
Waste
A – Preliminary treatment A – Preliminary treatment sludge
B – Primary treatment B – Primary treatment 3 785 kg/d
C – Biological treatment and C– Biological treatment and
secondary sedimentation secondary sedimentation

Figure 1c. Theoretical mass balance for TN over Figure 1d. Theoretical mass balance for TP over the
the wastewater treatment in the Gaobeidian WWTP. wastewater treatment in the Gaobeidian WWTP.

Influent Effluent
183 938 kg/d 13 319 kg/d
7.2%
A B C
41.9%
100%

35.5%
128.3%
41.9% Excess
sludge
Supernatant 77 140 kg/d
65 317 kg/d
Excess
sludge
77 142 kg/d

Waste
A – Preliminary treatment
sludge
B – Primary treatment
235 938 kg/d
C – Biological treatment and
secondary sedimentation

Figure 1e. Theoretical mass balance for SS over the

wastewater treatment in the Gaobeidian WWTP.

As can be seen in Figures 1a to 1e, only minor fractions of organic matter are removed in the preliminary
treatment while it was assumed that the preliminary treatment does not affect the other pollutants. Before
primary sedimentation two flows add considerable amounts of masses to the raw wastewater. The first one is the
supernatant from the sludge treatment which especially increases the load of BOD5 and TP on the following
treatment steps. The second flow that is added before primary treatment is the excess sludge from the biological
treatment. It was calculated by the use of iterations. Hence, there are slight inconsistencies in the masses
calculated for the excess sludge flow entering before primary sedimentation and the flow leaving the secondary
sedimentation tanks. The excess sludge increases the load onto the primary clarifiers, especially for TP, BOD5
and SS.

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The waste sludge is the major removal pathway for the pollutants as it does not only contain the primary, but
also the excess sludge. It can be seen that the complete excess sludge that is added, is settled and removed in the
primary sedimentation tanks. Only for TN the removal via the excess sludge is considerably smaller.
For the mass balance calculations the activated sludge tanks and the secondary clarifiers were treated as one unit.
In this unit the pollutants are either removed as excess sludge, they escape into the atmosphere in the case of
BOD5, COD and TN, or they leave the treatment plant with the effluent. It can be seen that the mass of TN and
TP contained in the effluent is significant and it can be concluded that there might be problems with the nutrient
removal. This is confirmed by the measured effluent concentrations which exceed the Chinese effluent
standards.
Additionally to the theoretical mass balance calculations it was also attempted to calculate mass balances based
on concentrations and flows measured at the Gaobeidian WWTP. There are four measurement points for
pollutant concentrations in the WWTP. The first one is located at the influent, the second and third before and
after primary sedimentation and the fourth after secondary sedimentation. However, the concentrations measured
at the second point, which is situated before the addition of the excess sludge, are very high. The concentrations
that had to be contained in the supernatant to add these masses to the raw wastewater seem to be out of a
reasonable range. This suggests that there might be problems with the reliability of the measurements carried out
at the WWTP. As the problem is less severe for TN, which is mainly present in dissolved form, it seems that
there might be problems specifically with measuring particulate pollutants.
Due to the high concentrations measured before primary sedimentation, the calculated masses removed with the
waste sludge from the primary clarifiers are relatively high compared to the theoretical values. The removal
efficiencies in the treatment unit of activated sludge tanks and secondary clarifiers are in the range of those
computed in the theoretical mass balance or slightly below for BOD5 and COD respectively, while they are
considerable lower for TP. Based on the measured data the removal of TN and SS is higher than computed for
the theoretical case. Nevertheless, the mass balance based on the measured data also suggests that there might be
problems with the nutrient removal.

Mass Balance over the Sludge Treatment

The mass balance over the sludge treatment was carried out both on theoretical values and based on measured
values. Due to a lack of information it was only calculated for SS.
Figure 2 shows the theoretical mass balance over the sludge treatment plant. From the total mass of waste sludge
entering the sludge treatment plant 80% leaves the thickening tanks (A) as thickened sludge while 20% is
contained in the supernatant from the second stage digester tanks (B2). In the digesters (B1) around 36% of the
total mass is converted to biogas while the supernatant from the digesters contains 4%. Approximately 40%
enters the dewatering (C) as digested sludge. From the dewatering unit 36% of the total mass leaves as the filter
cake and 4% are contained in the supernatant.

TSMg = 85.0 (ton/d)

TSM2 = 94.3 (ton/d)

TSMw = 236.0 (ton/d) A TSM1 = 188.7 (ton/d)
B1 B2
TSMf = 85.0 (ton/d)
C

TSMS1 = 47.1 (ton/d) TSMS2 = 9.4 (ton/d) TSMS3= 9.4 (ton/d)

TSMS = 66.0 (ton/d)

TSMw = Mass of waste sludge TSMS = Mass of supernatant flow

TSM1 = Mass of sludge out of thickening TSMS1 = Mass of supernatant flow from thickening
TSMg = Mass of sludge converting to gas TSMS2 = Mass of supernatant flow from digester
TSM2 = Mass of digested sludge TSMS3 = Mass of supernatant flow from dewatering
TSMf = Mass of filter cake

Figure 2. Theoretical mass balance over the sludge treatment plant in the Gaobeidian WWTP.

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Figure 3 shows the mass balance over the sludge treatment plant based on measured values. As it can be seen,
45% of the total mass goes to the digesters as thickened sludge and 55% are contained in the supernatant from
the thickening tanks. In the digesters around 20% of the total mass is converted into biogas while 22% is
contained in the digested sludge. The supernatant from digestion carries about 3% of the total mass. Of the 22%
entering the dewatering unit about 20% leave as the filter cake and 2% are contained in the supernatant from the
dewatering process.

TSMg = 40.6 (ton/d)

TSMw = 202.0 (ton/d) TSM1= 90.2 (ton/d) TSM2 = 45.1 (ton/d) TSMf = 40.6 (ton/d)
A B1 B2 C
B1

TSMS1 = 111.8 (ton/d)

TSMS2 = 4.5 (ton/d) TSMS3 =4.5 (ton/d)

TSMS = 120.8 (ton/d)

TSMw = Mass of waste sludge TSMS = Mass of supernatant flow

TSM1 = Mass of sludge out of thickening TSMS1 = Mass of supernatant flow from thickening
TSMg = Mass of sludge converting to gas TSMS2 = Mass of supernatant flow from digester
TSM2 = Mass of digested sludge TSMS3 = Mass of supernatant flow from dewatering
TSMf = Mass of filter cake

Figure 3. Mass balance over the sludge treatment based on measured values from the Gaobeidian WWTP.

By comparing the results of the two mass balances over the sludge treatment plant in Figure 2 and 3, it can be
seen that there is a significant difference in the first part (thickening), but not in the digestion and dewatering.
During the calculations of the mass balance based on the measured values, it had to be realized that it was not
possible to get a balance for the values measured in the digestion and dewatering units. Therefore, the theoretical
values had to be used instead of the measured ones. However, the values used for the thickening process
correspond to the measured ones and, as mentioned above, there is a big difference in the supernatant from
thickening. This might be due to measurement errors or operational problems.
From the measured waste sludge flow towards the sludge treatment (3rd Department, 2006) it can be seen that the
waste sludge entering the sludge treatment exceeds its capacity. Therefore, there is a risk of overloading and
hence overflow for all units in the sludge treatment (thickening, digestion and dewatering). The mass balance
based on measured values in this study can only show the problem in the thickening part, but it could be assumed
that there might be problems due to overflow from the digesters as well.

Energy Balance
Table 1 summarizes the results of the energy balance over the Gaobeidian WWTP. The minus sign (-) indicates
electricity consumption whereas the plus sign (+) refers to electricity production.

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Table 1. Electricity production and consumption at the Gaobeidian WWTP.

Total power % of total

(kWh/year) (%)
Preliminary treatment - 20 117 340 32.0
Primary treatment - 3 637 182 6.0
Secondary treatment - 36 110 472 58.0
Thickening - 531 732 0.4
Digestion - 1 619 688 2.6
Dewatering - 650 614 1.0
Total - 62 667 028 100.0
Cogeneration + 19 710 000 31.0

It can be seen from Table 1 that the secondary treatment accounts for 58% of the total power use followed by the
preliminary treatment with 32%. In this case the secondary treatment includes both the activated sludge tanks
and secondary sedimentation. In the secondary treatment the blowers, which supply the activated sludge tanks
with air, are the main electricity consumers. In the Gaobeidian WWTP there is one 800 kW blower in the first
project and two 900 kW blowers in the second project. Here the influent pump station is included in the
preliminary treatment. It requires high power since there are three 600 kW pumps and one 410 kW pump used
currently. In contrast to the other steps in the WWTP, cogeneration is the part that is used for producing
electricity. If one calculates the maximum amount of electricity that could be produced, it can account for about
31% of the total power usage. In other words, 31% of the electricity could be self-supported. In the Gaobeidian
WWTP, the self-produced electricity is currently provided for the aeration process.

Conclusions
• Mass balances are valuable tools for investigating the general performance of a wastewater treatment plant
and an effective method to assess the reliability of the available data. In the case of the Gaobeidian WWTP,
the mass balance calculations based on measured values suggest that there might be problems with the
measurements.
• Energy balances can be calculated theoretically, based on the running time and power consumption of the
equipments.
• From the mass balance over the Gaobeidian WWTP it could be concluded that the present nutrient removal
is not optimal and the sludge treatment seems to be overloaded. Methods for the optimisation of the plant
should therefore focus on these problems.
• The energy balance of the Gaobeidian WWTP illustrates that the aeration and the influent pump station are
the biggest consumers of electricity. A maximum of 31% of the total electricity consumed could be
generated from the cogeneration of biogas produced during digestion. Hence, energy conservation should
focus on the blower and pumps.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the supervisor of our Master thesis, Associate Professor Karin Jönsson, for her help and
patience. We furthermore would like to express our gratitude to the staff of the Engineering Consultation
Company and the Gaobeidian WWTP for the data and information provided during our study visit in Beijing.

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