SENV 772 – WASTEWATER TREATMENT (FALL 2019) - HOMEWORK 1

Due date: 22nd October

Students are encouraged to discuss approaches to the problems together. The aim of the homework is to
ensure and practice the tools and concepts learnt in class. However, final preparation and calculations should
be done individually. Be careful to apply and express correct units through your calculations and in your final
answers where applicable. Please show all working. If mistakes are made and the instructor cannot follow you
may lose many marks instead of just 1-2 for a specific step in the process. Excel files are fine, but please
explain with notes what you are doing in each step, and if you use excel use links to cells – do not use it like a
calculator where you enter the values manually in a cell simply to calculate.

This is the first of 3 homework assignments which have a combined course total of 30%. This homework is
worth 10% and will be marked out of a total of 66 marks.

QUESTION 1: INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT TRAIN (18 MARKS)

Choose an industrial wastewater that is land based and that typically undergoes a treatment to a stage where
it can be discharged to land, freshwater or coastal sites; or reused (e.g. tertiary treatment or beyond). Find a
few journal papers treating wastewater for that industry. (Students must have different process trains and
references, although same industry is possible).

Part A: (4 marks)

Describe the key pollutants for that industry.

Part B: (2 marks)

Describe for two of the pollutants above whether they are chemical (organic), chemical (inorganic), physical, or
biological/pathogen based pollutant.

Part C: (4 marks)

From literature or websites, provide (with reference) two different but suitable treatment trains for the
wastewater from the chosen industry. List each of the process units. They must have at least 2 treatment units
different.

Part D: (6 marks)

Describe what each process unit for the two treatment trains provided in Part C aims to remove.

Part E: (2 marks)

Describe an advantage of each treatment train over the other (e.g. energy usage, water quality, cost,
operational simplicity etc).
QUESTION 2: PRIMARY SEDIMENTATION (19 MARKS)

Consider the following wastewater following grit removal. This wastewater will also be used for Question 3.
The total flow of wastewater entering the plant is 20,000 m3/d.

Fraction Value Unit

Su 15 mg-COD/L
Ss 150 mg-COD/L
X0bv 160 mg-TSS/L
X0uv 50 mg-TSS/L
X0i 10 mg-TSS/L

A column test is used to determine the settling characteristics for primary sedimentation, as shown with
removal percentages given below.

Suspended solids percentage removal at time t (min)

Liquid
depth (m) 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
0 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0.6 100 84 61 44 31 24 21 16
1.2 100 90 81 67 50 40 30 24
1.8 100 93 86 78 66 53 43 33
2.4 100 95 88 82 74 64 52 42
3 100 96 90 84 80 73 63 49

Part A: (10 marks)

Considering a depth of 3 m and time of 50 min, determine the expected removal of total suspended solids
from the wastewater.

Part B: (2 marks) Assume Rectangular tank having length 42m and width 6m.

What is the design overflow rate for this system? Overflow Rate = Q/A = 20000/ 2 (6 x 42) = 39.68 m3/m2.day
Part C: (2 marks)

How large would the tank need to be (area). Area = 2(L x W) = 2(6 x 42) = 504 m2

Part D: (4 marks)

What is the primary sludge mass produced per day (in a reasonable unit).

Part E: (1 mark)

Calculate the mass of solids exiting the primary sedimentation tank for each of the three particulate fractions
(assume there is no change in their relative composition, i.e. each has the same capture efficiency so that all
fractions are removed at the same ratio).
QUESTION 3: BIOLOGICAL ORGANIC REMOVAL PROBLEM (29 MARKS)

Considering the same wastewater, after the primary sedimentation, determine the removal through a
biological secondary treatment unit designed for carbon removal. The system is fully aerobic and you can
assume oxygen is sufficiently high and constant that it does not impact the removal rates.

Design parameters of the biological unit are given below:

Parameter Value Unit

SRT 3 d
Y 0.42 gVSS/gbCOD
fd 0.12 g/g
fix 0.1 g/g
b 0.21 /d
K 15 gbCOD/(gVSS.d)
KS 10 mg/L

Part A: (2 marks)

Assuming a COD/TSS ratio of the solids of 1.1 g/g, what are the biodegradable fractions of COD passing to the
bioreactor that would make up S0 (as mg COD/L)?

Part B: (7 marks)

Determine the effluent COD concentration from the reactor if we are using a completely mixed reactor.

Part C: (9 marks)

Determine the total sludge production per day and the active fraction of sludge produced per day. Note for the
active fraction you only need the active biomass – you may need to adjust an equation to get an expression for
PX (or PXHv). If you understand the components of the sludge production equation this is very simple. Warning:
be careful with your units – make sure they are compatible!

Part D: (3 marks)

Determine the oxygen required (kg O2/d).

Part D: (8 marks)

Considering a sludge composition of C 5H7O2N and an aeration efficiency of 4 kg-O2/kWh using a fine bubble
diffuser, estimate how much energy is in the sludge (HHV) vs how much is used on aeration per day (1 kWh =
3.6 MJ).

Hint: For the energy calculation you will need to figure out the molar mass of the cell formula then determine
the % weight of each element. Note this cell formula excludes the ash component, so you would then need to
account for the additional fraction that is ash and adjust the percentages. You can find this as the difference
between PXT and PXv. Ignore S in the sludge energy equation, its contribution is minimal.