Department of Civil Engineering-I.I.T.

Delhi
CEL 212: Environmental Engineering
Second Semester 2011-2012
Home Work 2 Solution

Always write your name and entry number in all submissions. Please mention your assumptions explicitly.

Q1. Problem # 3-19 (Peavy et al. Text Book). A wastewater treatment plant disposes of its effluent in a
surface stream. Characteristics of the stream and effluent are shown below.
[5+5+5 points]
Parameter wastewater stream
flow (m3/s) 0.2 5
Dissolved oxygen, mg/L 1 8
Temperature, °C 15 20.2
BOD5 at 20°C, mg/L 100 2
Oxygen consumption rate (K1 at 20°C) (1/day) 0.2 -
Oxygen reaeration rate (K2 at 20°C) (1/day) - 0.3
(a) What will be the dissolved oxygen conc. in the stream after 2 days?
(b) What will be the lowest dissolved oxygen concentration as a result of the waste discharge?
(c) Also calculate the maximum BOD5 (20°C) that can be discharged if a minimum of 4.0 mg/L of
oxygen must be maintained in the stream?

Answer:
Parameter wastewater stream (given) Wastewater and stream water
(given) mixture
flow (m3/s) 0.2 5 =Qmixture=5+0.2=5.2 m/s
Dissolved oxygen, mg/L 1 8 DOmixture=(0.2*1+8*5)/(5+0.2)
=7.73 mg/L
Temperature, °C 15 20.2 Tempmixture=(0.2*15+20.2*5)/(5+0.2)
=20 deg C (No temp. correction
required)
BOD5 at 20°C, mg/L 100 2 BODmixture=(0.2*100+2*5)/(5+0.2)
=5.77 mg/L
Oxygen consumption rate (K1 at 0.2 0.23 (No temp. correction required)
°C) (1/day) (assumed for stream water)
Oxygen reaeration rate (K2 at °C) - 0.3 0.3 (No temp. correction required)
(1/day)

Ultimate BOD= Yultimate=L0 = (5-day BOD in mixture water)/[1-exp(-K1mixture*5)]

=(5.77 mg/L)/ [1-exp(-0.23*5)] =8.44 mg/L

Initial DO deficit (D0)

For 20°C stream water temperature, equilibrium concentration of oxygen =9.17 mg/L
D0 = 9.17 mg/L-7.73 mg/L = 1.44 mg/L

To get DO after 2 days in stream water after mixing, we need to calculate DO deficit after 2 days first and then
calculate DO (at 2days). DO deficit at 2 days is given by
D (t=2 days) = [K1*L0]*[exp (-K1*t)-exp (-K2*t)]/ (K2-K1) + D0 exp (-K2*t)
= [0.2*8.44]*[exp (-0.2*2)-exp (-0.3*2)]/ (0.3-0.2) + 1.44 exp (-0.3*2)
= [1.94]*[0.6703-0.5488]/ (0.07) + 0.7903 =3.07 mg/L

D (t=2 days) = DO saturated-DO (2day) = 3.07 mg/L

DO (2day) = 9.17-3.07=6.10 mg/L (answer for part i)

Time for critical DO deficit (tc)= 1/ (K2-K1)*ln [(K2/K1)*(1-D0 *(K2-K1)/ (K1L0))]

= 1/ (0.3-0.23)*ln [(0.3/0.23)*(1-1.44 *(0.3-0.23)/ (0.23*8.44))]
= 14.29*ln [1.3*(1-1.44 *0.036)] = 14.29*ln [1.23] =2.95 days
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Critical DO deficit (Dc)= (K1/K2)*L0 exp (-K1*tc)
= (0.23/0.3)*8.44 exp (-0.23*2.95) = 6.47 *0.507 =3.28 mg/L

Dc = DOsaturated-DOcritical = 3.28 mg/L

DOcritical= 9.17-3.28=5.89 mg/L (answer for part ii)

Required minimum DO = 4.0 mg/L in stream water. As DO at critical location is 5.89 mg/L, greater than the
recommended DO level, no modification in wastewater effluent characteristics is required.

To calculate maximum BOD5 in effluent water, calculate allowable DO deficit (i.e., Dallowable)
= DOsaturated-DOminimum = 9.17-4.0 = 5.17 mg/L [Note that 5.17 mg/L DO deficit is allowable and we are having 5.89
mg/L critical DO deficit.]

Now with calculated allowable DO deficit (this is assumed to be the critical deficit now) and calculated tcritical
(assumed to be similar to previous case, i.e., 2.95 days), calculate ultimate BOD in this case. Then calculate 5-day
BOD of the mixture stream water and then calculate 5-day BOD of the effluent which will be the desired
maximum 5-day BOD value.

Dallowable (t=tcritical) =Dcritical,new

=> 5.17 = (0.23/0.30)*L0 [exp (-0.23*2.95)] = 0.77*0.51L0=0.3927L0
=> Ultimate BOD of the mixture water = L0=5.19 mg/L/ (0.3927) =13.17 mg/L

Now 5-day BOD in mixture water is calculated.

5-day BODmixture = L0 *[1-exp (-K1mixture*5)]
= (13.17 mg/L)*[1-exp (-0.23*5)] =9.0 mg/L

5-day BOD in effluent water is calculated now.

BODmixture= (5-day BODeffQeff+5-day BODstreamQstream)/ (5+0.2)
9.0 mg/L = (5-day BODeff*0.2+2*5)/ (5+0.2)
5-day BODeff *0.2+10= 9.0*5.2 = 46.8
=> 5-day BODeff = (46.8-10)/0.2= 184 mg/L (answer for part iii). This is maximum value of 5-day BOD in
wastewater effluent which can be discharged in the stream water without exceeding the minimum required
DO value of 4 mg/L.

Q2. For a given effluent-stream combination, say values of BOD reaction rate and stream reaeration rate
are 0.26 and 0.42 per day, respectively and given that initial dissolved oxygen (DO) deficit is 2 mg/L with
ultimate BOD of the mixture equals to 18 mg/L, discuss the approach for calculating time (say t*) since
mixing of effluent with stream water after which DO deficit becomes 1% of the initial DO deficit?
[5 points]

Hint:
Given: Ultimate BOD of mixture = 18 mg/L; Initial DO deficit (D0)= 2 mg/L;k1=0.25/day and k2=0.42/day

Steps:
1. Calculate Time for critical DO deficit (tc)
2. Critical DO deficit (Dc)= (K1/K2)*L0 exp (-K1*tc)
3. DOcritical
4. Use general formula for DO deficit for finding t* since mixing of effluent with stream water after which
DO deficit becomes 1% of the initial DO deficit (i.e., Dt* =0.01*2 mg/L=0.02 mg/L)

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Q3. The WWTP in the “AA” community discharges 10 million gallons/day of secondary effluent into a
stream “Red Cedar” whose minimum flow rate is 100 m3/s.
WWTP effluent Stream water
Temperature (°C) 20°C 15°C
BOD5 (mg/L) (at 20 °C) 200 1
Dissolved oxygen (mg/L) 2 80% of saturation level
Oxygen consumption rate (k1) (1/day) 0.3
Oxygen re-aeration rate (k2)(1/day) 0.7
Using above information, calculate the following:
1) Temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO) and BOD of the mixture.
2) Initial dissolved oxygen deficit at the place of mixing.
3) Critical oxygen deficit (Dc), time for maximum dissolved oxygen deficit (tmax) and its location from
discharge point (Xc).
4) The dissolved oxygen level and 20°C BOD5 of a sample taken at the critical point.
(Saturated oxygen concentration in stream before discharge is 10.07 mg/L at 15°C. Saturated DO at 15.7°C
is 9.9 mg/L. Use temperature coefficients of 1.135 for k1 and 1.024 for k2 for applying temperature
corrections for these two constants.)

Answer:
Qeffluent= 10 million gallons/day = 10*106 gallons/day* (3.78 liters/gallon)*(1/1000 m3/liters)
= 3.78*104 m3/day = (3.78*104)/(24*3600)=0.4375 m3/s

DOstream = 80% of saturation level = 80/100*(10.07 mg/L) =8.056 mg/L

Using the mass balance approach for dissolved oxygen:

Dissolved oxygen in the mixture = [DOeffluentQeffluent+DOstreamQstream]/(Qeffluent+Qstream)
= [(2mg/L*0.4375m3/s)+(8.056 mg/L*100 m3/s)]/( 0.4375m3/s + 100 m3/s)
= [(0.875)+(805.6)]/(100.4375) =806.475/100.4375=8.030 mg/L

Initial DO deficit (D0) at the place of mixing = 10.07 mg/L-8.03 mg/L = 2.04 mg/L

Using the mass balance approach for temperature :

Temperature in the mixture = [TeffluentQeffluent+TstreamQstream]/(Qeffluent+Qstream)
= [(20*0.4375m3/s)+(15 *100 m3/s)]/( 0.4375m3/s + 100 m3/s)
= [1508.75]/(100.4375) =15.02 °C

Using the mass balance approach for 5-day BOD

5-day BOD in the mixture = [BODeffluentQeffluent+BODstreamQstream]/(Qeffluent+Qstream)
= [(200mg/L*0.4375m3/s)+(1 mg/L*100 m3/s)]/( 0.4375m3/s + 100 m3/s)
= [(87.5)+(100)]/(100.4375) =187.5/100.4375=1.87 mg/L

Ultimate BOD (i.e., Yultimate or L0) = (5-day BOD in mixture water)/[1-exp(-K1mixture*5)]

=(1.87 mg/L)/ [1-exp(-0.3*5)] (assuming river water and mixture have same oxygen consumption rate)
=2.41 mg/L

K values after temperature corrections:

K1 (at 15.02 °C ) = (0.3/day) (1.135)(15.02-20) =0.1597/day
K2 (at 15.02 °C ) = (0.7/day) (1.024)(15.02-20) =0.6220/day

Time for critical DO deficit (tc)= 1/ (K2-K1)*ln [(K2/K1)*(1-D0 *(K2-K1)/ (K1L0))]

= 1/ (0.6220-0.1597)*ln [(0.6220/0.1597)*(1-2.04 *(0.6220-0.1597)/ (0.1597*2.41))]
= 2.16*ln [3.89*(1-2.04 *1.20)] = negative value (i.e., critical deficit will not happen)

Thus, Critical DO deficit (Dc)= 0

Dc = DOsaturated-DOcritical = 0
DOcritical= 9.9-0=9.9 mg/L (assuming that Saturated DO at 15.2°C is equal to that at 15.7°C, i.e., 9.9 mg/L)

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Q4. Assuming that reaeration rate (k2) given in Q1 varies between 0.23/day and 0.60/day with mean equals
to 0.42/day, re-do question Q2 using these two revised estimates of k2 and comment on effect of variability in
k2 values on estimate of t*.

Hint:Here, k2 = 0.42/day (average) (range: 0.23/day to 0.6/day)

Steps:
1. Now for each k2 value, repeat Q2 steps and calculate t*
2. Compare t* values for different k2 values and how it decreases or increases with k2 values.

Q5. Re-do Q1 and comment on DO values at t=0.5tc and t=2tc. For policy making, which DO value should be
considered? After mixing, what is the setback distance (i.e., downstream distance along the bank from the
point of mixing) where DO level is at least 70% of saturated DO level in river water?

Hint:
Steps:
1. Calculate DO values for 0.5tc and 2tc and compare DO values; DO value at 0.5tc and DO value for 2tc will
be higher than DO at tc; For policy making, DO should be at least minimum DO value and it should happen
after critical location, so use DO after tc when DO is at least minimum allowable DO recommended by
regulatory body.
2. Say for t* time, DO >0.7 (saturated DO level) (where t* > tc), find t* using general formula for DO deficit
after calculating DO deficit = DOsaturated-DOt

Q6. Using Q1 data, if effluent water is not mixed in stream water, what is the maximum BOD concentration
in effluent to meet the stream water DO standard?

Hint:
If effluent is not mixed in stream water, i.e., Qeff is set to zero in mass balance equation and then all parameter
values are calculated using the method used in Q1.