SUB: ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING MODULE-80A

MODULE- 80A
Secondary treatment of waste water
________________________________________________________

The secondary treatment is also called biological treatment is carried out by changing the
character of the organic matter and converting it into stable forms.

There are two types of treatments are present

1. Filters 2. Activated sludge process

1. Filters: a) contact beds: used at very small paints

b) Intermittent sand filters: used at small plants

c) Trickling filters.

Trickling filters: - These are also called as percolating filters or sprinkling filters, consist of
tanks of coarser filtering media over which the sewage is allowed to sprinkle or trickle down
by means of spray nozzles or rotary distributions. The percolating sewage is collected at the
bottom of the tank through a well-designed under-drainage system. Microorganisms and
bacteria which are present in sewage, get attached to the filter media. The organic matter is
degraded by the aerobic bacteria.

Efficiency of trickling filter =

√

Where =organic loading kg/ha-m/day

High rate trickling filters: Re-circulation of sewage is an essential and important feature of
high rate trickling filters
⁄
Re-circulation factor F= ⁄
where R/I is ratio of the volume of sewage recirculated R
to the volume of raw sewage I.

Recirculation ratio

Efficiency =
√

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Where Y=Total organic loading in kg/day

V=Filter volume.

u (organic loading).

Final efficiency of two stage filter:

where = = ToatlBOD in effluent from first stage in kg/day

= Volume of second stage filter in ha-m

= Recirculation factor for second stage

Activated sludge process: The sewage effluent from primary sedimentation tank is mixed
with 20 – 30% of own volume of activated sludge which contains a large concentration of
highly active aerobic microorganisms.

The mixer enters aeration tank where the microorganisms coated around sludge
solids and the sewage are intimately mixed together with a large quantity of air for about 4-8
hours. Under these conditions the moving organisms will oxidize the organic matter and
suspended, colloidal matter tend to coagulate and form a precipitate which settles down
readily in the secondary settling tank. The settled sludge containing microorganisms called
activated sludge is continuously being produced by this process and a portion of it being
utilized and sent back to the aeration tank whereas the excess portion is disposed off properly
along with the sludge collected during primary treatment after digestion.

The volume of returned activated sludge depends upon the extend of BOD desired
to be removed. It is expressed as percentage of flow of sewage as . Where is the

returned sludge rate in ⁄ and Q is the sewage inflow rate in ⁄

Aeration period (Hydraulic Retention time) HRT:

HRT = =

BOD loading per unit volume of Aeration tank (volumetric loading):

Volumetric BOD loading = organic loading =

= = ⁄ .

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Food (F) to micro-organism (M) ratio ( )

= =

Sludge age: The average time for which particles of suspended solids remain under aeration
is called sludge age. This time is also called solids detention time or mean cell residence time
(MCRT).

Sludge Age =

Sludge volume index (SV1): Volume occupied in ml by one gm of solids in the mixed liquor
after settling for 30 min.
⁄
SVI = ⁄
= , SV1= *1000

= = = ⁄

Sludge circulation Rate = . where =MLSS in mg/l

Sludge circulation ratio = = =MLSS in returned sludge mg/l.

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