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SEE4217 Waste and Wastewater Treatment Engineering Semester (B) 2021/22

Assignment 4
Due Date: 1 April 2022 (Please submit via Canvas, no late assignment will be accepted)
Total = 65 points

This assignment covers materials in Weeks 6 and 7.

1. The aeration tank of an activated sludge process with recycle is designed to have both BOD
removal and nitrification. The system operating parameters are indicated in the table below.

Properties of system Coefficients

Flow = 10,000 m3/d
Influent BOD = 150 mg/L
Effluent BOD = 2 mg/L
Influent NH4-N = 29 mg/L
Effluent NH4-N = 0.5 mg/L
Hydraulic retention time = 8 h
SRT = 15 d
Y = 0.40 g VSS/g BOD
kd = 0.08 g VSS/g VSS/d
fd = 0.10 g VSS/g VSS
Yn = 0.12 g VSS/g NH4-N
kdn = 0.06 g VSS/g VSS/d

Calculate the following: (20 points)

(a) The aeration tank oxygen requirements (in k/d)
(b) The percentage of oxygen requirement in the aeration that is for nitrification (in %)
(c) The aeration tank biomass concentration (XT) (in mg VSS/L)

2. A preanoxic process is used to treat municipal wastewater. The system is operated

according to the following conditions.

Properties of system
Influent flowrate = 1000 m3/d Aeration tank MLSS = 3500 mg/L
Influent BOD = 200 mg/L Anoxic tank Xb = 1620 mg VSS/L
Influent rbCOD = 95 mg/L Return sludge = 10,000 mg TSS/L
Influent NH4-N = 35 mg/L Aerobic tank volume = 460 m3
Effluent NH4-N = 5 mg/L Aerobic tank SRT = 10 days
Effluent NO3-N = 5 mg/L bCOD = 1.6 (BOD)

Calculate the following: (25 points)

(a) The internal recycle ratio (IR) and flowrate (in m3/d)
(b) The appropriate anoxic tank volume (in m3) and hydraulic retention time (in h) [Hint:
This part requires iteration similar to the example in the Week 7 nitrogen notes]
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SEE4217 Waste and Wastewater Treatment Engineering Semester (B) 2021/22

3. An A2O process is used to remove phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon in municipal

wastewater. The SRT of the process is 10 days and the influent NH4-N that is oxidized is
20 mg/L. The recycle ratio (R) of the system is 0.5. There is no nitrate in the influent and
the effluent NO3-N concentration is 3 mg/L. The influent phosphorus concentration is 15
mg/L. In the anaerobic tank, 12 mg/L of rbCOD in the influent is consumed for the removal
of all the nitrate that enters. For phosphorus removal in the anaerobic tank, 8 mg of rbCOD
is consumed per mg of phosphorus removed.

Calculate the following: (20 points)

(a) The internal recycle ratio (IR)
(b) The mass ratio of rbCOD consumed per mass of NO3-N removed in the anaerobic tank
(in mg rbCOD/mg NO3-N)
(c) With an influent rbCOD concentration of 50 mg/L, is this sufficient to support the
removal of all the influent phosphorus?