Hello everyone!

Let’s learn about the growth regularity of activated sludge and its
application. Activated sludge growth means microbial growth and reproduction. It
will lead to the increase in the amount of activated sludge. This is the result of
the biochemical reaction in the aeration tank and the degradation of wastewater
organic matters. Usually we use the growth curve of activated sludge to express the
growth rules of activated sludge. This figure shows a typical growth curve of
activated sludge. The abscissa is time and the ordinate is the amount of
microorganism, which is also the amount of organic matters. What we need to say is,
that this figure is the testing results of interval cultivation of activated
sludge. At the beginning of the test, we put some microorganism in certain kind of
wastewater, continuously supply oxygen to the wastewater. And then observe the
growth of activated sludge and the degradation of organic matters in the
wastewater. We can see that as time goes on, the amount of microorganism gradually
increases. Meanwhile, the amount of organic matter in the wastewater gradually
decreases. When the amount of microorganism increases and reaches its maximum, it
will begin to decrease. From the activated sludge growth curve we could find that
the microbial growth has close relationship with the amount of organic matters. So,
in the activated sludge system we need a new concept, the F/M ratio, which means
the ratio of the amount of organic which can be used by the microorganism and the
corresponding amount of microorganism in the activated sludge system. It could also
be called as F/M, which is the ratio of food and microorganism Actually the value
of F/M is the previous water sludge load which expressed in form of BOD5 If we
observe this formula, we could find that the value of F/M is the water sludge load.
Some study shows that under the conditions of comfortable temperature, adequate
dissolved oxygen and no inhibitors. The microbial growth rate in the activated
sludge depends on F/M. The value of F/M is an important factor that can influence
the rate of organic matter removal and the oxygen utilization in the wastewater.
According to the rules of growth in activated sludge, we can divide the growth
curve into four periods. The first is the adaptation period. The second is
logarithmic multiplication period The third is the deceleration breeding period.
The fourth is the endogenous respiration period Firstly let’s take a look at the
adaptation period. It means a brief process that the microbes adapt to the new
conditions, different kinds of organic pollutants in the wastewater, etc. During
this process the amount of microbes in the activated sludge doesn’t change. But the
volume of the bacteria would increase a little. And some enzyme systems will go
through certain adjustment accordingly. Or, some new variations may happen. But
from the apparent perspective, the water quality indexes of wastewater won’t
change. The second is the logarithmic multiplication period. The value of F/m is
very high at this time. It is normally more than 2.2 kgBOD5/kgVSS·d. Under this
condition the organic matters are very abundant. The amount of nutrient substances
is not the controlling factor of the growth of microbes. The microbial growth rate
has no relation with substrate concentration. For them, it is a zero-order
reaction. At this time the microbial growth rate is only controlled by the minimum
generation time of the microbial itself. The microbes can take in organic matters
in the fastest rate, and proliferate in the fastest rate, compounding new cells.
The metabolic rate of activated sludge is very high. Meanwhile, the oxygen demand
is very large. Under this condition, the energy level of activated sludge is
relatively high, the microbial activity is high, and the sludge is very loose. This
means that it is difficult to flocculate, and its precipitation performance is not
good. So, during the operation of activated sludge We don’t usually regard this
period as its operation condition But some special conditions may happen, like
high-loading activated sludge method. Under that circumstance, we regard this
logarithmic multiplication period as its operation condition. The third period is
called slow growth period. As the logarithmic multiplication period goes on, the
amount of microbes increases continuously. However, the amount of food or the
organic matters in the wastewater declines as well. So, after this period the value
of F/M declines to the certain level. The concentration of the organic matters
becomes the controlling factor of microbial growth. Microbial growth rate is
proportional to the concentration of residual organic matters At this time they
present first-order reaction The degradation rate of organic matters begins to
decline. Microbial growth rate gradually decreases, until eventually it falls to
zero But from the apparent perspective, the amount of activated sludge still
continuously increases and gets to the top. In this period the flocculating
constituent in the activated sludge begins to form. Coagulation precipitation,
adsorption, and performance of the activated sludge are quite good, What’s more
important is that effluent water quality is improved significantly. The whole
system runs in a very stable state. So, most of the sewage treatment plants use the
slow growth period as their operation condition. The last period is endogenous
respiration period The rate of endogenous respiration exceeds the synthetic rate at
the first time in this period. Thus, the amount of activated sludge decreases
gradually. In the end, all the living cells will disappear, remains only the
residue the endogenous respiration period. Most of these materials are cell walls
or other cells remains which are difficult to be biologically degraded. The
inorganic degree of sludge is very high in this period Because of this, its
settling property is very good But most of the organism matters which has function
of cohesion in the extracellular polymeric substances are degraded. So the cohesion
of sludge is not good. The organic matters in the wastewater are used up, so the
effluent quality is very good. Of course, since the settling performance of sludge
is not so good, most of activated sludge plants don’t take this period as the
operation condition. But under some special conditions, like extended aeration
process, this period could also be used as operation condition. Thus, let’s learn
something about the rules of activated sludge growth Totally, there are four points
which we should summarize. Firstly, we can find the growth of activated sludge is
mainly affected by the value of F/M Secondly, the activated sludge in different
stages has different performance and effluent quality. Thirdly, through the adjust
of the value of F/M, we can adjust the operation condition of aeration tank, in
order to get the necessary effluent quality and good performance of activated
sludge Fourthly, we will introduce two main operation condition of activated sludge
One is called plug flow activated sludge process, the other is completely mixed
activated sludge process. Their position on the growth curve of microbes is
different. The status of plug flow activated sludge process on the curve appears to
be a segment For completely mixed activated sludge process, it is a point. From
this figure we can see that for the plug-flow aeration tank, It will begin at the
later stage of logarithmic multiplication period or the earlier stage of slow
growth period. It will end at the earlier phase of the endogenous respiration
period. But for the completely mixed activated sludge process, its status can be
the different points on the growth curve of microbes It can be set at the later
stage of endogenous respiration period, which is equivalent to extended aeration
process. It also can be set at the later stage of logarithmic multiplication
period, which is equivalent to high load activated sludge process Of course we can
also set it at the later stage of the slow growth period or the earlier stage of
endogenous respiration period. This is our normal operation condition. Just now we
introduced the growth curve of activated sludge Through the study of growth curve,
we find that in the activated sludge system, besides the water effluent quality, we
should care about another two questions. One is about the production of excess
sludge, the other is about oxygen demands The production of excess sludge has
direct relation with the microbial growth. It also has a close relation with the
degradation of organism matter Activated sludge microbial growth is the result of
both the microbial growth and its oxidation or endogenous respiration. So, the net
growth rate of microbes can be expressed with this equation. （dx/dt）n stands for
the net growth rate of activated sludge microorganisms. Its unit is kgVSS/d
（dx/dt）s stands for the increased amount of microorganisms which is formed
through synthesis in the activated sludge. A is the yield coefficient of the
activated sludge. We could also call it synthesis coefficient. It means the amount
of VSS which is produced when we degrade 1kgBOD5. Its unit is kgVSS/kgBOD5.
（dx/dt）e stands for the degraded amount of activated sludge through endogenous
respiration. It can be expressed with this equation. B stands for the coefficient
of oxidation of the activated sludge itself Its unit is kgVSS/kgVSS·d, sometimes we
use d^-1 for short. But it actually means the amount that the activated sludge
decreases in a day through its autologous oxidation or through endogenous
respiration Of course the Xv here stands for the total amount of the activated
sludge in the system. It is the V·X we just talked about Just now we use
differential method to express the relation between microbial growth and organic
matter degradation. But for a
stable activated sludge system We can use this equation to calculate the amount of
microbial growth in the activated sludge system, which is △x=aQSr-bVXv In this
equation, △x stands for the increase amount of sludge every day in the activated
sludge system. Its unit is kgVSS/d We can get the value of a and b in this formula
by referencing the empirical value. For normal domestic wastewater or certain
industry waste water which has similar property with domestic wastewater, the value
of a is normally between 0.5 and 0.65, b is normally 0.05 and 0.1. But for some
special industry waste water, we need to get from experiments or other documents.
Here is some different values of a and b for different kinds of industry
wastewater. Of course, for a special or new industry wastewater we can get the
value of a and b directly from experiments. We can change the previous equation
into this form. In this equation the increase amount of sludge is in linear
relation with the sludge loading If we can design a model test in the lab to treat
the actual industry wastewater and adjust different sludge load, we can get the
increase amount of different microorganism and figure out the linear relation And
then we can get the value of a and b by getting its slope and intercept The second
question we concern is that during the process which the activated sludge system
treats the wastewater, how much oxygen we need to degrade the organic matter in the
wastewater. Since for the activated sludge system or other aerobiont treatment
process, oxygen is very important. During the metabolic process of microorganism,
oxygen has two main functions. Firstly, oxygen is used for oxygenolysis of the
organic matter in the wastewater directly. Secondly, some oxygen need to go through
oxygenolysis of the cell matters of the microorganism itself The means the
endogenous respiration consumes part of the oxygen Thus, we can use this equation
to calculate the amount of oxygen demand in the activated sludge process. It is
O2=a'QSr+b'VXv. In this equation, oxygen stands for the total amount of oxygen
demand in the activated sludge system Its unit is kgO2/d a' stands for the amount
of oxygen demand to metabolize each kilogram of BOD5. It is a coefficient of
oxidation. b' stands for the amount of oxygen demand to maintain everyday
endogenous respiration. Its unit is kgO2/kgVSS.d Additionally we also need get the
a' and b' When some activated sludge process treats the domestic wastewater, if its
operation is different, its a’and b’ will also be different. Here we list the value
of a' and b' for the method of completely mixed activated sludge, and the value a'
and b' by the method of extended aeration We can see that they have large
differences. Meanwhile, for some special industry waste water, its a' and b' values
also have large differences. Here we can also show you some values for reference.
But if it is a new kind of industrial waste water, then we need to get the value a'
and b' through experiments in the lab. We can also change the equation we just
talked about into this form. From this equation we can see that For the kgVSS in
the activated sludge system its oxygen demand is in linear relation with its sludge
load. We can build this kind of activated sludge system in the lab as well, Then
treat this certain kind of wastewater using the system, and adjust the different
sludge loads. Thus we can get the actual daily amount of oxygen demand and figure
out the linear relationship From this linear relationship, we can get the value of
a' and b' Well. That’s all for the class. Thank you