Baku Higher Oil School

Chemical Engineering Department

Name: Alimirza Huseynov

Research Title: Wastewater Treatment by Biodegradation
Supervisor: Sevda Zergerova

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Contents
Synopsis ............................................................................ 3
Introduction ...................................................................... 3
Wastewater Treatment Methods .................................... 5
Aerobic and anaerobic Processes .................................... 7
Oxygen Demand ............................................................... 9
Biochemical Oxygen Demand ........................................ 9
Chemical Oxygen Demand ........................................... 10
Effects of BOD/COD ratio to Wastewater Treatment
Process ............................................................................ 11
Technologies for Wastewater Treatment ...................... 13
Conventional Activated Sludge Process ...................... 13
Cyclic Activated Sludge System .................................... 15
Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor ........................................ 16
Membrane Bioreactor .................................................. 17
Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge System .......... 18
Conclusion ...................................................................... 19
Webinar 1: Wastewater Treatment Optimization ........ 19
Webinar 2: Modular Water Treatment Plants............... 20
Webinar 3: Wastewater Microbiological Basics ............ 21
References ...................................................................... 21
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 Synopsis
This report demonstrates detailed information about wastewater treatment
methods by biodegradation and aspects that affects the efficiency of treatment process. In
Introduction part of report, general information about water, wastewater and history of
wastewater treatment is provided. General steps and process for wastewater treatment is
described in Wastewater Treatment Methods. Microorganisms play essential role on
biodegradation of wastewater and in Aerobic and Anerobic Process, different types of bacteria
are analyzed and different treatment process is discussed. Oxygen demand of wastewater is
main factor that plays necessary role on treatment process and detailed information about this
parameter and effects of this property to general treatment process is discussed in Oxygen
Demand and Effects of BOD/COD ratio to Wastewater Treatment Process section of report.
After obtaining information about oxygen demand, technologies for treatment of wastewater
with biodegradation method and advantages and disadvantages of these technologies are
demonstrated in Technologies for Wastewater Treatment. Links all books, articles and
information are provided in Reference.

Introduction
Water plays irreplaceable and vital role in human organism and in most chemical
processes as a solvent, medium and cooling agent and it is impossible to realize life without
water. More than 70% of surface of Earth is covered with water as lakes, rivers, seas and
oceans, but lower than 3% of total water is drinkable and this demonstrates how limited fresh
water is in Earth. For that reason, cleaning of wastewater and reuse of wastewater is one of
essential factors in the Earth (WILLIAMS, 2014).

There are several methods considered for treatment of wastewater and one of them is
biodegradation method. For treatment of wastewater, there are so many methods considered,
but biodegradation treatment is most famous and widely applicable method. Biodegradation

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treatment of wastewater involves bacteria and microorganisms to decompose impurities and
organic compounds in water. These microorganisms play catalyst role on conversion of toxic
substances into nontoxic ones (carbon dioxide and water). This method also helps to natural
cycle by recovering of nutrients and valuable substances. Biodegradation is environmentally
friendly and economically cheaper method to treat sewage (Nisha Rani, Pritam Sangwan,
Madhavi Joshi, Anand Sagar, & Kiran Bala, 2019).

From ancient time till now, treatment of waste and wastewater developed and
improved from basic form to advanced forms. 200,000 years ago, produced waste by homo
sapiens were not treated and
with the help of nature, it
degraded slowly. After
population increased, people
started to dig holes and used
these holes for excrement. In
Mesopotamia, simple drainage
systems for people were
considered, but people used
streets to throw their waste.
Figure 1. Ancient Sewage Systems
For Indus civilization, condition
was different, so complex drainage system was considered for cities and throwing garbage and
excrement to streets were prohibited, but these systems were not advanced and perfect, so
problems were observed with these systems.

With the help of industrialization of sewage and waste treatment technology developed.
Britain, Germany, France and Italy were great examples of this evolution. These countries
advanced in waste management and sewage systems and even made great progress on
environmental conditions. As technology developed, new types of technologies were discovered
and primary and secondary treatment were used in treatment of sewage. United States was
using primary treatment of wastewater. After Clean Water Act, implementation of secondary
treatment increased (Lofrano & Jeanette Brown, 2010). From beginning of 1970, use of

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activated sludge process started. Designing of this process was great problem for engineers for
initial times because designing of sanitary objects was always done by sanitary engineers, but
activated sludge method became main biological treatment method for sewage by involving
chemical engineering aspects, and this technology substituted biological, soil and trickling
filtration methods (Wanner, 2021). Now in modern age, new advanced technology has
developed and tertiary treatment of wastewater is already used. Researches on new
technologies for wastewater treatment is conducted.

Wastewater Treatment Methods

Because of anthropogenic effects, so much wastewater is produced from cities,
industries and agriculture. Treatment of wastewater should be done before sending them to
water sources again. Otherwise, there will be no limit in environmental pollution and in sanitary
problems because wastewater contains unhygienic, toxic and poisonous compounds that can be
dangerous for humans, animal and plants. In worst case scenario, it leads to pollution of
drinkable water sources (Trikoilidou, 2016).

In terms of its chemical and biological composition and location, wastewater can be
categorized into three groups: domestic, storm and industrial sewage. Biodegradation method
is mostly applicable in
treatment domestic
and storm
wastewater.
Treatment process in
wastewater
treatment plants are
divided into three
parts: primary,
secondary and
Figure 2. Wastewater Treatment Plants (Water & Wastewater Treatment,
n.d.)
tertiary treatment.

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After primary treatment which removes 35% of impurities, cleaned water is not considered
usable water for general uses, for that reason, secondary treatment of wastewater is mandatory
to get more clean water.

Secondary and tertiary treatment are more advanced and vital treatment process of
overall treatment processes. Decomposition of bacteria and conversion of nitrogen in sewage
into nitrates via aerobe and anaerobe microorganisms (this is also called biodegradation) is
essential element for these processes. In secondary treatment which cleans 85% of impurities,
activated sludge system is mainly applied and, in this system, general degradation of bacteria
which causes illness and stinky smell with the help of microorganisms. Aerobe and anaerobe
microorganisms “eat” bacteria and convert them into energy, carbon dioxide and water. This
process requires oxygen to occur effectively and produced energy is mainly utilized by microbe
itself for population and grow process. Efficiency of this process depends on biodegradability of
waste and concentration of oxygen amount which is dissolved into water during treatment
process. Oxygen demand by microbes to decompose pollution in wastewater is also called
biological oxygen demand (BOD). Efficiency of this process also depends on other parameters
like the amount of nondegradable particles and solids in water and acidity of water.

Tertiary treatment which clears more than 99% of pollution is more advance and last
treatment process, which is used to get more clean water by removing nitrogen and phosphates
inside of water. Cost of this treatment process is so high and this process is done to get almost
drinkable water. In this process, phosphates are cleaned with the support of chemical
substances, but cleaning ammonium nitrogen is done via nitrification-denitrification method.
Using this method, ammonium nitrogen is converted into nitrates with the help of
microorganisms, then nitrates from water is cleaned by converting them into nitrogen gas which
leaves water easily with the aid of other microbes (Jerry A. Nathanson, 2010).

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 Aerobic and anaerobic Processes
Before starting biological wastewater treatment methods, it is important to mention
about variety of microorganisms which decomposes waste from water. Generally, there are two
types of bacteria: aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Main difference between them is about

Figure 3. Aerobic and anaerobic bacteria (Mittal, 2011)

oxygen demand, so decomposition of waste from water with the help of aerobic bacteria
requires oxygen, but this process happens without need of oxygen for anaerobic bacteria. At the
end of process, from aerobic microorganisms, water, carbon dioxide and biomass are obtained,
but from anaerobic bacteria, methane, carbon dioxide and biomass are gained. The efficiency of
these processes generally depends on bacteria itself, but being aerobic or anaerobic
microorganism also has some role on this process. Generally, high temperature leads to high
efficiency for aerobic bacteria with some range (exceeding maximum temperature limit causes
to dying of bacteria), but values of this range depends on microorganism itself (Alisawi, 2020).
Depending aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, different types of treatment technologies are
applied for water treatment. Difference between aerobic and anaerobic bacteria is
demonstrated in below table:

Table 1. Difference between aerobic and anaerobic process

Parameters Aerobic Process Anaerobic Process

Requirements and results  Oxygen is required  Oxygen is not

 Carbon dioxide, water required
and biomass are  Water, methane and
gained biomass are obtained

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 After Treatment Water can be used after After treatment process,
treatment process or aerobic distillation is always
disinfection and filtration done
processes can be done

Reaction Speed Faster than anaerobic Slower than aerobic process

process

Investment requirement Higher than anaerobic Lower than aerobic process

process

Applied systems  Wastewater which  Wastewater which

contains low and contains high and
medium impurities medium impurities
 Domestic wastewater  Alcoholic drink and
 Refinery sewage food sewage

Sludge yield of process Higher than anaerobic Lower than aerobic process
process

Implemented technologies  Activated Sludge  UASB

Process  CSTR
 Fixed Film Process  ITCM
 Hybrid Process  Ultra High Rate
 Oxidation Ditch Fluidized Bed Reactor
(Mittal, 2011)

For bacteria and microorganisms, biodegradation of pollutant in domestic waste happens in 3

stages. First stage is called Transfer and, in this stage, organic and inorganic compounds transfer
from sewage to bacteria. Digestion of this “food” happens in second stage-Conversion and main
process happens in this stage. Decomposition of “food” happens slowly, but depending the type
of pollutant and oxygen rate, rate of this process can change. In last stage, separation of large

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particles form microorganisms happen and this stage is called Flocculation and Separation
process (Rick Snyder & Dan Wyant, 2017).

Oxygen Demand
Biochemical Oxygen Demand
For wastewater treatment, biological oxygen demand (BOD) has great importance on
treatment process. BOD
demonstrates oxygen requirement
for biodegradation of waste or
pollutants. For determination of
BOD value for wastewater, tests
are considered, but 5 days are
required to get the results of these
tests. Generally, oxygen
requirement for decomposition of
carbonaceous pollutants and for
oxidization of inorganic compounds
(sulfide and iron compounds are
included) is determined in tests. It
Figure 4. Determination of BOD (Indiamart, n.d.) can include required oxygen
amount for oxidization of
nitrogenous compounds, but determination of oxygen demand for nitrogenous compounds is
limited and test is finished when inhibition of oxidization process happens (James C. Young, et
al., 2001). There are several methods considered for determination of BOD for wastewater:

 Winkler method-In this method, BOD is determined with the help of titration of
wastewater in sodium thiosulfate (𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂3 ) solution. For this method, manganese
sulfate, sulfuric acid, alkali-iodide-azide, sodium thiosulfate (titrant) and starch are

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 required. Results of this experiment are determined with the help of disappearance of
general blue color (Hassaan, 2016)
 Manometric method-For this method, determination of biochemical oxygen demand is
simpler than other methods. Using manometer, pressure drop is determined inside of
bottle which contains wastewater sample, but obtained results for BOD can be wrong
because of presence of toxic substances. For that reason, use of glucose-glutamic acid
solution is required to avoid this problem
 Dilution method-This method is general method that used in most BOD testing
laboratories. First of all, preparation of dilution water is done with the help of cleaned
water, salts, bacteria (if wastewater sample does not contain enough microorganisms)
and nutritional nonorganic chemicals. Then several bottles of wastewater samples with
the different amount of diluted water are prepared and kept in dark places for 5 days. 5
Days are required time period for incubation of bacteria in bottles. After incubation time
passes, BOD is determined according to difference between levels (Madushani, 2014).

Chemical Oxygen Demand

Like biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand has great importance on
effectiveness of treatment process.
It is already mentioned that
molecular oxygen is required for
treatment of wastewater, but
treatment process can be achieved
using oxidants. Chemical oxygen
demand (COD) is required amount
for oxidants which are utilized
during oxidation of other organic
compounds. The amount of utilized
Figure 5. Determination of COD (Analytics Shop, n.d.)
oxidant during this process is also
considered as oxygen equivalence (Clarence G. Johnson, Donald G. Miller, & John T. Pivinski,

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n.d.). For determination of chemical oxygen demand, equipment and several methods are
considered:

 APHA−AWWA−WPCF Standard Method 5220 B-Open Reflux Titrimetric- For this

method, first of all, specific solution should be prepared and this solution can be
prepared by adding distillated water, digestion reagent and sulfuric with this order to
lyophilizated wastewater sample. With the help of indication method related 5220 B-
Open Reflux Titrimetric and some calculations, COD can be easily determined.
 Kit LCK914 COD Method- This method and evaluations of this method should be carried
out according to supplier instructions by using distillated water and lyophilizated
wastewater sample.
 Optimized APHA−AWWA−WPCF Standard Method 5220 D-Closed Reflux Colorimetric-
This method is similar to Open Reflux Titrimetric method, but in this case different
concentrations of sulfuric acid and diluting agent are used to determine high range of
chemical oxygen level. Remaining part of experiment is done according to Kit LCK914
COD method.
 Solid Dilution- For this method, mixture of lyophilizated wastewater with diluting
agents is prepared. Magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate or silicious earth is used as
diluting agents. After dilution process is done, analyze of wastewater is done according
to standards (Xavier Flotats, Eva Romero-Merino, Angela Rodríguez-Abalde, & Joan
Noguerol-Arias, 2012).

Effects of BOD/COD ratio to Wastewater Treatment Process

In wastewater plants, wastewater is mainly treated by populating microorganisms in
activated sludge (AS). Effectiveness of this process mainly depends on biodegradability of
activated sludge which can be determined by using B/C ratio (Biochemical Oxygen
Demand/Chemical Oxygen Demand). There are several methods considered to measure
biodegradability of wastewater, B/C ratio is one of great and unique methods. In hypothesis,
B/C ratio helps to determine toxic effects of bacteria to microbes and available energy which

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Figure 6. Effects of B/C ratio to system performance

can be gained during metabolization process, but integrity of this hypothesis has not been
analyzed fully.

For general biodegradation method, low and high B/C ratios leads to lower waste
removal, reduction in microbial density, complex network and strong stochastic processes.
Removal of high pollution happened between range between 0.4 and 0.6 B/C values and
optimum values for B/C are considered 0.49 and 0.55. Stochastic (dispersal limitation, drift and
birth-death events) and deterministic (biotic interactions and environmental filtering) microbial
community assembly processes have great role on B/C values (Bing Zhang, et al., 2020).

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 Technologies for Wastewater Treatment
Conventional Activated Sludge Process
One of these methods is Conventional Activated Sludge Process (CASP) and it is mainly
applied for aerobic treatment process. This method is one old technology to treat wastewater
and domestic and industrial sewage is treated with the help of this technology. For this method,
aeration tanks
are used as a
bioreactor and
they are
basically plug
flow or mixed
reactors.
There is
pipework at
the bottom of
tank
considered to
Figure 7. Conventional Activated Sludge Process (Activated Sludge, n.d.)
provide oxygen
to the system. To separate sludge from water, wastewater enters to secondary clarifier. With
the help of RAS (return activated sludge) pump, biomass returns to aeration tank. During this
process, excess amount of sludge (biomass) is forwarded to dewatering and sludge handling
units for further cleaning (Mittal, 2011). For this technology, stirred tank bioreactors are used in
aeration tanks. With the help of these stirred tanks, denitrification and nitrification processes
also can be done, but only nitrification process can be done with the aid of aeration tanks. Due
to the fact that denitrification process is anaerobic process, additional tank without aeration is
required for that process (C. M. Narayanan & Vikas Narayan , 2019). Advantages and
disadvantages of activated sludge process are provided below:

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Table 2. Pros and Cons of CASP

(CHEMTECH INTERNATIONAL, 2020)

Activated Sludge Process
Advantages Disadvantages
No stingy odor Large amount of sludge is produced during
process, so dewatering of sludge makes
difficulties

Less area is required for process More investment is required for beginning
Sludge is valuable in market Low yield is obtained while fluctuations and
shock loads happen

There are some parameters that affects effectiveness of Activated Sludge Process:

 Temperature
 pH value of wastewater
 B/C ratio
 Time for aeration process
 Oxygen amount (Mittal, 2011)

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 Cyclic Activated Sludge System
This technology is great and famous example of SBR (sequencing batch reactors)
process. With the help of this method, petrochemical, refinery and domestic wastewater are
mainly treated. Cyclic
Activated Sludge System
mainly involves plug-flow
and mixed reactors. For this
method, there are 3 batch
processes happening
depending on time:

1. Aeration process
2. Settling process
3. Decanting process

For aeration process, there

are 3 zones considered in

Figure 8. Cyclic Activated Sludge System (SPC Environmental Technologies the reactor tank. First zone
Pvt Ltd, n.d.) is selector, second and third
zones are secondary and main aerations, respectively. Reactions mainly happens in aeration
process, then separation of biomass starts with settling process. Finally, treated water is
obtained during decanting process. With the help of this method, implementation of filtration
process after treatment, is not required. This method has some great major advantages:

 Without use of any other chemical substances, this method enables to exclude nutrients
with managing supply and demand of oxygen.
 Reduction on COPEX and OPEX
 This technology has resistance to shock loads coming from fluid and organic load
differences.
 Reduction on land use and footprint
 After treatment process, filtration of treated water is not required (Mittal, 2011)

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Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor
In this type of reactor, biodegradation process is done with the help of moving beds-
carriers inside of reactor, so in these carriers, biofilm is formed during treatment process. With
the help of aeration, the movement of these cylindric can be achieved because the movement
of beds leads to increase in
efficiency. After Design of
moving bed biofilm reactor
comes from wastewater
treatment with the help of
series reactors and all these
reactors have one main
objective that should be
achieved. With the help of
this philosophical idea,
Figure 9. Moving Beds (Moving bed bioreactor , n.d.)
reactors play important role
on biofilm improvement by obtaining required condition inside of reactor. For effectiveness of
this treatment process, surface area removal rate (SARR), net effective biofilm area (NEBA) and
surface area loading rate (SALR) play necessary role (Safwat, 2019). This wastewater treatment
method has some advantages:

 There is no need for continuous backwashing

 Less sludge is produced during treatment process
 Pressure drop during treatment process is small
 Units for this process are small and it requires small area, so it reduces footprint
for general process (J.P. Bassin & M. Dezotti, 2018)

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Membrane Bioreactor
Membrane Bioreactor technology is one of modern technologies for wastewater
treatment. This method has similar sides with conventional activated sludge process (CASP), so
in both methods, settling of solid particle is observed in bioreactors. But main difference
between them is
separation of solids from
wastewater with different
methods (Mittal, 2011).
For this method, special
system-membrane
filtration is considered and
that filtration is able to
substitute sand filter and
second clarifier in system
in terms of effectiveness. It
helps to increase the

Figure 10. Membrane Bioreactor (Membrane bioreactor method / amount of biomass

Sludge drying, Recycling drying, n.d.) collected, so it contributes
to small-scale reactors (Noor Sabrina Ahmad Mutamim, Zainura Zainon Noor, Mohd Ariffin Abu
Hassan, Adhi Yuniarto, & Gustaf Olsson, 2013). This method is mainly applicable for treatment
of wastewater which is gathered from domestic areas. But this method has limited application
to the industrial sewage. In Membrane Bioreactor method, with the help of polymeric
membrane, organic solids are separated from water. There are some disadvantages for
membrane bioreactor technology. One of them is fouling of membrane which is major and great
disadvantage for process, so it results in reduction of lifespan and effectiveness of process and it
increases OPEX. Membrane fouling for membrane bioreactors can be temporary and
permanent. Recovery of membrane can be done in temporary fouling by cleaning, but
membrane cannot be restored again in permanent fouling (Bradley Paul Ladewig & Muayad Al-
Shaeli, 2017). Main reason for this fouling of membrane is related to suspension of solid
particles on surface of membrane which closes entrance for pores (Oliver Terna Iorhemen,

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Rania Ahmed Hamza, & Joo Hwa Tay, 2016). The other problem comes from difficulty in rising
suitable bacteria types for this process.

Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge System

Integrated fixed film activated sludge system (IFAS) merges activated sludge process and
fluidized media into one system. For this system, floccules like in activated sludge process and
biofilm like in
fluidized media
bioreactor are
observed in
IFAS. Both of
them play
important role
on
biodegradation
of impurities.
Sludge in this
system which
is disconnected
from biofilm,
cannot settle
well because of
Figure 11. Integrated Fixed Activated Sludge
its
physicochemical characteristics. This method enables the use of rigid and float media for great-
scale surfaces for anaerobic and aerobic areas (Sharjeel Waqas, et al., 2020). This method has
great advantages:

 Fixed film in IFAS creates another area for biofilm to decompose toxic and organic
pollutants which has resistance to biodegradation process
 Nitrification process of wastewater in fixed film has more efficiency than activated
sludge process (ASP)

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  The effectiveness of ASP is less than overall effectiveness of IFAS
 Less footprint and land use for treatment process
 Scale of dewatering and sludge handling units are less than ASP (Mittal, 2011)

Conclusion
At the end, main aim for this report was successfully achieved and detailed information
about wastewater treatment by biodegradation method was shared. In Introduction part of
report, water, wastewater and history of wastewater treatment were demonstrated. Then
general information about wastewater treatment process and methods were mentioned in
Wastewater Treatment Methods section. In Oxygen Demand and Effects of BOD/COD ratio to
Wastewater Treatment Process, detailed information about biochemical and chemical oxygen
demand and effects of oxygen demand to wastewater treatment process was demonstrated. In
Wastewater Treatment Technologies section of report, information about different types of
treatment technologies and positive and negative sides of these technologies were described.
References for all books and links used for preparation of this report were given in Reference
part.

Webinar 1: Wastewater Treatment Optimization

This webinar was done by Aaron Law who is working in Environmental Innovations
Branch of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. Main discussed points
for this webinar were importance of optimization, optimization gap and PBT (performance-
based training). First of all, importance of optimization was mentioned and main aims for
optimization to obtain effective results, to get rid of additional expenses and to give freedom to
personnel. There are two main factors-infrastructure and non-infrastructure factors that have
great impact on performance of wastewater treatment. According to data collected in 1990,
main part of factors were affecting performance was non-infrastructure factors, same thing was
observed in data related to 2010 year. It is concluded that during this 20 years period, nothing
changed and nothing new achieved. That is called as optimization gap. Performance Based
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Training can be solution for optimization gap and its working principle is plan-do-check-improve
loop.

One of main parameters for wastewater treatment is Sludge Accountability analysis.

Sludge Accountability is term that defines variation between obtained and empirical values of
sludge amount which leaves plant:

𝑂𝑏𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡

𝑆𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 = ∗ 100%
𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡

Tolerable value for variation value should be less than 15% and main aim for this analysis to
make inventory control for solid particles (Webinar: Wastewater Treatment Optimization,
2017).

Webinar 2: Modular Water Treatment Plants

AWC Water Solution company sells modular packed plants. Packed treatment plants are
classified into 3 groups. For first one, potable site is included, and it contains tube settler,
dissolved air floatation and AC clarifier. Second group is Wastewater Front and it consists of
Membrane Bioreactor and Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor. Last one is Skid Mounted systems and
reverse osmosis; pressure filters and ultra-filtration are included into this group. In dissolved air
filtration unit, process starts from flocculation mixers and continues with DAF (dissolved air
floatation) and media filtration. Tube settler itself contains filter media, flocculation mixers,
drain and raw water systems. Membrane Bioreactor plants consist of sludge dewatering
centrifuge (there are also belt and v-press considered), membrane tanks, sludge tanks,
equalization tanks, filter screens and area for expansion and more compact version of MBR is
also available. DAF, pre-filtration screens, equalization tank, aerobic and anaerobic tanks and
sludge tank is considered for MBBR (moving bed biofilm reactors) and like MBR plants, compact
version of MBBR plant is also available (Webinar: Modular Water Treatment Plants, 2020).

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 Webinar 3: Wastewater Microbiological Basics
General treatment of wastewater is biological process. Wastewater contains so many
different types of microorganisms and they can be separated into 3 groups: bacteria (95%),
protozoa (4%) and metazoa (1%). Main role of bacteria in wastewater treatment is to eliminate
organic matters. Protozoa eats algae and bacteria and it have great importance to clear effluent.
Like protozoa, metazoa consumes protozoa and bacteria and all of these microorganism plays as
an indicator for treatment condition. Aquafix Wastewater company offers microbiological
analysis services. One of these services is microanalysis and filament origins and, in this service,
determination of ID of filaments, quantification of filaments, reasons and source of filaments,
structure for floc, age of sludge, oxygen penetration into bacterial floc and EPS levels for floc
and analysis of metazoa and protozoa within system are done. With the help of microbiological
analysis, incoming toxicity, nutrient imbalance, septic conditions and reasons for foaming and
bulking can be indicated for wastewater. Bacteria in wastewater can be free, flocculated and
filamentous bacteria. First of all, free bacteria in wastewater starts to improve and rise, then
they join together and produce flocculating agents to form floc. Extracellular polymetric
substances (EPS) are one of these agents. Oxygen penetration is essential factor for flocculated
bacteria. Filamentous bacteria is general problem for wastewater treatment and its level should
be kept under control to avoid bulking and foaming (Webinar: Wastewater Microbiology Basics,
2019).

References
Activated Sludge. (n.d.). Retrieved from Kenki Dryer:
https://kenkidryer.com/2020/03/28/activated-sludge-flocculation-method/
Alisawi, H. A. (2020). Performance of wastewater treatment during variable temperature.
Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13201-020-1171-x
Analytics Shop. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.analytics-shop.com/gb/aq42892502-gb.html
Bing Zhang, Daliang Ning, Yunfeng Yang, Joy D. Van Nostrand, Jizhong Zhou, & Xianghua Wen.
(2020). Biodegradability of wastewater determines microbial assembly mechanisms in
full-scale wastewater treatment plants. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135419310504

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Bradley Paul Ladewig, & Muayad Al-Shaeli. (2017). Fouling in Membrane Bioreactors. Retrieved
from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309381914_Fouling_in_Membrane_Bioreact
ors
C. M. Narayanan, & Vikas Narayan . (2019). Biological wastewater treatment and bioreactor
design: a review. Retrieved from
https://sustainenvironres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42834-019-0036-1
CHEMTECH INTERNATIONAL. (2020). ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEMS – ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES. Retrieved from https://chemtech-us.com/activated-sludge-systems-
advantages-and-disadvantages/
Clarence G. Johnson, Donald G. Miller, & John T. Pivinski. (n.d.). CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND
(COD). Retrieved from http://edgeanalytical.com/wp-
content/uploads/Inorganic_SM5220.pdf
Hassaan, M. (2016). Winkler Method for DO Determination. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311607103_Winkler_Method_for_DO_Deter
mination
Indiamart. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.indiamart.com/proddetail/bod-trak-ii-
respirometric-bod-apparatus-11977942455.html
J.P. Bassin, & M. Dezotti. (2018). Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR). Retrieved from
http://pdf-s3.xuebalib.com:1262/505hxjwLnAJz.pdf
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