Environmental Management

CT-243
Lecture# 10: Secondary Treatment

Engr. Affan Jalil

Lecturer,MIT (Civil Technology)

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MUST
 Lecture Outline
 Sewage Treatment
 Secondary Treatment
 Role of Microorganisms in Wastewater Treatment
 Some Important Concepts
 Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Treatment
 Attached Growth vs. Suspended Growth Processes

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 Sewage Treatment
 Getting s ewage ready for treatment by removing
large constituents in preliminary treatment
 Primary treatment removes smaller pollutants
using physical processes

 Primar y tr eatment tur ns out to be largely

ineffective in removing organic matter

 Organic matter represents a high demand of

oxygen that needs to be lowered

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 Secondary Treatment
 Intends to eliminate biochemical oxygen
demand

 Removal of soluble and colloidal organic

matter that remains after primary treatment

 Degr adation of biodegr adable organic

constituents into acceptable end products

 Use of biological and physical methods

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 Secondary Treatment
Rol e of Mi cr oor gani s ms i n Was tewater
Treatment
 BOD removal is achieved us ing a variety of
microorganisms

 Organisms consume organic matter as food

 Oxidize the matter into simple end products

 Micr oorganis ms als o cons ume nitr ogen

and phosphorous
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 Secondary Treatment

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Source: D. Mona Othman Albureinkan; Food Microbiology, Factors Affecting the Growth and Survival of Micro-organisms in Food
 Secondary Treatment

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Source: Biological Growth Curve, ”https://www.ebsbiowizard.com/2010/11/biological-growth-curve-in-aerated-stabilization-basins/”
Formation of Flocs
 Secondary Treatment
Important Concepts
Aerobic Wastewater Treatment:
 Aerobic treatment refers to removal of organic
pollutants in wastewater by bacteria that
require oxygen
 CO2, H2O, SO4, NO3, NH 3 etc. are major end
products
 Bulk of available energy converts into Biomass

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 Secondary Treatment
Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment:
 Bacterial digestion of organic matter in absence
of oxygen (Bacteria use NO3, SO4 as alternate oxygen sources)
 CH4 , NH 3 , H 2 S , CO2 , H 2 O etc. are major end
products
 Biomass produced i s less than aerobicprocess
 Major feature i s the production of biogas CH4
 Generally more cost effective
 However it i s a time consuming process
combined with production of pronounced odor
(H 2 S)
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 Secondary Treatment
Attached Growth Process:
 Microorganisms used for treatment get attached to the
medium and form biofilm
 Wastes are treated by flowing over themedium
 Thick biofilm falls off “called sloughing”
 E.g. Trickling Filters

Suspended Growth Process:

 Microor gani s m s used for t reatment are kept in
suspension
 Wastes being treated flow around and thr ough
the suspended growths
 Gather together to form biological flocs and settle down
 E.g. Activated sludge process, aerated lagoons
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 Reference Book
❖ Introduction to Environmental Engineering Third Edition by Davis &
Cornwell, McGraw Hill

❖ Environmental Engineering Laboratory, by Dr. Khurshid Ahmad

 Questions ???

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