CTB3365x – Introduction to Water Treatment

W4a – Aeration tank loading and dimensioning

Merle de Kreuk

Today we start with designing the biological part of the

sewage treatment plant.

After this module, you will be able to make rough size

and flow calculations

of the aeration tanks,

the final clarifier

and the return sludge,

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based on average influent characteristics.

We will first start with the loading rate of the aeration

tank and its dimensioning. This lecture consists of
dimensioning via rules of thumb instead of using biomass
kinetics. This is because we expect that you are not too
familiar with biomass kinetics and it will go beyond this
MOOC to introduce this more complex, but more
accurate, design method. I rather redirect you to our
online master Water management to learn more about
design via biomass kinetics.

One of the important parameters to base your simple

design on, as how we explain the design in this MOOC, is
the sludge loading rate. This determines the treatment
efficiency of your system and the occurrence of nitrogen
removal.

First we will look into this parameter, what is it exactly?

Well, the sludge loading rate is also known as the Food
to Microorganism, or food to mass, ratio applied to a
system. In other words: how much food is fed to the
bugs during a day. In sewage treatment, we often express
food in terms of a substrate concentration, or S, in
kilograms BOD per cubic meter. If we want to know how
much food we feed per day, we need to multiply the
influent substrate concentration with the dry weather flow
Q, expressed as cubic meters per day. We also need to
know how much biomass is present in the system.
Therefore we take the biomass concentration in the
aeration tank and multiply it with the volume of this
tank. The biomass loading rate is now easily calculated by
dividing the substrate fed per day by the total biomass
weight in the aeration tank.

As said, one of the main parameters set by the sludge

loading rate is the treatment efficiency of the sewage
treatment plant. With the effluent demand, a sludge
loading rate can be chosen. The higher the sludge
loading, the more BOD will end up in the effluent, mainly
because the organisms present won’t have enough time
to convert all the substrate.

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Besides the treatment efficiency, the sludge loading rate
will influence some other crucial parameters. Growth of
the bacteria is determined by the Yield of the biomass,

which is defined as the amount of cell mass produced per

unit of substrate consumed. The more substrate that is
introduced to the system, the more the biomass will
grow. As mentioned, the total amount of biomass in the
system is the product of the concentration in the aeration
tank and the volume of this tank. If the BOD load to the
tanks increases so will the biomass growth, thus more
sludge will need to be wasted to maintain a stable
biomass concentration which will lead to a lower solid
retention time or sludge age.

The sludge age becomes an important parameter when

trying to cultivate a specific type of biomass. In the
lectures about nitrogen removal, you will learn that
nitrogen removal requires a typical sludge age of at least
3 days due to the low growth rate of the nitrifying
organisms; therefore low sludge loading rates, typically
below 0.15 kg/kg/day are required.

Another parameter that is determined by the loading rate

is the degree of stabilization of the sludge. Stabilization is
the process that decreases the organic fraction of the
sludge and therefore reduces the natural fermentation
capacity. Sludge that was lightly loaded during aeration
will have been starved and thus already consumed all
available organics within the sludge itself, increasing its
inorganic fraction. For example, waste sludge from ultra-
low loaded systems such as oxidation ditches will produce
less gas and fewer odors upon storage due than high
loaded sludge because there is less organic sludge to
ferment. Last but not least, the oxygen demand of the
system is determined by the sludge loading rate as well:
the more food , the more oxygen is needed to convert it.

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Here you will see some typical design parameters for
activated sludge plants.
Sludge concentration in the aeration tank is in general
controlled between 3 and 5 gram per liter. Designs are
often made at 4 g/L. It is advisable to increase the
activated sludge concentration as much as possible, since
that determines the conversion rate of the total system.
Of course within the limits allowed by the sludge
settleability and clarifier design and care must be taken to
assure not negatively influencing aeration capacity. This
will be further explained later in this module.

The growth yield of heterotrophic biomass is in principle

between 0.3 and 0.5 kg VSS/kg BOD. Low loaded systems
with relatively high endogenous respiration will show
lower yields than high loaded systems, where part of the
organics is stored within the activated sludge flocs. Also
the type of BOD plays a role in the overall yield. Influent
consists of particulate, colloidal and dissolved substrate. The
first two can be incorporated in the sludge floc, but will
not necessarily degrade completely. This will increase the
measured Yield.

Finally, the sludge age of activated sludge systems with

nitrification is typically between 5 and 25 days. The sludge
age or solid retention time is determined by the mass of
sludge in the system, divided by the waste sludge or
excess sludge production per day.

The calculation of the aerated tank volume, including the

anoxic zones, is very straightforward when you understand
the different parameters discussed. First you should select
the sludge loading rate to apply, guided by your effluent
demands. Secondly, you decide upon a sludge
concentration you can maintain in your system. Often 4
g/L is chosen. With these two values and given influent
characteristics, you are able to calculate the volume of
the aeration tank. Would you like to give it a try?

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Of course you like that, since now you can practice with
what you just have learned. If you need more time than
you will see in the timer at the bottom of the slide.
Simply pause the movie until you found the answer by
yourself. This time you have 10 seconds per sub-question.
Influent characteristics and biomass concentration in the
aeration tank are given for this sewage treatment plant.
Try to calculate the size of the aeration tank if only BOD
removal is required. Let me help you a little; you should
first choose a biomass concentration in your aeration
tank. Let’s say 4 g/L as I suggested earlier to be a very
general value for activated sludge systems. Next you
question yourself what is the sludge loading rate if you
just want BOD removal?

It can be quite high, so choose for example the

conventional loading rate of 0.4 kg BOD per kg biomass
per day. Now it is a simple exercise solving the sludge
loading rate equation. Did you find a volume of 1563 m3?
Very good. Now you could do the same for a system with
nitrification.

Remember the loading rate that is allowed for nitrifying

systems? This is much lower than the first example. Take 0.15
kilo per kilo per day as rule of thumb. Now you can solve
the equation again. Did you find the same answer? No you
did not; you can see that low loaded systems will require
much more space.

You can practice a little bit more with the exercises given
at the website. Have fun!