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Suspended Growth Biological treatment
Process
Activated Sludge Principles
Activated Sludge Principles
• Wastewater is aerated in a tank
• Bacteria are encouraged to grow by providing
Oxygen
Food (BOD)
Suitable temperature
Time
• As bacteria consume BOD, they grow and multiply
• Treated wastewater flows into secondary clarifier
• Bacterial cells settle, removed from clarifier as sludge
• Part of sludge is recycled back to activated sludge tank, to maintain
bacteria population
• Remainder of sludge is wasted
Applications of activated sludge
processes
Process Application
Conventional Low-strength domestic waste, susceptible to shock loads
Complete-mix General application, resistant to shock loads, surface aerators
Step-aeration General application to wide range of wastes
Modified-aeration Intermediate degree of treatment where cell tissue in the effluent is not objectionable
Contact-stabilization Expansion of existing systems, package plants, flexible
Extended-aeration Small communities, package plants, flexible, surface aerators
Kraus process Low-nitrogen, high strength wastes
High-rate aeration Use with turbine aerators to transfer oxygen and control the floc size, generals application
Pure-oxygen General application, use where limited space is available, requires expensive oxygen source,
turbine or surface aerators
Conventional Activated Sludge
Completely-mixed Activated
Sludge
Step-aeration Activated Sludge
Contact Stabilization
Oxidation Ditch/Kraus Process
Design parameters for activated
sludge processes
Process q c (d) q (d) F/M Qr/Q X (mg/L)
Conventional 5-15 4-8 0.2-0.4 0.25-5 1,500-3,000
Complete-mix 5-15 3-5 0.2-0.6 0.25-1 3,000-6,000
Step-aeration 5-15 3-5 0.2-0.4 0.25-0.75 2,000-3,500
Modified-aeration 0.2-0.5 1.5-3 1.5-5.0 0.05-0.15 200 – 500
Contact-stabilization 5-15 0.5-1 0.2-0.6 0.25-1 1,000-3,000
3-6 4,000-10,000
Extended-aeration 20-30 18-36 0.05-0.15 0.75-1.5 3,000-6,000
Kraus process 5-15 4-8 0.3-0.8 0.5-1 2,000-3,000
High-rate aeration 5-10 0.5-2 0.4-1.5 1-5 4,000-10,000
Pure-oxygen 8-20 1-3 0.25-1.0 0.25-0.5 6,000-8,000
Operational characteristics of
activated sludge processes
Process Flow model Aeration system BOD5 removal efficiency (%)
Conventional Plug-flow Diffused air, mechanical aerators 85-95
Complete-mix Complete-mix Diffused air, mechanical aerators 85-95
Step-aeration Plug-flow Diffused air 85-95
Modified-aeration Plug-flow Diffused air 60-75
Contact-stabilization Plug-flow Diffused air, mechanical aerators 80-90
Extended-aeration Complete-mix Diffused air, mechanical aerators 75-95
Kraus process Plug-flow Diffused air, mechanical aerators 85-95
High-rate aeration Complete-mix Diffused air, mechanical aerators 75-90
Pure-oxygen Complete-mix Mechanical aerators 85-95
Wastewater Characterization
• AS design requires determining: 1.) aeration basin volume 2.) sludge
production 3.) oxygen needed and 4.) the effluent concentration of
important parameters.
• To design AS process, characterization of wastewater is required.
• Wastewater characteristics T8-1, p.666 can be grouped into the
following categories:
– carbonaceous substrates,
– nitrogen compounds,
– phosphorus compounds,
– total and volatile suspended solids,
– and alkalinity.
Wastewater Characterization
• Carbonaceous Constituents. Measured by BOD or COD.
• Unlike BOD, some portion of COD is nonbiodegradable. COD is
fractionalized in F8-4, p.668.
• Of interest is whether the COD is dissolved or soluble and how much
is particulate, comprised of colloidal and suspended solids.
• The nonbiodegradable soluble COD, nbsCOD, will be found in the
AS effluent and the nonbiodegradable particulates will contribute to
the sludge.
• Because the nonbiodegradable particulate COD, nbpCOD, is organic,
it will contribute to the VSS concentration of the wastewater and
mixed liquor in the AS and is referred to as the nonbiodegradable
volatile suspended solids, nbVSS.
Wastewater Characterization
• The influent wastewater will also contain nonvolatile influent
suspended inert solids, iTSS, that add to the MLSS.
• For biodegradable COD, understanding the fractions that are
measured as soluble, soluble readily biodegradable (rbCOD), and
particulate is important for AS process design.
• The rbCOD is quickly assimilated by the biomass, while the
particulate, must first be dissolved by extracellular enzymes and are
thus assimilated at much slower rates.
• The rbCOD is of particular interest, T8-3, p.669, and has a direct
effect on the AS biological kinetics and process performance.
• A: Oxygen used for rbCOD
• B: Oxygen used for nitrification
• C: Oxygen used for particular COD
• D: Oxygen used for endogenous decay
Wastewater Characterization
• COD and BOD may be correlated as the following:
bCOD consumed in the BOD test is equal to the oxygen consumed
(UBOD) plus the oxygen equivalent of the remaining cell debris:
bCOD = UBOD + 1.42 fd (YH) bCOD
bCOD UBOD/BOD
eq(8 - 1)
BOD 1.0 - 1.42 f d (YH )
where;
f d cell debris fraction
YH synthesis yield coefficient
Postanoxic
Simultaneous
Two-sludge
Processes for Phosphorous Removal
Process for biological phosphorous removal
• Three biological phosphorous removal (BPR) configuration are
commonly used:
– Phoredox (A\O): represent any process with an anaerobic/aerobic
sequence to promote BPR. Nitrification does not take occur.
– A2O: process sequence, anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic. Nitrification
takes place.
– UCT (University of Cape Town): used for weak wastewater
where the addition of nitrate would have significant effect on the
BPR performance.
• The PhoStrip process: combines biological and chemical processes
for phosphorous removal.
Design of Physical Facilities for AS Process
Design of Aeration Tanks
After selecting the activated sludge process and the aeration system, the
next step is to design the aeration tanks and support facilities.
Aeration Tanks:
• constructed of reinforced concrete
• capacity is determined from process design
• for plants in a capacity range of
0.5 – 10 Mgal/d minimum two tanks
10 – 15 Mgal/d 4 tanks
>50 Mgal/d > 6 tanks
Some large plans have 30 to 40 tanks
Design of Physical Facilities for AS Process
Aeration Tanks:
• wastewater depth in the tank should be 15 – 25 ft for diffusers to work
efficiently.
• free board from 1 – 2 ft above waterline should be provided
• width to depth ratio 1:1 – 2.2:1 (1.5:1 is common)
• for large plants channel length can exceed 500 ft per tank
• tanks may consist of one to four channels
• length-to-width ratio of each channel should be at least 5:1
• for mechanical aeration system, one aerator per tank is commonly used
with a free board 3.5 – 5 ft
Suspended Growth Aerated Lagoons
Consists of shallow earthen basins varying in depth from 2-5m
provided with mechanical aerators.
mechanical aerators provide oxygen and mixing
Suspended growth aerated lagoons are operated on a flow-through basis
or with recycle.
Lagoons with solid recycle are essentially the same as the activated
sludge process.
Types of Suspended growth aerated lagoons:
Facultative partially mixed
Aerobic flow-through with partial mixing
Aerobic with solids recycle and nominal complete mixing
The general characteristics of these lagoon systems are summarized in
Table 8-29
Suspended Growth Aerated Lagoons
Facultative partially mixed
The energy input is sufficient to meet oxygen requirement but not
sufficient to maintain all of the solids in suspension.
A portion of incoming solids will settle a long with a portion of the
biological solids (AS)
Settled solids will undergo anaerobic decomposition
The term facultative is derived from the aerobic and anaerobic processes
that occur in the lagoon
Facultative lagoons must be dewatered and the accumulated soilds
removed.
Not commonly used.
Suspended Growth Aerated Lagoons
Aerobic flow-through with partial mixing
The energy input is sufficient to meet oxygen requirement but not
sufficient to maintain all of the solids in suspension.
τ = SRT
Effluent solids are removed in an external sedimentation facility
Co Co
Cn eq (8 - 72)
1 (kV / nQ n 1 (k / n n
where;
n number of lagoons in series
Oxygen requirements:
Can be computed in the same way as for activated sludge process.
Oxygen requirements have been found to vary from
0.7 – 1.4 the amount of BOD5 removed.
Suspended Growth Aerated Lagoons
Process design for flow-through lagoons:
Temperature:
Temperature effect include:
reduced biological activity and treatment efficiency.
formation of ice.
where;
Temperature can be estimated using:
Ti influent w aste temperatu re, oC
Ti Tw
(T T fA
w a eq (8 - 73)
Tw lagoon wat er temerat ure, oC
Influent Effluent
Effluent
Influent
Preliminary Aeration
Treatment Basin
Biological Treatment with Membrane
Separation
MBR Process Advantages
The ability to eliminate secondary clarifier and operate at higher MLSS
concentrations provide the following advantages:
Higher volumetric loading rate resulting in shorted hyd. detention time.
Longer SRT resulting in less sludge production.
Operate at lower DO concentration.
High-quality effluent (TSS, BOD, bacteria, turbidity, etc.) Table 8-30
Less space required for wastewater treatment.
MBR Process disadvantages:
High capital cost and energy cost.
Limited data on membrane life, (high cost for membrane replacement)
Membrane fouling