by

,
Vikas Kumar
Verma Enrol.No.-
11519016.
Environmental Engg.
M.Tech. (1stSem.)
What is a Septic Tank?

A Septic Tank is a below ground watertight box

(concrete, plastic or fiberglass), often about 9 x
5 x 6 feet. It separates the liquids and solids,
provides digestion of some organics (mainly by
bacteria which live without oxygen) and
storage.
It discharges partially filtered and clarified
effluent to the drainfield for final
Who has a Septic Tank
System?

If a building (with plumbing facilities) is not

on a city sewer system, then in most cases it
has a septic tank system (also known as an
On-site Wastewater Disposal System, or
Subsurface Wastewater Disposal System) to
dispose of the wastewater.
What is an On-site Wastewater
System?

An On-site Wastewater Disposal System collects,

treats and disposes of all the wastewater produced
in a building.
A conventional system includes a Septic Tank,
a Distribution Device and a Drainfield
 What is a Drainfield?
The Drainfield (also known as the
nitrification field) is the area which
contains the pipes (and/or other approved
materials). It receives the effluent (partially
treated cloudy liquid) from the septic tank
for distribution, treatment ( mainly by
bacteria that need oxygen) and absorption
into the soil.
Approved Drainfields are made from
many materials including pipe and gravel,
plastic chambers, concrete blocks,
polystyrene aggregate and other piping
systems.
What does an On-site
Wastewater Disposal System
do?

Avoids the spread of disease by

preventing human sewage from
contaminating the ground surface, well
water supplies and streams.
Typical Septic System
H ouse e v a p o t r a n s p i ra t i o n
w ell

s eptic tank

b a se m e n t tre nc h e s
effluent
b a ff l e
s oil a b so rp tio n

tre a t m e nt

gro und w a ter

s trea m s , lake s
Diagram of septic tank
 Schematic of conventional septic tank

Inspection opening Access opening near side wall at Inspection opening 150
150 mm diameter least 600 mm diameter mm diameter

Inlet At least 25 mm
20% of Outlet
Liquid level Liquid depth Water line
At least 75 mm

Scum
20% of Liquid depth
(150 mm, minimum) 40% of
40% Liquid depth
Scum clear space of Liquid
Liquid depth

(75 mm, minimum) depth

Clear space Scum clear space

(300 mm, minimum)

Sludge
Sludge

First compartment 2/3 length second compartment 1/3 length

Total length equals two to three times width
View Cross Section of Tank
Element of Septic Tank
 SEPTIC TANK
It is a primary horizontal continuous
flow type of sedimentation tank having
extra provision to digestion of settled
sludge
Properties.
 Detention time- 12 to 36 hr
 It removes 60% to 70% of dissolve
matters.
 Cleaning period-6 month to 3 years
 Tank Sizing
Generally prescribed for individual
homes
based on home size
Criteria: Hydraulic detention time plus
solids storage
1 to 2 days detention of design flow
Add solids storage volume equal to 1/3 – 1/2
of the above hydraulic detention
 Tank
Materials

Reinforced
concrete

Fiberglass-reinforced
plastic (FRP)

Polyethylene/Poly-
propylene
 Tank
 Solids removal by settling & floatation
Functions
 60-80% solids removal
 Anaerobic digestion
 Storage of solids
Factors that Influence Anaerobic
Digestion
pH
Teperature
Chemicals
Highly variable flow patterns
Pharmaceuticals and personal care
products (PPCPs)
Process wastewaters
Lack of tank maintenance
 What Happens in the Tank

IN OUT
SCUM

SLUDGE
 Anaerobic Digestion
ORGANIC
MATTER GASES + HUMUS
CO2
CH4
H2S
NH3
Biological Activity in the Septic
Tank
Anaerobic (without Oxygen)
Incomplete
Cheap and easy
Reliable
Gases produced are odoriferous
Not all solids in tank are biodegradable
Need to be stored until removed
during
pumpout
Average Removal of BOD,
TSS, and Grease in Septic Tank
Average Raw Average % Removal
Parameter Sewage Septic
Influent Tank
BOD (mg/L) 308 Effluent
122 60

TSS 316 72 77
(mg/L)

102 21 79
Grease
(mg/L)
Computer program for septic
#include<stdio.h>
tank
#include<conio.h>
#include<math.h>
Void main ()
{
Clrscr ();
Double population, per capita rate, detention time, quantity
of sewage, rate of deposition, period of cleaning, volume
of sludge, capacity, depth, surface area, width, length
Print f (“enter population”);
Scan f (“%f ”, & “ population”);
Print f (“enter per capita rate”,);
Scan f (“%f ”, & “per capita
rate”);
Print f (“enter rate of deposition”);
Scan f (“%f”, & “ rate of
deposition”); Print f (“enter period of
cleaning”); Scan f (“%f”, & “period of
cleaning”);
Volume of sludge= (rate of deposition*period
of cleaning)/1000
Capacity=quantity of sewage+ volume of sludge
Print f (“enter depth”);
Scan f (“%f”, & “depth”);
Surface area= volume of
sludge/depth Width=power (surface
area/3), 0.5); Print f (“width=%d”, b);
Length=3*width
Print f (“length=%d”, l);
 OUTPUT
Enter population= 120
Enter per capita rate= 150
Enter rate of deposition=
30
Enter depth of tank= 1.5m
Width= 2.1m
Length= 6m
Role of the septic tank
Anaerobic fermentation of solids
Reduce the load of pathogens in the effluent
Hold the effluent for 2-3 days for improved safety
Retain solid material to prevent blockage of
further disposal system
 Advantag
e be
1. It can Disadvantage
easily 1. Its size should be
constructed. very large to
2. No serve many
maintenance people.
problem. 2. Smell problem
3. It excellently 3. It needs
remove BOD. periodic
4.Very less cleaning.
amount of solids
are produced.
5. Low cost
Some things which can be done to prolong
the life of a Septic System:
Pump out the accumulated solids from the
Septic Tank regularly (check it every 3
years, and typically pump it every5-7
years).
Don’t overload it (minimize water usage).
Don’t put things which don’t readily
decompose into a Septic System (grease,
cooking oils, sanitary napkins,
chemicals, etc).
Don’t drive on it, or build over it.
Failures of a Septic System

1.Failure by surfacing
Failing Septic Systems often
show up as a wet or mushy
area above the drainfield
(often because the drainfield
can no longer absorb the
effluent).
Ways to spot a failing septic
syste
m
Failing septic
systems can
often be spotted
from the road.
Nutrients from
effluent often
cause the “grass
to grow
greener”.
Anaerobic digestion process is widely used for the
treatment of biodegradable organic waste.
Anaerobic digester depends upon different empirical
rules. Mathematical models are very helpful in the better
understanding anaerobic digester . By analyzing theses
models we can also apply computer technique on
anaerobic digesters.
The anaerobic digester is conceived as an input-
output model with organic waste as input and carbon
dioxide and methane production per unit weight of
substrate as output. The output is a function of the
following state variables-
s. No. Name Symbol
1. pH pH
2. Alkalinity Ca
3. Volatile acid conc. Cva
4. Total nitrogen conc. CN
5. Temperature T
For the purpose of analysis these state variables are denoted
X
as1, X2, X3,X4 and X5 and the state vector by
The input u isX.in the form of volatile solid (vs) loading
done once everyday and expressed as gm per litre of
digester is denoted by C.
The output vector consists of the following variables-
s. No. Name Symbol
1. Unit carbon qCO2
dioxide
discharge
2. Unit methane qCH4
discharge

And for the purpose of analysis they will be denoted by

Y1 and Y2; and output vector by Y.
The system is described by the following differential
dx/dt = f1(x,u)…….
equations: (1
in which X is (x1,x2,x3,x4,x5 )T. knowing the initial conditions)
and the input u(t), equation (1) can be solved by using an
appropriate numerical method. Thus the state variables are
expressed as a function of time and input.
The output is a function of state variables and the input
variables, which can be written as-
Y=f2(X,u)….. (2
In which Y is (y1, )
In
y2)digester
T input is known & parameters are also known then
at any stage we can know what would be the output.
In the present investigation two types of equations, linear
exponential, are fitted to the data. For mathematical
and
convenience u
is denoted as x6.

1. Linear equation
A typical output y is related to the input and state variables
Y=a 1x1following
by the +a2x2+a3x3linear
+a4x4+a 5x5+a6x6
equation- ……. (3
In which a1’s are unknown constants to be determined
) in
such manner that there is a good agreement with the data.
The error ϵi in the ith data van be written as-
ϵi= yi-( a1x1+a2x2+a3x3+a4x4+a5x5+a6x6) ….. (4)
in which yi is the ith observed output.
Squaring ϵi (all the errors become positive) and summing
one
gets:
E=Σ(yi- Σaj (5
For
xji)2 minimizing E, we have ) dE/daj=0; for j= 1,
2,3…….6
2using
(Σyi-equation
Σaj xji) x(5)
k =0….
and (6) one gets (7
Simplifying equation (7); one gets )
Σaj Σxji xki= Σyi xki ; for k= 1, 2, 3…….6 (8
Equation
…. (8) is a system of linear simultaneous equation
)
in aj which can be solved using standard procedure.
2. Non linear Equation

The following state output equation is

a1 a2 a3 a4
proposed a5
Y=k.x 1 . x2 . x3 .x4 . x5 .
In which k is constant. a6 …
x6
Taking logarithms one gets (9)

Log y= log k+ a1 log x1+ a2 log x2 + a3 log x3 + a4 log x4 +

log
a5 x5 + a6 log …
It
x6 is a linear formulation
(10) in log x and log y . by changing the
variables and using an equation similar to eq. (8) the
constant aj could be evaluated.
 Conclusion

Septic tank is widely used in waste water treatment. This method

has several significant advantages like very less by-products low
energy, low space requirement and highly efficient.
In septic tank, the treatment process is anaerobic present and due
to modeling of anaerobic system and the analysis of
anaerobic treatment has become simple.
By model analysis we can also write the several computer
programs
for given input and parameter at different time.