Biological / Secondary

Treatment of Wastewater
Prof. Vaibhav D. Kamble
Activated Sludge Treatment
( Suspended Growth Process)
Attached Growth Process
 Biological treatment process in which the
microorganisms responsible for the
conversion of organic matter or other
constituents in the wastewater to gases and
cell tissues are attached to some inert
medium such as rocks, plastic etc.

 Also known as Fixed film process

 Example- Trickling filter Process

Suspended Growth Process
 Biological treatment process in which the
microorganisms responsible for the
conversion of organic matter or other
constituents in the wastewater to gases and
cell tissues are maintained in suspension
within the liquid

 Example- Activated Sludge Process

 Activated Sludge Process

Biomass
Pri.Eff.
(suspended) MLSS Sec. Eff.
Aeration Secondary
Tank Clarifier

Return Activated Sludge (RAS)

Waste Activated Sludge (WAS)

Activated Sludge Process
 When the sewage passed or trickles through
the bed.The sewage is purified.

 This purification is due action of aerobic

bacteria which remains in the organisms film

 The main disadvantage of such filtres is that

they can not treat concentrated sewage
continuously and get clogged
 Due to this difficulty long ago experiments
were carried out for many years by blowing
air in the sewage
 When the circulation of air was stopped, the

floc settled
 The floc if added to another fresh sewage

causes its digestion

 This floc is called as Activated Sludge. It was

named so because it is very active and can

treat the fresh sewage
 The Activated Sludge Process was developed
in England in 1914 by Ardern and Lockette

 The activated sludge process is an aerobic

biological sewage treatment system
Outlines of Activated
Sludge Process
 Primary Return
Effluent Sludge

Secondary
Clarifier
 Sludge Processing
Effluent
and Storage

Land
Application Disinfect
WAS
RAS
Screening
Influent

Grit
Primary
Clarifiers Aeration Secondary
Tanks Clarifiers

Typical Flow-Through
Activated Sludge Plant
1) Primary Treatment
 The main objective of primary treatment is to
remove the suspended matter, floating
matter, oil, sand and grit from the sewage
2) Returned Activated Sludge
 The quantity of returned sludge varies from 20
to 35% of the presettled sewage by volume

 The activeness of returned sludge can be

judged by its golden brown colour and
denseness

 At some treatment plants the return sludge is

reaerated or reactivated before mixing with in
influent
 Aeration Tanks of an
Activated Sludge Treatment
 Aeration tanks or aeration chambers or they
are sometimes called as normally rectangular
tanks

 Depth -3 to 4.5m
 Width - 4 to 6m
 Length- 20 to 200m
 Detention period-4 to 8 hours
Functions of Aeration
1) Supplies the oxygen to meet the demand of
microorganisms

2) Provides adequate mixing agitation so that

MLSS Mixed liquor suspended solids are
held in suspension and available for the
biological activity

3) To mix up the return activated sludge with

the sewage
 Methods of Aeration In
Activated Sludge Process
Methods of Aeration In Activated
Sludge Process
1) Diffused Aeration

2) Mechanical Aeration

3) Combined diffused and mechanical aeration

1) Diffused Aeration
 These units are suitable for large plants

 In this method compressed air is introduced

into the mixture of sewage and RAS

Disadvantage –
 Since only 5% of oxygen in the air is actually

involved in the biochemical action

1) Mechanical Aeration
 In the air diffusion method a lot of
compressed air ( 90 to 95%) gets wasted as it
simply escapes through the tank without
giving oxygen to the sewage
 The atmospheric air is brought in contact
with the sewage in mechanical aeration
process
 In this process sewage is stirred by means of

mechanical devices like paddels ( called as

surface aerators)
 In order to introduce the air into it from the
atmosphere by continuously changing the
surface of the sewage by circulation of
sewage from top to bottom

 Gained popularity in recent years

 Specially used for smaller plants

Modifications in the Activated Sludge
Treatment
 Old Activated Sludge process has been
modified to suit the local conditions for
increasing its efficiency and reducing the
operation and maintenance costs

 Changes in the Aeration methods / systems

1) Tapered Aeration Process
 BOD is maximum near the inlet and minimum
near the outlet

 If diffused air is applied at uniform rate it

cannot be utilized properly


 If the air is applied at a changing rate it will
be called as Tapered Aeration
2) ) Step Aeration Process
Modifications in the Activated Sludge
Treatment
1) Tapered Aeration Process

2) Step Aeration Process

3) Modified Aeration Process

4) Two stage Aeration

5) Activated Aeration

6) Reaeration
Operational Problems
1) Bulking of Sludge 2) Foaming
 A sludge that exhibits poor settling
characteristics is called a bulking sludge
 Filamentous microorganisms have been
found to responsible
 Remedies-
1) Reduction of Sludge age ( less than 6 days)
2) Chlorination of RAS
3) Addition of Nutrients to overcome nutrient
deficiency
3) Rising Sludge
 Secondary clarifier problem

 Caused by the denitrification in the Secondary

clarifier

 Denirtification results in the formation of nitrogen

gas bubbles which lifts up the settled sludge


 Practical solution is denirtifying the sludge

entering the Secondary clarifier
Advantages of ASP
1) Lesser land area is required

2) Head loss in the plant is quite low

3) There is no fly or odour nuisance

4) Capital cost is less

Disadvantages of ASP
1) High cost of operation with greater power
consumption
2) A lot of machinery to be handled
3) The sudden change in the quantity and
character of sewage may produce adverse
effects on the working of the process
4) Bulking of sludge
5) The quantity of returned sludge has to be
adjusted every time