Design Considerations

Part 2 of 2
Sludge Production
• The activated sludge process removes substrate, which exerts an oxygen demand by converting
food into new cell material, and degrading the cell material while generating energy, which in turn
becomes sludge that must be disposed of
• Net yield of 0.5 kg MLVSS/kg BOD5 removed could be expected for a completely soluble organic
substrate (Heukelekian and Sawyer)
• Range is about 0.40-0.60, depending on the (1) inert solids in the system and (2) its SRT

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 = 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝐿𝑆𝑆 − 𝑆𝑆 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡

• Net activated sludge produced each day

𝑌
𝑌𝑜𝑏𝑠 =
1 + 𝑘𝑑 𝜃𝑐
10−3 𝑘𝑔
𝑃𝑥 = 𝑌𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑄 𝑆𝑜 − 𝑆
𝑔
𝑘𝑔
𝑃𝑥 = 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑊𝐴𝑆 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑉𝑆𝑆,
𝑑
𝑘𝑔 𝑀𝐿𝑉𝑆𝑆
𝑌𝑜𝑏𝑠 = 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑,
𝑘𝑔 𝐵𝑂𝐷5 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑
VSS is assumed to be 60-80% of MLVSS
Exercise
Estimate the mass of sludge to be wasted each day from the activated
sludge designed previously.
Oxygen Demand
• Oxygen is used in those reactions required to degrade the substrate to produce the high-energy compounds
required for cell synthesis and for respiration
• For long SRT systems, oxygen needed for cell maintenance can be estimated to be of the same order of magnitude
as substrate metabolism
• Minimum residual of 0.5 to 2 mg/L DO is maintained to prevent oxygen from limiting the rate of substrate
removal
• Estimate of oxygen demand may be made from the BOD5 of the waste and the amount of activated sludge wasted
• To assume that all food is converted to end products, BOD5 converted to ultimate BOD for computation
• Assuming cell respiration is described by the following:
𝐶5 𝐻7 𝑁𝑂2 + 5𝑂2 5𝐶𝑂2 + 2𝐻2 𝑂 + 𝑁𝐻3 + 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
5 32
Ratio of gram molecular weight is 113
= 1.42
• The oxygen demand of the WAS may be estimated as 1.42(𝑃𝑥 )
• Oxygen required is estimated as:
10−3 𝑘𝑔
𝑄 𝑆𝑜 − 𝑆 𝑔
𝑀𝑂2 = − 1.42 𝑃𝑥
𝑓
 10−3 𝑘𝑔
𝑄 𝑆𝑜 − 𝑆
𝑔
𝑀𝑂2 = − 1.42 𝑃𝑥
𝑓
𝑓 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑂𝐷5 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝐵𝑂𝐷
Exercise
𝑚3
Estimate the volume of air that must be supplied for the new
𝑑
activated sludge plant being discussed. Assume the 𝐵𝑂𝐷5 = 68% 𝐿𝑜
and oxygen transfer efficiency is 8%. 𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 =
𝑘𝑔
1.185 3 , 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑂2 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 23.2%
𝑚
• Long SRT results in a higher
quantity of solids and higher
degree of treatment obtained
• Long SRT also produces less waste
sludge
Considerations
• Municipal wastewater generally contains sufficient amount of nitrogen and phosphorous
to support biological growth
• Ratio of nitrogen to BOD5 should be 1:32
• Ratio of phosphorous to BOD5 should be 1:50
• Addition of either may be required especially in industrial waste since industrial WW are deficient in N and P
• Volatile organic compounds, if not removed most in the pretreatment, may be stripped
from the solution into the atmosphere from the aeration tank and may cause air
pollution
• Toxic materials if present until the later treatment stages may precipitate in the waste
sludges
• Oil and grease that pass through the primary treatment will form grease balls on the
surface of the aeration tank
• Microbe can’t degrade this material since it is not in the water where they can come physically in
contact with
• Surface skimming devices in the secondary clarifier should be taken into account to address this problem
 Secondary Clarifier Considerations
• Overflow rate of 20-34 m/d in a conventional process can be
expected for good separation of liquid and SS
• Final settling side water depth and solids loading
𝑚3
• Weir loading = 125-250 per m of weir length
𝑑

Side Water Depth, m

Tank Diameter, m Minimum Recommended
<12 3.0 3.4
12-20 3.4 3.7
20-30 3.7 4.0
30-42 4.0 4.3
>42 4.3 4.6
Sludge Problems: bulking sludge
• poor settling characteristics and poor compactability

• caused by (1) growth of filamentous organisms, (2) water trapped in the

bacterial floc
• reducing the density of the agglomerate and resulting in poor settling
• long, slow-moving collection-system transport
• low available ammonia nitrogen when the organic loading is high
• low pH – could favor acid-favoring fungi
• lack of macronutrients
• stimulates predomination of the filamentous actinomycetes over the normal floc-forming
bacteria
• favors slime-producing bacteria – have slow specific gravity
Sludge Problems: rising sludge
• sludge that floats to the surface after apparently good settling
• results from denitrification (reduction of nitrates and nitrites to nitrogen gas
in the sludge blanket)
• gas trapped causes globs of sludge to rise to the surface and float over the weirs into the
receiving stream

• can be overcome by
(1) increasing the rate of return sludge flow,
(2) increasing the speed of the sludge-collecting mechanism,
(3) decreasing the mean cell residence time,
(4) if possible, decreasing the flow from the aeration tank of the offending tank
Disinfection
• Reduce population of pathogenic 3. Disinfectants must not be toxic to
organisms to an acceptable measure humans
• Sterilization – complete distraction of 4. Must be available at reasonable cost
living organisms 5. Easy to store, transport, handle and
apply
Properties: 6. Strength and concentration of residual
1. Destroy number and kinds of must be easily determined in the water
pathogenic organisms that may be
present in WW in a practical period of
time
2. Must meet possible fluctuation in
composition, concentration and
condition
Disinfection
chlorine is injected into the wastewater by automated feeding systems,
wastewater then flows into a basin, where it is held for about 15
minutes to allow the chlorine to react with the pathogens
• when done with secondary treatment may remove over 85 percent of the
BOD and suspended solids and nearly all pathogens
• ozone
ADVANCED WASTEWATER
TREATMENT
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Filtration
• conventional sand filtration techniques used in water treatment may
be used but tend to clog quickly and will needs frequent backwashing
• Granular filtration
• Larger filter grain sizes at the top of the filter
• arrangement allows some of the larger particles of the biological floc to be trapped at
the surface without plugging the filter
• low-density coal for large grain sizes, medium-density sand for intermediate sizes, and
high-density garnet for the smallest size filter grains
• Membrane filtration
• BOD removals of 75-90% and TSS removals of 95-98%
• Membrane fouling is of particular concern
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Carbon Adsorption
• refractory organics: soluble organic materials that are resistant to
biological breakdown persistent in the effluent even after secondary
treatment
𝑚𝑔
• can be detected as soluble COD which often comprise 30 to 60
𝐿
• adsorption by activated carbon as the most practical method of removing
refractory organics
• adsorption: accumulation of materials at an interface
• interface: liquid/solid boundary layer
• organic materials accumulate at the interface because of the physical bonding
of the molecules to the solid surface
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Phosphorous Removal
• phosphorous is typically found as mono-
hydrogen phosphate (HPO42-) in
wastewater
• removal of phosphorous to prevent
eutrophication is through chemical
precipitation using one of three
compounds (with the following
reactions):
• using ferric chloride
• 𝐹𝑒𝐶𝑙3 + 𝐻𝑃𝑂42− 𝐹𝑒𝑃𝑂4 ↓ +𝐻+
• using alum
• 𝐴𝑙2 (𝑆𝑂4 )3 +2𝐻𝑃𝑂42− 2𝐴𝑙𝑃𝑂4 ↓
+ 2𝐻 + + 3𝑆𝑂42−
• using lime
• 5𝐶𝑎(𝑂𝐻)2 + 3𝐻𝑃𝑂42− 𝐶𝑎5 𝑃𝑂4 3 𝑂𝐻 ↓
+ 3𝐻2 𝑂 + 6𝑂𝐻 −
• ferric chloride and alum reduce the pH
while lime increases it
• effective pH range for ferric chloride and
alum is between 5.5 and 7.0
• precipitation needs a reaction basin and a
+ 3𝐶𝑙 − settling tank to remove the precipitate
• ferric chloride and alum may be added
directly to the aeration tank in the
activated-sludge system; aeration tank
serves as reaction basin
• not possible with lime since high pH is
detrimental to the activated sludge organisms
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Nitrogen Control
• nitrogen in any soluble form (NH3, NH4+, NO2-, and NO3-, but not N2 gas) is a nutrient
• may need to be removed from wastewater to help control algal growth in the
receiving body
• nitrogen in the form of ammonia exerts an oxygen demand and can be toxic to fish
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Nitrogen Control
Nitrification/denitrification
• removal of nitrogen by biological means
• natural nitrification process can be forced to occur in the activated-
sludge system by maintaining a cell detention time (θc) of 15 days in
moderate climates and over 20 days in cold climates
• expressed in chemical terms as follows:
𝑁𝐻4+ + 2𝑂2 𝑁𝑂3− + 𝐻2 𝑂 + 2𝐻 +
• bacteria must have to be present for reaction to occur
ADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Nitrogen Control
Ammonia stripping
• ammonia can be removed chemically by raising the pH to convert the ammonium
ion into ammonia
• ammonia can be stripped from the water by passing large quantities of air
through the water
• sludge process must be operated at a short cell detention time to prevent
nitrification
• stripping reaction:
𝑁𝐻4+ + 𝑂𝐻 − 𝑁𝐻3 + 𝐻2 𝑂
• hydroxide is usually supplied by adding lime
• lime may also react with CO2 in the air and water to form calcium carbonate scale
• reduced stripping ability can be caused by increased solubility of ammonia in cold water