REYGIE Q. MACASIEB, RCE, M.Sc.

Assistant Professor
UP Institute of Civil Engineering
Environment & Energy Engineering Group

http://www.sua.com/files/reclaimed_headworks.JPG

CE 132
SANITARY ENGINEERING I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Headworks refers to the unit operations that 
are placed at the upstream end of the 
wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). 

 These include the pumping station, flow 
measurement, and a group of unit operations 
commonly referred to as preliminary 
treatment.

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

The design of the pump station (or lift
station) at the WWTP is to a great extent
similar to those placed in the collection
system. The major differences are that the
building components are incorporated into
the WWTP facility and that an alternative to
the nonclog centrifugal pump may be
appropriate. The alternative is a screw
pump (often called an Archimedes screw ).

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 This process removes larger material to
 Protect process equipment
 Prevent interference with treatment
 Prevent discharge to waterways

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

The screening element may consist of 
parallel bars, rods or wires, grating, 
wire mesh, or perforated plate

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Bar Racks (Coarse 
Screens)
 Have clear openings of 5/8 
in. (5 cm)
 Used to protect pumps, 
valves, pipelines, and other 
appurtenances from 
damage or clogging  by 
rags and large objects

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Bar Racks (Coarse Screens)
 Head loss through clean bar racks can be 
estimated using the following equation:

1 V v 2 2
hL  *
0 .7 2g

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Fine Screens
 Have openings less 
than 5/8 in. (usually 6 
mm)
 Fine screens are 
expensive, high 
maintenance
 Not commonly used 
for municipal 
waterways
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Fine Screens
 Fine screens can remove 10‐80% TSS 
(average removal = 55%)
 Clear‐water head loss through screens may 
be estimated by:
2
1 Q
hL  * 
C (2 g )  A 

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Screenings are the 
materials that are retained 
on bar racks and screens

 Coarse screenings consist of 
debris such as rocks, 
branches, pieces of lumber, 
leaves, paper, tree roots, 
plastics and rags

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Fine screenings represent at least 5 to 10% of 
influent Suspended Solids(for screens with 
0.09 to 0.25 screens)

 Fine screenings contain substantial grease 
and scum

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Characteristics of Grit
 Consists of sand, gravel, 
cinders, or other heavy solid 
materials that have specific 
gravities substantially greater 
than those of the organic 
putrescible solids in 
wastewater
 Grit also includes eggshells,  
bone chips, seeds, coffee 
grounds, and large organic 
particles such as food wastes

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Grit characteristics (continued)
 0.004 to 0.04 m3 grit per m3 of  wastewater
 Solids content: 35‐80%
 Volatile content: 1‐55%
 Typical density: 1.6 gm/cm3

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Designed to remove sand, 
gravel, cinders, coffee 
grounds, eggshells, other 
high‐density organics and 
inorganics

• Design Goal:
• Provide sufficient detention time for grit to 
settle 
• Maintain constant velocity to scour organics
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Purpose:
1. To protect  moving mechanical  equipment 
from abrasion and accompanying abnormal 
wear
2. To reduce formation of heavy deposits in 
pipelines, channels and conduits
3. To reduce the frequency of digester 
cleaning caused by excessive accumulation 
of grit

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Three general types of grit chambers:
 Horizontal‐flow
 Aerated
 Vortex‐type

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Design velocity should be around 0.3 m/s

 Designed to remove all particles that will be 
retained on a 65‐mesh screen (0.21mm 
diameter)

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Range Typical
Detention Time, s 45‐90 60
Horizontal Velocity, ft/s 0.8‐1.3 1.0

Settling Velocity for Removal of:

65‐mesh material, ft/min 3.2‐4.2 3.8

100‐mesh material, ft/min 2.0‐3.0 2.5

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

Head loss in a control section as percent of depth in channel, 
%: 30‐40 (range) and 36 (typical)

Allowance for inlet and outlet turbulence: 2Dm – 0.5L
where Dm = max depth in grit chamber
L = theoretical length of grit chamber

If the SG of the grit is significantly less than 2.65, lower  
velocities should be used

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Nominally designed to remove particles 65 
mesh or larger
 Velocity of roll or agitation governs the size of 
particles of a given specific gravity that will be 
removed
 With the proper adjustment of quantity of air, 
100% removal of grit is obtained, and grit will 
be well‐washed

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Range Typical
Detention time at peak 
2‐5 3
flow rate, min
Dimensions:
Depth, ft 7‐16
Length, ft 25‐65
Width, ft 8‐23
Width‐depth ratio 1:1 – 5:1 1.5:1
Length‐width ratio 3:1 – 5:1 4:1
Air supply, ft3/min per 
2.0‐5.0
foot of length
Grit quantities, ft3/Mgal 0.5‐27 27

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Quantities of Grit:
 depends on type of sewer system, 
characteristics of drainage area, condition 
of the sewers, amount of sandy soil in the 
area

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Disposal of Grit
 Used as filling material, covered to prevent 
objectionable conditions
 Incinerated with sludge
 Disposed together with municipal solid 
waste

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

1. Skimming Tanks
 Use of baffled subsurface entrance and exit 
structures which permit floating materials to be 
retained
 Retention times are 15 minutes or less
 Continuous mechanical skimming is usually 
employed
 Horizontal velocity of the water is in the range of 50 
to 250 mm/s in order to prevent deposition of 
organic particles on the bottom

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

Floatation Processes
 Accumulation of small air bubbles at the 
surface of grease particles will decrease 
their density and increase their effective 
diameter

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Alternative to racks or 
coarse screens
 Grinds up (comminute) the 
coarse solids without 
removing them from the 
flow
 Solids are cut up into a 
smaller, more uniform size 
for return to the flow 
stream for removal in the 
subsequent downstream 
operations and processes
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Advantages
 Theoretically eliminates the messy and 
offensive task of screenings handling and 
disposal
 Particularly advantageous in a pumping 
station to protect the pumps against 
clogging

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Disadvantages
 Rags tend to recombine after comminution
into ropelike strands, if agitated
 Head loss range from several inches to 1 ft 
and can approach to 3 ft for large units

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 The damping of flow rate variations so that a 
constant or nearly constant flow rate is 
achieved

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Used for the following reasons:
1. To overcome the operational problems 
caused by flow rate variations
2. To improve the performance of the 
downstream process
3. To reduce the size and cost of 
downstream treatment facilities

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 In‐line equalization
 All flows pass through the equalization 
basin to achieve a considerable amount of 
flow rate and constituent concentration 
damping

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Off‐line equalization:
 Only the flow rate above some 
predetermined flow rate is diverted into the 
equalization basin
 Pumping requirements are minimized
 Amount of constituent‐concentration 
damping is reduced

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
 Benefits:
 Biological treatment is enhanced through 
elimination of shock loadings and stabilization of 
pH
 Effluent quality and thickening performance of 
secondary sedimentation tanks is improved 
following biological treatment through constant 
solids loading
 Effluent‐filtration surface‐area requirements are 
reduced

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Factors to consider in the design:
 Location and configuration
 Volume
 Basin geometry
 Mixing and air requirements
 Appurtenances
 Pumping facilities

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Volume Requirements for Equalization 
Basin
 Determined by using an inflow mass 
diagram in which the cumulative inflow 
volume is plotted versus the time of day

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

In practice, the volume will be larger than the 
theoretical value to account 
 Operation of aeration and mixing equipment will 
not permit complete dewatering of an in‐line 
basin.
 If recycle streams are brought to the mixing 
basin, this volume must be accommodated.
 Contingency for variations beyond the diurnal 
flow pattern.
Additional volume is provided for these 
contingencies. The contingency multipliers range 
from 1.1 to 1.25 times the theoretical estimate.
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
(a) Typical and (b) highly idealized hypothetical flow patterns.

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Volume Calculation
 the required volume is estimated from diurnal flow 
data by performing a volume balance to determine 
the maximum storage volume required

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

Time, t Flow rate, F Time, t Flow rate, F
(h) (m3/h) (h) (m3/h)
Midnight - 1 1110
1 901 2 1400
2 799 3 1310
3 753 4 1490
4 738 5 1350
5 719 6 1100
6 749 7 1370
7 780 8 1420
8 1000 9 1370
9 1370 10 1100
10 1280 11 1270
11 1230 Midnight 1230
Noon 1400

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Cumulati "Cumulativ
Time
Total
ve e Average”
Average Flow Rate = Total Flow Rate/ 24
Volume, m3 (4) - (3) = 27239/24 = 1134.96 cubic meters/hr
(1) Volume Volume
(2)
(3) (4)
0 - 0 0 0
1 901 901 1134.96 233.96
2 799 1700 2269.92 569.92
3 753 2453 3404.88 951.88
4 738 3191 4539.83 1348.83
5 719 3910 5674.79 1764.79
6 749 4659 6809.75 2150.75
7 780 5439 7944.71 2505.71
8 1000 6439 9079.67 2640.67
9 1370 7809 10214.63 2405.63
10 1280 9089 11349.58 2260.58
11 1230 10319 12484.54 2165.54
12 1400 11719 13619.50 1900.50
13 1110 12829 14754.46 1925.46
14 1400 14229 15889.42 1660.42
15 1310 15539 17024.38 1485.38
16 1490 17029 18159.33 1130.33
17 1350 18379 19294.29 915.29 Applying a factor of safety equal to 1.25 to the
18 1100 19479 20429.25 950.25 required equalization volume as recommended
19 1370 20849 21564.21 715.21
by Davis (2010) and Karia et al (2006),
20 1420 22269 22699.17 430.17
21 1370 23639 23834.13 195.12
22 1100 24739 24969.08 230.08 DESIGN VOLUME = 1.25(2640.67) = 3300.83
23 1270 26009 26104.04 95.04
cubic meters
24 1230 27239 27239.00 0.00

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Construction materials
 May be made of earthen, concrete or steel
 Side slopes may vary between 3:1 and 2:1
 A liner may be required to prevent 
groundwater contamination
 Typical minimum operating level to protect 
aerator is 1.5 to 2m

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Basin Geometry
 Use a geometry that allows the basin to 
function as a complex‐mix reactor
 Inlet and outlet configurations should be 
arranged to minimize short circuiting

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

 Mixing and Air Requirements
 Aeration is required to prevent the 
wastewater from becoming septic and 
odorous
 Air should be supplied at a rate of 0.01 to 
0.015 m3/min per m3 of wastewater

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

Appurtenances
The following appurtenances are provided to 
facilitate operation of the equalization
basin: 
(1) hose facilities for flushing grease and solids 
from the basin walls, 
(2) a highwater takeoff to remove scum, 
(3) a spray system to reduce foam,
(4) a bypass so that the basin may be dewatered 
for maintenance, and 
(5) a basin flushing system to remove sediment. 

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

Determine the equalization basin volume required for the 
following cyclic flow pattern. Provide a 25% excess capacity for 
equipment, unexpected flow variations, and solids accumulation.

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I

CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I
CE 132 Sanitary Engineering I