J . Chem. Tech. Biotechnol.

1996,67,404-412

Design and Verification of a Model Secondary

Clarifier for Activated Sludge
Koen Grijspeerdt, Herwig Bogaert & Willy Verstraete*
Centre for Environmental Sanitation, University of Gent, Coupure L653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
(Received 22 January 1996; revised version received 12 June 1996; accepted 8 July 1996)

Abstract: A model clarifier was designed using conventional methods for the
surface calculation and an alternative pathway for the determination of the
height and constructed accordingly. In addition, a new approach was used to
evaluate the necessary scraper speed in comparison to full-scale clarifiers. Scaling
effects were taken into account. The model clarifier was first tested by tracer
experiments. Conductivity measurements were used for the clarification zone,
whereas the thickening zone was tested using pyrene as an organic tracer com-
pound. Finally, the behaviour of the model clarifier was compared with a full-
scale settler. The results indicated that operation of the model clarifier was
representative of full-scale behaviour, except for severe overloads. Hence, the
small-scale clarifier qualified as a model for small-scale studies and could be
installed on large-scale plants to monitor more transparently plant performance
and sludge behaviour

Key words : activated sludge, secondary clarifier, design, down scaling, tracer
testing, sludge blanket height measurements

NOTATION SVI Sludge volume index (dm3 kg- ')

TR Time ratio (= QidealQ,;il)
A Surface area of the clarifier (m') Kf' Effectively used clarifier volume (%)
C Constant in eqn (3) W Waste sludge ratio ( = QwQ-')
COD Chemical oxygen demand (kg m3) WWTP Wastewater treatment plant
Dr Diameter of the scraper (m) X Suspended solids concentration (kg m3)
Fr Froude number
9 Gravity force (m h-') P Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
Hl Height of the clarification zone (m) P Density (kg m-3)
HZ Height of the thickening zone (m) o2 Variance of the pulse response (h')
N Number of rotations z Mean residence time (h)
NT Number of stirred tanks in series zbs Sludge retention time (h)
NP Power number ZW Hydraulic retention time (h)
P Power input (J s- ')
PAH Polyaromatic hydrocarbon
Pe Peclet number 1 INTRODUCTION
Q Input flow of the activated sludge plant (m3
h-') The design of an activated sludge plant, as a biological
Recycle flow (m3 h-') system, is strongly dependent on the specific situation of
Q, the case involved.'*2 Therefore, it is often desirable to
QW Waste sludge flow (m3 h- ')
r Recycle ratio (= Q,Q - ') set up a small-scale system in order to be able to predict
Re Reynolds number the behaviour of a full-scale plant to changes in oper-
SBH Sludge blanket height (m) ational conditions. The secondary clarifier, although a
very important unit,3 is often designed arbitrarily in
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. such small-scale installations, which can lead to a false
404
J . Chem. Tech. Biotechnol. 0268-2575/96/%09.00 0 1996 SCI. Printed in Great Britain
Model secondary clarijier for activated sludge
image.4 For example, the emuent suspended solids con-
tribute a substantial part to the chemical oxygen
demand (COD) and nutrient ~ o n t e n t .The~ small-scale
clarifier should simulate the full-scale clarifier as well as
possible and provide equivalent results.
There are few references regarding the design of
small-scale settlers. Some authors have mentioned the
importance of wall- and bridging effect^.^^' These phe-
nomena occur during the determination of the sludge
volume index (SVI).8-’1 This problem can be tackled
more rigorously using the dimensionless characteristics
of the flow
The obvious way to verify the hydraulics is using
tracer e~periments.’~’’~ The flow in the clarification
zone must be smooth enough to prevent turbulence
effects from obstructing flocculation of sludge flocs.”
On the other hand, slow mixing is essential for an
enhanced floc formation.I6 No dead zones should occur
in the thickening zone, since this can lead to rising
sludge.’’
In this paper, five design methods for circular full-
scale clarifiers have been compared for their applicabil-
ity to small-scale clarifiers. Special attention was given
to important aspects such as scraper speed and down-
scaling side effects. The design was then subjected to
tracer experiments. Finally, the model clarifier was com-
pared with a full-scale clarifier for a period of several
weeks.
2 DESIGN
The design parameters for a circular clarifier are sum-
marized in Fig. 1. The clarifier receives an input Q
+ Qr, the emuent flow is Q - Q, and an underflow Q,
+ Q, is withdrawn continuously. Qris a fraction r of Q,
r normally ranging between 0-25 and 1.5.” From this
underflow, a certain flow Q, is taken to compensate for
the growth of the biomass. If Q, is expressed as w Q,
then w is generally a factor of 10 smaller than r.I8 Scra-
pers are provided to collect the sludge in the central
underflow outlet. The design exercise comprised the
Q + Q.
1 with the different design methods. 1, Emuent and thickening
Q, Q, * criteria; 2, STORA; 3, solids flux; 4, Abwassertechnische
Fig. 1. Design parameters for a circular clarifier.
405
determination of the cross-sectional surface needed for a
certain flow, the height of the clarifier, construction of
inlet and outlet and the scraper speed.
2.1 Surface
Five conventional methods were compared for their
ability for use as small-scale clarifiers, namely emuent
and thickening criteria,” STORA design criterion,”
solids flux theory,’O ATV-design” and WRC-design.”
Imposing a fixed volume for the small clarifier of 10
dm3, and using general values for the design parameters
(which differ from method to method), only the solids
flux theory produced unrealistic results. The other
methods indicated very similar designs (Fig. 2). A sensi-
tivity analysis was carried out for the methods towards
the parameters (data not shown). The outcome demon-
strated that the final design was particularly sensitive to
the expected flows and inlet concentration. This shows
the importance of a careful analysis of the particular
situation before constructing a plant. Obviously,
method-specific parameters are also important, but
without exception their influence is an order of magni-
tude less. Normally, it is not common practice to design
full-scale secondary clarifiers starting from an imposed
volume. However, when there are no other constraints
imposed, this is the most convenient procedure for
pilot- and laboratory-scale designs.
2.2 Height
Several of the design techniques refer to a way to decide
the minimum clarifier height for a certain hydraulic
load. However, these methods cannot be used since they
require minimum values of 2 m and more. Hence, an
alternative procedure was used.I6 Assuming that the
clarification and thickening zone are independent from
- each other, the clarifier height can be calculated as the
-8 E
I
v)
02
01
0.00
1 2 3 4 5
Design method
Fig. 2. The surface area of the circular clarifier as calculated
Vereinigung (ATV);5, water research centre (WRC).
406
sum of the height of the clarification and thickening
zones of the clarifier, respectively. The design variables
are the retention time in the clarification zone (z,) and
the thickening zone (zbs). The retention time for a spe-
cific zone can be calculated as the volume of that zone
divided by the flow rate.
The height of the clarification zone is:
H, =
Q(1 - 47,
A TR
Values for z, can be found in the 1 iteratu re.l~A~value
~
of at least 1 h is sufficient.
The height in the thickening zone ( H , ) is:
H2 =
+
Q(l r)Xz,, SVI
A480
The factor (SVI/480) originates from a correlation for
the mean sludge blanket concentration given by
STORA.’
The choice of zbs is governed by two conflicting phe-
nomena. The thickening should be as pronounced as
po~sible,’~ but anoxic or anaerobic conditions must be
avoided.’5,’7 Values found in the literature range from
0.7 to 5 h.’5,23
2.3 Inlet
No straightforward theoretical solutions for the inlet
position can be p ~ s t u l a t e d . ~In~ ~practice,
’~ a central
inlet is often preferred, located as deep as possible to
make optimal use of sludge bed filtration, but short cir-
cuiting between the inlet and the underflow must be
avoided. For a small-scale system, a central inlet is not
easy to construct, so an inlet at the side was selected,
flexible with respect to the vertical position.
2.4 Scraper
The speed of scraper rotation should be known because
this is a crucial parameter for sedimentation.’ A dimen-
sion analysis, inspired by chemical engineering tech-
niques, can give an answer to this problem.
The following relationship is assumed between the
power input (P)and the influencing parameters :
P = (3)
Equation (3) may be expressed in terms of the elemen-
tary dimensions (M, L and T ) :
Considering that the dimensions of the left-hand side of
eqn. (4) must be the same as the right-hand side, the
K . Grijspeerdt, H . Bogaert, W . Verstraete
following expression can be deduced :
(5)
The left-hand side represents the power number N , ,
and the right-hand side contains a Reynolds and a
Froude number:
P
N, = ___ = C ReXFrY
N3D:p
When there is no vortex formation due to the scraping
action, y can be set equal to zero. This is certainly the
case in secondary clarifiers, where the scraping is very
slow. In practice, x generally has the value - l . 2 3 By
comparing the power input per unit area for two stir-
ring devices, the final result is obtained:
Equation (7) expresses the fact that the tip speed must
be the same for both systems, independent of the scale
and should not exceed 5 mm s-’.”
2.5 Additional criteria
The use of the numerous empirical rules available is
normally quite restricted, but some appear to have
more general validity.
The weir overflow load must be less than 10 m3 m-’
h-’ l 8 to avoid sludge wash out. According to Denys28
scaling effects can be avoided if the diameter of the
largest sludge flocs does not exceed 1% of the clarifier
diameter. Sekine et al.’ mention a minimum allowable
diameter of 0.1 m, Jenkins et al.” suggest a minimum
diameter of 0.15 m.
Dimensionless flow numbers can be used to establish
more accurate rules for the design. Verstraete and Van
Vaerenbergh’* stated that the Reynolds number,
expressing the turbulence level, must be lower than 500
and the Froude number, expressing the stability of the
flow, must be higher than lop5.
2.6 Construction
As stated previously, all but one of the design methods
for the surface gave approximately the same results.
This value was used for the surface, subsequently the
height was calculated and the additional criteria were
tested, which were all met for the reported range of
design parameters. The constructed clarifier is shown
schematically in Fig. 3, where the dimensions are stated.
The 10 dm3 clarifier was constructed in plexiglass, with
several positions where the inlet and outlet could be
situated. This enabled several geometries to be simu-
lated. The diameter of these nozzles was 8 mm. The
Model secondary clarifier for activated sludge
ro
10
' Recycle
Fig. 3. The small-scale clarifier constructed following the
design studies. All dimensions are given in cm.
underflow nozzle had a diameter of 12 mm, to prevent
blocking by sludge. The default input flow rate varied
between 5 and 20 dm3 h-' . The recycle and effluent
flow rates depended on the operational parameters, i.e.
the values of r, and to a lesser degree w. The conical
part had an opening angle of 70".
The scrapers moved the sludge located at the bottom,
and scraped the walls, in order to prevent wall effects
and excessive biofilm growth. They were attached to a
central tube in stainless steel to ensure rigidity. The
scrapers themselves were wipers, at the bottom two
chains were connected to ensure a certain degree of
mixing in the conical part of the clarifier. The central
scraper tube was rotated by an electrical motor
Conductivity
Measurement
I
V Q,
Fig. 4. The experimental arrangement for the tracer tests of the clarification zone.
407
(Crouzet, Switzerland) with a rotation speed of 0.33
rpm.
3 VERIFICATION OF THE CLARIFIER
DESIGN WITH TRACER EXPERIMENTS
3.1 The clarification zone
Different options are possible for the kind of tracer and
the input signal to be used. The relatively large volume
of the clarifier indicated an (experimentally difficult)
large pulse input to be able to detect the tracer in the
output. Salt was used as a tracer element, so that the
system response could be obtained by simple conduc-
tivity measurements. KCl was preferred instead of
NaCl, because the more uniform diffusivities of K + and
C1- limited errors due to diffusion.29
Another important point is the density of the
Clearly this must be the same as the fluid in
the vessel of interest. By using a step input, this problem
could be avoided. The step height was 3.5 kg m - 3 KCl,
a solution with a density of 1.00045 kg dm-3, 2 3 almost
the same as that of water.
The experiments were all carried out in the same way.
The clarifier was operated with distilled water. The inlet
pump was stopped and a certain amount of KCl was
added to the water vessel so that a concentration of 3.5
kg m-3 resulted. The pump was then started again and
the flow monitored on-line with a conductivity meter
(Fig. 4).
Because the pulse response of a system gives a clearer
view and simplifies the interpretation of the experimen-
tal results,30 these were calculated from the step
responses, by taking the derivative of the step
The numerical derivatives were calculated
using a Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter.33
Starting from the obtained pulse responses, several
flow parameters were c a l ~ u l a t e d : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~
n
data logging
Under Flow)
408 K . Grijspeerdt, H . Bogaert, W . Verstraete

4
The mean residence time z.
The variance 0'.
The ratio of these two parameters is a measure for the 7
width of the peak.j5
The Peclet number, a dimensionless characteristic
7-
evolving from zero for a completely mixed vessel to E
m2
infinity for a plug flow system: z
k
2
Pe = -1
Q
lt
The ratio of z to the theoretical residence time leads 0
.. 0
to the percentage of the clarifier volume effectively 0 1 2 3 4

used : Time (h)

%T/,,,
Q
= - zloo
V tal conditions correspond to experiment 7 in Table 1. 0 ,
In the ideal case, V,,, must be equal to V . If less, there
is dead volume present; when larger, there is a strong
indication for short circuiting.
The experimental conditions of the tracer experi-
ments are summarized in Table 1. The variable param-
eters were the inlet and underflow velocity, the height of
the clarifier and the stirrer (on or off). The stirrer rota-
tion speed was 0.33 rpm and scraper chains were con-
nected in the thickening zone. Except for experiments 8
and 9, where the underflow was measured, the effluent
was sampled.
The step responses were transformed to the corre-
sponding pulse responses by using a sixth order 15-
point Savitzky-Golay filter.j3 A typical graph is
presented in Fig. 5 and the results are summarized in
Table 2.
The target of principal plug flow was reached for
almost all the cases. The peaks were very narrow and
V,,, was close to V . The Peclet number was large,
although certain contradictory results were obtained,
probably due to the assumption of closed boundaries
not always being fulfilled. There was a certain amount
of mixing present, which was positive for the floc forma-
TABLE l
Experimental Conditions of the Tracer Experiments
~~ ~
Q Q, Height
Experiment (dm3 h-') (dm3 h - ' ) (m)
Fig. 5. The experimental step and pulse response. The step
(9)
response was fitted by a tanks-in-series model. The experimen-
Experimental points; -, simulated step response; . . * . *, -
derived pulse response.
tion of the activated sludge.
The experimental residence time distribution curves
were fitted by a tanks-in-series rn0de1.j~ This simple
model simulated the data satisfactorily, showing again
that no unwanted flow effects occurred in the clarifier.
The number of tanks needed exceeded 50 for all the
cases (Table 2), except for the underflow measurements.
This indicated a higher amount of mixing in the
thickening zone, due to the presence of the scraper
chains, which could be beneficial for the sludge compac-
tion.
3.2 The thickening zone
Before conducting a tracer test in the presence of acti-
vated sludge, special attention must be given to the type
of tracer to be used. Indeed, it is essential that the
microorganisms do not break down the tracer within
the experiment time. Also, the tracer should adsorb
preferentially on the sludge. Pyrene, a polyaromatic
hydrocarbon (PAH) which has a great affinity for
organic matter, was selected. Apart from this, PAHs are
quite recalcitrant against microbial attack. They can be
TABLE 2
Flow Parameters for the Tracer Experiments
Stirrer Experiment z (h) az/z % V,,, Pe NT

1 10.98 5.49 0.75 On 2.75 0.019 95 38 206

2 10.98 5.49 0.75 Off 2.63 0.008 90 95 482
3 13.26 7.43 0.75 On 2.05 0.002 90 400 999
4 17.12 10.35 0.75 On 1.75 0.002 94 660 1171
5 10.98 0.00 0.75 On 1.72 0.012 99 100 194
6 10.98 5.49 0.55 On 1.90 0.014 94 77 166
7 10.75 8.03 0,75 On 2.85 0.021 97 200 130
8 (underflow) 10.98 5.49 0.75 On 0.47 0.035 78 45 28
9 (underflow) 10.75 8.03 0.75 On 045 0.075 75 60 26
Model secondary clarifier for activated sludge
Time (mln)
Fig. 6. Pyrene tracer experiment showing the retention time
distribution for the thickening zone.
detected quite easily by using GC/MS.36
The pulse response is presented in Fig. 6. The flow
behaviour can be situated between plug flow and com-
plete mixing. This is the desired compromise, because
two different criteria have to be fulfilled. The sludge has
to be thickened sufficiently from a control point of
view24 before recycling to the aeration tank, which
points towards plug flow behaviour. However, dead
zones have to be avoided to prevent the occurrence of
rising sludge.17 A certain amount of mixing is beneficial
in this regard.
4 COMPARISON OF THE MODEL
CLARIFIER WITH A FULL-SCALE CLARIFIER
To evaluate the small-scale clarifier, the behaviour of
the sludge blanket was compared with the sludge
blanket movement of a full-scale clarifier. Therefore, the
Primary clarifier
...... Control line
Fig. 7. Schematic overview of the WWTP of Ninove and the parallel installation of the small-scale clarifier. (I. Flon
merit;
409
small-scale clarifier was located at the wastewater treat-
ment plant (WWTP) of Ninove (Belgium). This WWTP
treats domestic wastewater and is designed for 25 OOO
inhabitant equivalents. The maximum inlet flow rate is
750 m3 h-'. The treatment consists of a primary treat-
ment (sand catchment and primary clarification), the
aeration takes place in two parallel lanes with a total
aerated volume of 1012 m3. The sludge is finally
separated from the emuent in two secondary clarifiers.
They both have a height of 2.8 m, and a diameter of 21
m. The return sludge is sent back to the aeration basins,
the emuent is discharged to a river. The effluent and the
recycle flow rate were monitored on-line with flow
meters. The full-scale plant is shown schematically in
Fig. 7.
To measure the sludge blanket level in the small-scale
clarifier, the settlometer, an on-line apparatus was
employed which makes use of a settling column with
the same dimensions as the model clarifier.37The sludge
blanket in the settling column was monitored contin-
uously with a scanner (Genius). The sludge blanket in
the full-scale settler was measured with a four beam
sludge blanket meter (Staiger-Mohilo, Germany). The
sludge interface was detected by a probe that remained
on the level of the interface, and the sludge blanket was
simply defined by a threshold value. Based on experi-
ence, this value was established at 1 g dm-3. The emu-
ent and recycle flows were captured with an AD-card
and these values used to continuously adjust the input
and underflow flow rates of the small-scale clarifier. The
input flow rate was calculated to obtain the same
surface loading rate as the full-scale clarifier. The recycle
flow rate was the same fraction of the input flow as for
the full-scale plant. The waste flow rate was not moni-
tored on-line, but was quite low in comparison to the
.........................................................
i: II
ji i
I
IIIC.ISIIIC
......, control line.
410 K . Grijspeerdt, H . Bogaert, W . Verstraete

recycle flow rate (w < 0.01) and the error introduced by
not taking the waste into account was negligible. These
flow rates were sent to two peristaltic pumps (Watson-
Marlow, UK) by the computer. The input position of
the small-scale clarifier was located at the lowest posi-
tion, 20 cm up from the bottom, corresponding with the
inlet position of the full-scale clarifier.
This experimental set-up enabled continuous mea-
surement of the sludge blanket height in the two clari-
fiers parallel to each other. Comparing the dynamic
behaviour of the blanket demonstrated whether the
small-scale clarifier was sufficiently representative of the
full-scale settler. Also, limitations on the representation
are important, i.e. what operating conditions show a
significantly different blanket movement.
Figure 8 summarizes the data collected over more
than a month. The gaps in the data are due to elec-
tricity failures. The sludge blanket levels are not indi-
cated in absolute numbers, but as percentages of the
total height. There was good general correlation
between both clarifiers over a broad working range.
When considering the whole time span of the experi-
ment, the correlation between the two line series is 0.95.
However, this global result should be refined. The total
experimental time can be subdivided in four periods.
In period 1, the clarifiers were not greatly loaded and
the sludge settled quite well (SVI = 100-150 cm3 g-I),
with correlation between the two satisfactory
(r2 = 0.65), despite the relatively high amount of mea-
surement noise present. The operating conditions could
be described as the normal situation in a WWTP. The
surface loading rate of the clarifiers was not higher than
0.75 m h-', except for some instantaneous peak load-
ings, lasting not longer than a few minutes. These peak
loadings happened during the whole measuring period,
but did not influence the sludge interface for both clari-
fiers.
During period 2, a substantial amount of rainfall
occurred, resulting in an overloading of the clarifiers.
Although the small-scale clarifier followed the trend, the
sludge blanket level rose too soon, indicating a higher
sensitivity of the small-scale clarifier towards high
loading rates (> 1 m h-I). The correlation between the
two signals is good (r2 = 0.82), but there is an offset
during the rise of the blanket. When situations like this
occur, care has to be taken in interpreting data gener-
ated with the small-scale clarifier.
Period 3 can be classified as a transition phase
between well and badly settling sludge. Again, the
small-scale measurement correlated well with the full-
scale signal. At the end of this period, the sludge level
rose quite drastically. This was due to an onset of fila-
mentous bulking, causing SVI values of more than 500.
The rise of the sludge level was followed well by the
small clarifier (r2 = 0-91).
In the last period, the sludge continued to bulk,
causing regular wash-out of sludge. The sludge blanket
was not clearly defined here, causing the blanket meter
on the full-scale clarifier to drift away. This was verified
by manual measurements. The settlometer, however,
consistently pointed to very high sludge levels, which
was consistent with visual observations. Consequently,
the correlation between the two measurements was the
lowest of all ptriods (r2 = 0.52).

A
I I
7 600 - I
c I
m 400 - I

-
Q
E
200
o !
- I
l
I
I I
I
I I
+? 300 - I
I I
I

I
C
m 200-
2
E I
0 -
loo
--f4
Period 1 I
I d
Period2 LI Period3
I
I
I

/ + I T Period
J 4Y
I

~-Nov 13-NOV 1~ - N o v 23-Nov 28-Nov 3-Dec 1995

Fig. 8. Comparison between the small-scale clarifier and full-scale clarifiers operated simultaneously in a waste water treatment
plant. SBHsmall-ssale; SBHfull-scale .
0 9
Model secondary clarifier f o r activated sludge
5 CONCLUSIONS
A methodology was presented t o construct a model sec-
ondary clarifier for activated sludge. Different design
methods were compared for their ability to be used on
small-scale equipment. A 10 d m 3 prototype clarifier was
constructed, with the design as flexible as possible with
respect to geometric changes. Both the clarification and
the thickening zone showed the desired and expected
hydraulic behaviour. For the clarification zone, step
testing with KC1 was used, the thickening zone was
tested by adding a pulse of pyrene. Finally, the sludge
blanket behaviour in the prototype clarifier was com-
pared with a full-scale clarifier. Except for severe over-
loads, the prototype clarifier showed a very good
correlation with the full-scale clarifier.
The results indicated that the prototype clarifier is a
useful tool for small-scale studies of the activated sludge
process and can also be used as a monitoring tool for a
full-scale plant.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research was financially supported by the Flemish
Institute for Encouragement of Scientific Technological
Research in Industry (IWT). Thanks to Alexis Vander-
hasselt and the staff of the W W T P Ninove, N.V.
Aquafin, for their help with the field experiments.
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