Biological Wastewater Treatment Chapter 9

Categories of wastes, Major treatment methods, Characteristics of wastewaters, Biological waste treatment processes, Trickling filters, RBC, Oxidation ponds, Anaerobic treatment

Categories of Waste Materials

1. Industrial waste Produced by various industries, vary from industry to another Contain HC, alcohol and aromatic organics High C/N ratio; thus biological treatment requires supplemental addition of N 2. Domestic waste Treated by municipalities and produced by human and their daily activities Include garbage, laundry waste, etc Varies significantly with time in terms of flow and composition 3. Agricultural waste Produced by farm animals and include waste plants and straw Rich in C due to cellulosic material content
Chapter 7

Major Waste Treatment Methods

1. Physical treatment Screening, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and flotation Used for removal of insoluble materials 2. Chemical treatment Chemical oxidants (chlorination and ozonation) Chemical precipitation using CaCl2, FeCl3, Ca(OH)2 or Al2(SO4)3 3. Biological treatment Aerobic and anaerobic treatment of wastewater using a mixed culture of microorganisms
Chapter 7

Characteristics of Wastewater

Selection of treatment method depends on the characteristics of the water which should be known before treatment. Among these 1. Physical Characteristics Such as color, odor, pH, temperature and solid contents (suspended and dissolved solids) 2. Chemical characteristics Organic: carbohydrates, lipids, HC, proteins, phenols, surfactants, herbicides, pesticides and aromatic compounds Inorganics: Nitrogenous compounds (NH+4, NO-3) Sulfur compounds (SO2-4, S2-, S0, S2-3) Phosphorous compounds (PO3-4, HPO2+3, H2PO-4) Heavy metals (Ni, Pb, Cd, Fe, Cu, Zn, Hg) Dissolved gases (H2S, NH3, CH4)
Chapter 7

Carbon Content
The carbon content (strength) of wastewater can be expressed in several ways: 1) BOD 2) COD 3) TOC 1. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) BOD5 represents the amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) consumed when a wastewater sample is sealed with active bacteria and incubated at 20oC for 5 days. Since O2 consumed is proportional to the organic content of wastewater BOD is a measure of the strength of wastewater The stoichiometric coefficient for this proportionality is unknown, since the composition of the organics is unknown. Also, some nitrogen-containing or inorganic compounds will exert an O2 demand
Chapter 7

If the only organic compounds is glucose, O2 consumption can be easily related to the carbon content of watewater under aerobic conditions: C6 H12O6 + 6O2 6CO2 + 6 H 2O According to the stoichiometry of this reaction 1.07 g of O2 is required for the oxidation of 1 g of glucose

Appropriate dilution is needed to obtain an accurate BOD5 measurement BOD5 is calculated using:
BOD5 = [(BOD5 )t =0 (BOD5 )t =5 ] [(BOD5 )t =0 (BOD5 )t =5 ]Blank (no O
2)

Chapter 7

2. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) A measure of the concentration of oxidizable organic compounds present in wastewater Almost all organics present in WW are oxidizable by certain strong chemical oxidant ( COD > BOD5) Typical chemical oxidation reaction:
Ca H bOc + Cr2O72 + H + heat Cr 3+ + CO2 + H 2O

O2 required for oxidation of organics can be calculated The method is faster, easier and less expensive than BOD5 measurement

3. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) Done by analyzer Acidification of sample followed by carbon analyzer, infrared
Chapter 7

Typical Wastewater Treatment Employing Biological Treatment Primary Treatment

Removal of coarse solids and suspended matter (screening, sedimentation, filtration) Conditioning of the wastewater stream by pH adjustment and nutrient addition (PO4, NH4)

Secondary Treatment
Major steps of biological treatment includes biological oxidation or anaerobic treatment of soluble and insoluble organic compounds. Organic compounds are oxidized to CO2 and H2O by organisms under aerobic conditions. Unoxidized compounds and solids from aerobic are decomposed to a mixture of CH4, CO2 and H2S under anaerobic conditions.

Tertiary treatment
Includes removal of the remaining inorganic compounds (phosphate, sulfate, ammonia) and other refractory organic compounds by one or more physical separation methods, such as adsorption, deep-bed filtration, RO and EOD
Chapter 7

Biological Waste Treatment Processes

Use of mixed culture either aerobic or anaerobic processes. Major aerobic processes:
1. 2. 3. 4.
Activated sludge processes Trickling filter Rotating biological contactors Oxidation ponds

Activated Sludge Processes

Include a well-agitated and aerated continuous-flow reactor and a settling tank The concentrated cells from the settling tank are recycled back to the stirred-tank reactor See the drawing of a schematic typical activated-sludge process in the next slide.
Chapter 7

A mixed culture of organisms is utilized in the bioreactor Some of the organisms may produce polymeric materials (polysaccharides), which helps the organisms to agglomerate, i.e. floc formation. Cell recycle from the sedimentation unit improves the volumetric rate of biological oxidation (i.e., high-density culture), and thus reduce residence time or volume of the sludge reactor for a given feed rate.
Chapter 7

Recycle ratio needs to be controlled to maximize BOD removal rate The selection of aerator and agitator is a critical factor in the design of activated sludge processes. aeration requirements vary depending on the strength of the wastewater and cell concentration for typical activated sludge process, O2 requirement is about 3060 m3 O2/kg of BOD removal Various aeration devices with and without mechanical agitation can be used in activated sludge unit The activated sludge faces many uncontrolled disturbances in input parameters, such as waste flow and composition lead to system failure, i.e. less-than-adequate treatment of the waste stream
Chapter 7

One type of disturbances is referred to shock loading Shock loading: sudden input (pulse) of a high concentration of toxic compounds. One response to disturbance is sludge buckling Sludge buckling: formation of flocs that do not settle well consequently cell mass is not recycled Buckling sludge often results from a change in the composition of the microbial population in the treatment unit. For example, filamentous bacteria may dominate the normal floc-formation cells leading to small light floc.

Chapter 7

Volume of activated sludge tank This can be determined using the rate expressions for microbial growth and substrate utilization and material balance for biomass and substrate for a certain degree of BOD removal. Since the activated sludge tank contains a mixed culture of organisms, the actual kinetics of BOD removal are complicated usually, interactions among various species are not known. The analysis below assumes
1. 2.

Pure culture, and Growth is governed by Monod equation

Monod with death (or endogeneous respiration rate) term can be written as: m S net = kd
KS + S

Chapter 7

XV + FX r = (1 + )FX or: m S k XV + FX = (1 + )FX d r

KS + S
1 m S FS 0 + FS r = K + S XV + (1 + )FS YX / S S

(I)

Steady state substrate balance around activated sludge: (II)

Assuming no substrate utilization and no growth in the settling tank (due to short residence time), material balance around the settling tank yield: Biomass: (1 + )FX = (1 )FX e + ( + )FX r Substrate: (III) (IV)
Chapter 7

(1 + )FS = (1 )FSe + ( + )FS r

Similar to chemostat with recycle streatm

Steady state biomass balance in an activated sludge:

where: = Sludge recycle flow rate ;

Feed flow rate

Excess sludge flow Feed flow rate

Assuming that the substrate is not separated in the settling tank S = Se = Sr Equation IV is not needed Re-arranging III: (1 + )FX FX r = (1 )FX e + FX r (V) Substituting in I:
netVX = (1 )FX e + FX r

Defining = 1 net c
c =
1

where c is cells residence time (VI) Used to calculate the cellular residence time in the tank

net

VX = F (1 )X e + FX r

- c is controlled by operator choice of the recycle flow rate

Chapter 7

Hydraulic (liquid) residence time is:

H =
V c [(1 )X e + X r ] (1 )X e + X r = = F X net X
1

(VII)

Substituting Sr = S in II:
F (S 0 S ) = YX / S

g XV

or:

Y X / S F (S 0 S ) Y X / S c F ( S 0 S ) V= = g X X (1 + k d c )

(VIII)

Equation (VIII) used to calculate the required volume of the sludge tank for a certain degree of BOD removal, i.e. (S0-S) V can also be expressed in terms of by substituting (V) in (VII):
X V = F c 1 + r X
Chapter 7

Example: An industrial waste with an inlet BOD5 of 800 mg/l must be treated to reduce the exit BOD5 to less than 20 mg/l. F = 400 m3/h; m = 0.2 h-1; KS = 50 mg/l BOD5; YX/S = 0.5 mg solid/mg BOD5 kd = 0.005 h-1; V = 3200 m3; = 0.4; Xe = 0.0; c = 120 h Find S? and determine if sufficient BOD5 removal is attained in a well-mixed activated-sludge process to meet specification. What will be X and the sludge reduction rate from this process? 1 S Amount of sludge produced: net = = m k d Solve for S:
K S (1 + k d c ) c (m kd ) 50(1 + 0.005 120 ) S= S = 3.57 mg/l 120(0.2 0.005) 1 S=

KS + S

H =

V (1 )X e + X r = F net X VX

where: 1/ = ; X = 0 net c e
FX r =
FX r =

V=

YX / S c F ( S 0 S ) X (1 + k d c ) 0.5 120 400(800 3.57) 3200 = X (1 + 0.005 120)

< 20 mg/l

= sludge production rate

X = 3733 mg/l

= 9.95 107 mg/h = 99.5 kg/h

(3200 m 3 )(3733 mg/l)(1000 l/m3 ) 120 h

Chapter 7