SRH, January Municipial Wastewater

Management

Municipial Wastewater Management

Dr. Lothar Schuh

ABB Inc. Zürich

Key Facts: wastewater treatment plant*

* WWTP

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Municipial Wastewater Treatment Plant Municipial Wastewater
Management

What is a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP):

• Sedimantation facility & bioreactor

• Continuously operating flow reactor

• Copes with varying flow rates (dynamic)

• Has minor water storage capacity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScN9WQyXRmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvPakzqM3h8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tv6EKHWxd0

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Municipial Wastewater Treatment Plant
Hydraulic conditions: volume flow rate of wastewate -> m3/h
Waste load conditions: contamination of wastewater -> mg/l, g/m3
Both conditions vary during a day/year
• due to behavior of residents (water use profile over 24 h…)
• due rain etc
Hydraulic load (m3/h) determines the geometric size of a WWTP
Hydraulic load is determined taking averages/peaks + safety factors
Waste load determines the operation of the WWTP
Waste load (g/l) of wastewater is characterized by Sum-Parameters
• BOD (= how much digestible waste is in the water?)
• COD
• Total Suspended Solid
• Total Nitrogen (NH4, NO3..)
• ….
• +
Municipial Wastewater
Management
The basic principle of a WWTP is
• separate suspended solid from dissolved matter
• suspended solid is removed by sedimentation
• a part of dissolved matter is food for bacteria: BOD
• the another part is e.g. solved NaCl…
Cleaning of wastewater is based on
• mechanical separation by screens (primary treatment)
• use of gravitation: sedimentation (primary treatment)
• use of metabolism of microorganisms (secondary treatment)
• use of precipitation (tertiary treatment)
Water quality after cleaning: ok to release in environment
Secondary treatment (digestion by bacteria): T and pH dependent
• exponential bacterial growth rate
• but Monod kinetic: limit of growth rate
2 general kinds of bacteria: digesting
• C-compounts (sugar, proteins, fat …)
• rapid growth
• N-compounds (NH4, NO2, NO3)
• slow growth
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Management

Living Bacteria Complexity of a WWTP:

• use O2 as to run their metabolism: aerobic bacteria
• aerobic bacteria die without O2
• use other O-sources as NO3: anaerobic bacteria • Hydraulic load is dynamic
• anaerobic bacteria die in presence of O2
• Waste load is dynamic
Both kinds of bacteria are present in the WWTP:
• Rapidly growing aerobic bacteria (BOD removal, escapes as CO2)
• Slowly growing anaerobic bacteria (NO3-removal, escapes as N2) • The geometry of a WWTPis given = fixed
This determines the design and operation of a WWTP
• 2 kinds of bacteria are „working“ in a WWTP
Living Bacteria • Rapidly growing population that needs O2
• Increase their population by division • Slowly growing population that dies in presence of O2
• Bacteria = Biomass and the amount increases over time • Growth rate of both is T-dependent
• Consequence: removal of bacteria=biomass volume as „sludge“
• Their final amount of both in the WWTP must be stable
• They have different optimum pH regimes

• Temperature-dynamics:
• The WWTP see low T in winter and high T in summer

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