Assignment on

Compilation of sewage treatment technologies in

Bangladesh.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under

Submitted By: Submitted To:

1. Naymur Rahman (SH-070-032)
2. Muhsina Tabassum (RH-070-004) Dr. Subrota Kumar Saha, PhD
3. Kabirun Alam (RH -070-043) Professor.
4. Md.Soaib Hasan (SH-070-045) Department of Geology
5. Md. Ezaz Ahmed (SH-143) University of Dhaka.
 Compilation of sewage treatment technologies in Bangladesh.

Sewage, or domestic/municipal wastewater, is a type of wastewater that is produced by a

community of people.
It consists mostly of
1. Greywater (from sinks, bathtubs, showers, dishwashers, and clothes washers),
2. Blackwater (the water used to flush toilets, combined with the human waste that it
flushes away),
3. Soaps and detergents, and
4. Toilet paper (less so in regions where bidets are widely used instead of paper).

Sewage treatment plant process that includes sewage treatment on primary, Secondary or
biological and tertiary treatment process to improve quality of wastewater for recycle. With
increasing infrastructural development and water usage for various purposes such as domestic
and commercial, there is generation of waste water. Sewage treatment is the process of
removing contaminants from wastewater, primarily from household sewage. It includes
physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove these contaminants and produce
environmentally safe treated wastewater (or treated effluent). A by-product of sewage
treatment is usually a semi-solid waste or slurry, called sewage sludge that has to undergo
further treatment before being suitable for disposal or land application.

1. Sewage Treatment Plant (STP)

The sewage treatment technologies in Bangladesh are-
1. Activated Sludge Process (ASP) / Activated Sewage Treatment (AST) Process
2. Moving Bed Bio reactor (MBBR)
3. Submerged aerated Fixed Film (SAFF)
4. Sequential Bioreactor (SBR)
5. Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR)
6. Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP)
1. Activated Sludge Process (ASP)
Activated Sludge Process is the suspended-growth biological treatment process, based on
providing intimate contact between the sewage and activated sludge.
The Activated Sludge is the sludge obtained by settling sewage in presence of abundant O2 so as
to enrich with aerobic micro-organisms.

Figure: Activated Sludge Treatment Process

Activated sludge in sewage in presence of oxygen results into:
➢ Oxidation of organic matter present.
➢ Coagulation and flocculation of suspended and colloidal matter.
Under the activated sludge Process, basically three processes occurs:

1. Oxidation:
The organisms oxidize a portion of organic Matter present in sewage into CO2, water and
energy.
Organic matter + O2+ Bacteria CO2+ H2O+ NH3 +Energy + other end products

2. Synthesis:
In second phase the other microbes get converted into new bacterial cells using a part of energy
released in oxidation
Organic Matter+O2+Bacteria+Energy New microbial cells

3. Endogenous Respiration:
Finally, the new microbial cells begin to consume their own cell tissue to obtain energy for cell
maintenance.
New microbial cell tissue + 5O2 5CO2+NH3+2H2O+Energy
Assumptions:
1. Complete mixing in aeration tank.
2. Influent substrate concentration is constant.
3. No microbial solids in raw water.
4. All reactions occur in reactor.
5. No microbial activity in clarifier.
6. No Sludge accumulation.
7. Steady state conditions prevails.

2. Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR):

The Moving Bed Bio Reactor is a highly effective biological treatment process based on a
combination of conventional activated sludge process and biofilm media.
The MBBR process utilizes floating High Capacity MicroOrganism BioChips media within the
aeration and anoxic tanks. The microorganisms consume organic material. The media provides
increased surface area for the biological microorganisms to attach and grow. The increased
surface area reduces the footprint of the tanks required to treat the wastewater. The treatment
process can be aerobic and/or anaerobic and operates at high volume loads.
➢ The MBR is used as a tertiary water treatment step that has no return of active biomass to
the biological process. Currently, most MBR processes in commercial places today make use
of the membrane as a filter to which rejects all solid materials developed in the natural
process.
➢ This helps result in a disinfected and clarified product effluent.
➢ MBR also uses low-pressure microfiltration and ultrafiltration in the process of wastewater
treatment. The membrane used in the process also helps ensure that there are no gravity
settling solids after the process which is the case conventional clarifiers.
➢ The MBR level of filtration allows high-quality effluent through the membrane thus
eliminating the sedimentation. This explains why filtration is a critical process during the
MBR.
➢ The MBBR technology also has enhanced processing stability not to mention high suspended
biomass operation. This will help ensure perfection and accuracy of the wastewater
treatment process by using the MBBR technology.

Figure: Moving Bed Bio Reactor (MBBR)

Advantages
1. Compact units with small size
2. Increased treatment capacity
3. Complete solids removal
4. Improved settling characteristics
5. Operation at higher suspended biomass
 6. Concentrations resulting in long sludge retention times
7. Enhanced process stability
8. Low head loss
9. No filter channeling
10. No need of periodic backwashing
11. Reduced sludge production and no problems with sludge bulking.

3. Submerged aerated Fixed Film (SAFF)

The Submerged Aerobic Fixed Film Reactor (SAFF)One of the cost-effective methods of waste
water treatment and sewage management that is primarily used in residential and commercial
complexes. This technology mainly has three stages that are Primary Settlement, Secondary
Treatment and Final Settlement / Clarification.

Figure: Submerged aerated Fixed Film (SAFF)

Primary Settlement: Here, larger solids get settled at the bottom of the primary tank and are
removed periodically as sludge. Other buoyant material which floats upwards are usually
removed by a scraping/screening method.
Secondary Treatment: Where the biodegradable Organic Matter is degraded by the biomass on
the SAFF media.
Final Settlement / Clarification: Where degraded solids are settled out of the biologically treated
effluent.
➢ Submerged Aerated Fixed Films (SAFF) technology is a process used to reduce the organic
loading of residential and commercial sewage / waste water. The process works towards the
reduction of Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and a significant quantity of Suspended Solids
(SS) which if otherwise untreated would contaminate river and other water outlets. In simple
words, SAFF process is used to substantially improve effluent discharge quality.
Advantages
1. Deep reactors enabling small space requirements
2. No sludge re-circulation is required to maintain MLSS as in the case of conventional
aeration system.
✓ Can be designed to any size to deal with larger flow and loads.
3. Modular design allows easy installation.
4. Use of fine bubble diffused aeration generally reduces the energy requirements as
compared to surface aerators.
5. Ability to effectively treat dilute domestic wastewater.
✓ Low & stabilized sludge production eliminating the need for sludge
digestion.
✓ Higher loading of BOD on the media enables to reduce the aeration tank
size. SAFF requires 25-40% lesser tank volume as compared to activated
sludge process.
6. SAFF process able to achieve 95-98% BOD reduction.
7. High MLSS – Less Space required for the treatment.
8. Less susceptible to upsets due to flow variations.
✓ SAFF supports low sludge generation, low odour and low visual impact.
✓ Maintenance requirements are simple.

4. Sequencing Bioreactor / Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) system:

The Sequencing Bioreactor is a variation of the activated-sludge process for treatment of waste
water. SBR reactors treat wastewater such as sewage or output from anaerobic digesters or
mechanical biological treatment facilities in batches. Oxygen is bubbled through the mixture of
wastewater and activated sludge to reduce the organic matter (measured as biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The treated effluent may be suitable for
discharge to surface waters or possibly for use on land.
It differs from activated-sludge plants because the SBR combines all of the treatment steps and
processes into a single tank, thus reducing the footprint, whereas conventional facilities rely on
multiple basins.
SBR helps introduce various process flexibilities and alternatives in process controls and design
so as to better achieve the latest effluent discharge standards. With its design flexibility and
better process control the SBR process has been widely used not only to treat domestic
wastewater, but also for biological treatment of industrial wastewater containing difficult-to-
treat organic chemicals.

Figure: Sequencing Bioreactor

Application
1. Municipal wastewater
2. Effluent of anaerobic treatment process
3. Hotel/resorts
4. Foods and drinks industry
5. Any other type of wastewater with high degradable COD fraction

5. Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR):

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is the combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or
ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment process, the activated sludge process. It is
now widely used for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.
 Figure: Membrane Bioreactor Process

Figure: Simple schematic describing the MBR process

MBR system's advantages include the following:

1. Almost complete solids and bacteria (Giardia and Crypto) removal;

2. High effluent quality; modular design with good expandability;
3. Robustness in recovery resistant to upsets due to shock loadings or peak and fluctuating
flows;
4. Sludge age or SRT (solids retention time) and hydraulic residence time (HRT) are controlled
separately;
5. Less odor;
6. Sophisticated but yet simple controls.
6.. Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP):
Industrial effluents contain various materials, depending on the industry. Some effluents contain
oils and grease, and some contain toxic materials (e.g., cyanide). Effluents from food and
beverage factories contain degradable organic pollutants. Since industrial waste water contains a
diversity of impurities and therefore specific treatment technology called ETP is required.
wastewater treatment plant engineers with industrial wastewater treatment expertise
successfully working with Effluent Treatment Plant or ETP is one type of waste water treatment
method which is particularly designed to purify industrial waste water for its reuse and its aim is
to release safe water to environment from the harmful effect caused by the effluent.

Figure: Effluent Treatment Plant Processes

Benefits of ETP:
1. To clean industry effluent and recycle it for further use.
2. To reduce the usage of fresh water in industries.
3. To preserve natural environment against pollution.
4. To meet the standards for emission of pollutants set by the Government & avoid heavy
penalty.
5. To reduce expenditure on water acquisition.

References
1. WTB, 2019. Water Technology BD Ltd (WTB) provides water & wastewater treatment
processes. https://wtbl.com.bd/effluent-treatment-plant-etp.
2. Total Envirotech Solution, 2020. Effluent Treatment plant (ETP).
https://envirotechsolutionsbd.com/etp-plant-manufacturer.
3. Organica Biotech Pvt.Ltd, 2015. Membrane Bioreactors’- the latest technology for
treating urban sewage wastewater.
https://priyankaorganica.wordpress.com/2015/09/22/membrane-bioreactors-the-latest-
technology-for-treating-urban-sewage-wastewater.
4. Wikipedia, 2020. Membrane Bioreactor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Membrane_bioreactor.
5. Membrane Solutions. Membrane Bioreactors (MBR). https://www.membrane-
solutions.com/Membrane_bioreactors.
6. Activated Sludge Process And Kinetics Of Activated Sludge Process, 2013.
https://civildigital.com/activated-sludge-process-and-kinetics-of-asp.
7. Vijayant Tomar, 2018.
https://wastewatertreatmenrt.wordpress.com/2018/08/24/submerged-aerated-fixed-
films-saff-technology.
8. WTB, 2019. Sewage Treatment Plant. https://wtbl.com.bd/sewage-treatment-plant-stp.