WASTEWATER PLANT RESIDUALS MANAGEMENT

1. SLUDGE HANDLING
The basic processes for sludge treatment are: Preliminary operations Thickening Stabilization Conditioning Dewatering Reduction

2. AEROBIC DIGESTION
The aerobic digestion of biological sludges is a continuation of the activated sludge process. When a culture of aerobic heterotrophs is placed in an environment containing a source of organic material, the microorganisms remove and utilize most of this material.

A fraction of the organic material removed will be used for the synthesis of new biomass. The remaining material will be channeled into energy metabolism and oxidized to carbon dioxide, water, and soluble inert material to provide energy for both synthesis and maintenance (life-support) functions.

 Once the external source of organic material is exhausted, however, the microorganisms enter into endogenous respiration, where cellular material is oxidized to satisfy the energy of maintenance (that is, energy for life-support requirements). If this condition is continued over an extended period of time, the total quantity of biomass will be considerably reduced. That portion remaining will exist at such a low energy state that it can be considered biologically stable and suitable for disposal in the environment. Three aerobic stabilization processes are in common use: conventional aerobic digestion, high-purity oxygen aerobic digestion, and autothermal aerobic digestion (ATAD).

 The conversion of organic nitrogen to nitrate results in a decrease in pH (Equations 27-9 through 27-11). Approximately 7 kg of CaCO 3 alkalinity are consumed for each kg of ammonia oxidized. If the dissolved oxygen concentration is kept below 1mg/L, denitrification will occur. Theoretically, 50 percent of the alkalinity can be recovered. Cycling between aeration and mechanical mixing can be used to increase denitrification while maintaining pH control. When there is insufficient buffering capacity to hold the pH above 5.5, lime, sodium bicarbonate, or sodium carbonate will have to be added.

3. ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
The anaerobic treatment of biological sludges involves three distinct stages. i) the products of hydrolysis ii) acid fermentation. iii) methane fermentation.

FIGURE 27-13 Steps in anaerobic digestion process with energy flow. (Source: Davis and Cornwell, 2008.)

4. Anaerobic Digester Design Principles

The process for anaerobic digestion include :

(i) suspended growth

(ii) sludge blanket (iii) attached growth Two temperature regimes are used in anaerobic digestion: (i) mesophilic (30 C and 38 C)

(ii) thermophilic (50 C to 57 C)

Design principle is based on: (i) the solids retention time (SRT) (ii) volumetric loading (iii) volatile solids reduction

Volumetric Loading:
Based on empirical observations, the mass of volatile solids added to the digester per day per unit volume of digester was selected in the range 1.6 to 4.8 kg/m 3 d. The loading criterion was based on a sustained loading condition. Typically, this was the peak two-week or peak month solids production.

Volatile Solids Reduction:

An estimate of the volatile solids destroyed in a high-rate, complete-mix digester can be made with the following empirical equation (Liptak, 1974):

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