Lecture 6: Water &

Wastewater Treatment
 Objectives:
 Define primary, secondary, and tertiary
treatment
 Define BOD

 Describe the activated sludge process

 Setup and solve a mass balance for an

activated sludge system
 Review
 Sorption:
 Kd=Cs/CL
 CT=(1+KdCss)CL
 Fraction sorbed vs. fraction remaining in water
 Settling
 Settling velocity: v = g ( ρs − ρw )d 2
18µ
s

 Percent of particles removed: (1-Css /Css,o ) x 100%

 Where,
Css 1
=
Css ,o 1 + vs A
Q
 Well-Mixed Settling Tank

Q, Css,o vs Css Q, Css

V

uspended solids remaining: Define the Overflow Rate:

Css
=
1
Css ,o 1 + vs A
Q
Q
A
~ 20 – 100 m/day in treatmen
 Wastewater Treatment
 POTW – Publicly Owned Treatment Works
 0.4 – 0.6 m3/person/day
 15 million people in Los Angeles  7.5 x 106m3/day
or 2000 MGD (million gallons per day)
 Hyperion – 450 MGD

 Clean Water Act (CWA) – 1977 – Set effluent

(what is released by treatment plants into the
environment) standards
 Stages of Water
Treatment
 Primary
 Contaminants (60% of solids and 35% of BOD removed)
 Oil & Grease
 Total Suspended Solids (Css or TSS) – 60% Removed
 Pathogens
 BOD – 35% removed
 Processes
 Screens
 Grit Settling
 Scum Flotation
 Primary Settling
 Stages (continued)
 Secondary
 Contaminants
 BOD – 90% Removed
 TSS – 90% Removed

 Processes
 Trickling Filter – rotating disk
 Activated Sludge – Suspended and mixed

 Oxidation ponds – lagoons

(promote contact between microbes and

contaminants)
 Stages (continued)
 Tertiary
 Contaminants
 Nutrients
 Dissolved solids (e.g., salt, other ions, etc.)

 Processes
 Denitrification – bacteria
 Phosphorus removal – precipitation

 Other chemicals – adsorption and

precipitation
Primary Sludge (cont’d)
Primary Sludge
 Primary
Sludge
Q, Css,o
Q, Css
(cont’d)
m s = sludge production rate
 Given:
 Q = 4000 m3/d
 Css,o = 200 mg/L and Css = 100 mg/L
 Sludge density = 0.05 kg/L
 Overflow rate of 50 m/d
 Find
 Population of town served by this unit
 Sludge production rate
 Area of settling tank
 Settling velocity of particles
 Cut-off size of particles (find the particle diameter
corresponding to this settling velocity. Assume ρ s =
2600 kg/m3. All particles larger than this size will settle)
Activated Sludge
Activated Sludge
Components
Activated Sludge
Components
Activated Sludge
(cont’d)
 Activated Sludge
Nomenclature
Q+QR Q-Qs,
Q, So, , S, X S
Xo

QR, Qs+QR,
Xs Xs
Qs,
Xs

S stands for conc. of substrate (organic matter,

waste, etc.) or BOD
 Activated Sludge
Nomenclature (cont’d)
Q, So, Xo Q+QR, S, X ~Q, S

µ ,V

Qs+QR, Xs
QR, Xs
Qs, Xs

• Assumptions:
• Effluent bacteria concentration is 0
• Concentration of substrate or BOD in
sludge is 0
• Sludge flowrate (Q ) is much smaller than
 Decay of BOD and growth
of organisms
 Substrate or BOD (S) decays with rate k:

dS
= −kS
dt
 Microbes (X) grow at rate µ :

dX
= µX
dt
 Activated Sludge
Equations
 The following equations are derived
from conducting mass balances over:
 The entire system
 The aeration tank

 The sedimentation tank

 Any good book on wastewater

engineering will have the derivations
if you are curious!
 Activated Sludge
Equations
 Biomass (X) balance over entire system:

m s = Qs X s = µXV
 Substrate (S) balance over entire
system:
YQ ( So − S ) = µXV = m s

biomass produced µXV

Y= =
BOD consumed kSV
 More AS equations
 Mass balance over sedimentation tank:

( Q + QR ) X = µXV + QR X s

 Other equation(s)/rules of thumb:

 F/M = QSo/XV - Food-to-microbe ratio: 0.3 – 0.7 d-1
 QR ~ 0.25 – 0.50 x Q
 X ~ 1000 – 2000 mg/L
 Problem types:
 Given Q, So, and S (target concentration)
 Find QR, Qs, X, µ , V, Y
 Example
 Find Qs, µ , V, Y
 Given:
 Q = 1000 m3/d
 So = 150 mg/L

 S = 15 mg/L

 QR = 240 m3/d

 F/M = 0.3 d-1

 X = 2000 mg/L

 Xs = 1% or 10,000 mg/L
 Definition of BOD
 Microorganisms (e.g., bacteria) are responsible for
decomposing organic waste. When organic matter such as
dead plants, leaves, grass clippings, manure, sewage, or even
food waste is present in a water supply, the bacteria will begin
the process of breaking down this waste. When this happens,
much of the available dissolved oxygen is consumed by aerobic
bacteria, robbing other aquatic organisms of the oxygen they
need to live. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of
the oxygen used by microorganisms to decompose this waste.
If there is a large quantity of organic waste in the water supply,
there will also be a lot of bacteria present working to
decompose this waste. In this case, the demand for oxygen will
be high (due to all the bacteria) so the BOD level will be high.
As the waste is consumed or dispersed through the water, BOD
levels will begin to decline.