Minimization of sludge production and stable operational condition of a submerged membrane activated sludge process

2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 121-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.P. Bhatta ◽  
A. Matsuda ◽  
K. Kawasaki ◽  
D. Omori

Modification of conventional activated sludge process by adding microfiltration type hollow fiber membrane module offers various advantages. The membrane module is immersed directly in the bioreactor to separate the treated water from the sludge and the modified process is called submerged membrane activated sludge process (SMASP). Bench scale SMASP units were operated at constant flux to study the possibility of minimizing the excess sludge production and stable operation at different SRT and BOD loading. The long SRT developed high stabilized MLSS concentration in the bioreactor and decreased the sludge loading rate [kg-BOD/kg-MLSS·d]. In SMASP, very low sludge yield coefficients (0.04–0.09 kg-MLSS/kg-BOD) were obtained at long SRT (500 d) and small BOD loading (≦0.5 kg/(m3·d)) as compared o conventional activated sludge process and these coefficients showed considerable minimization in excess activated sludge production. At the same operation conditions, suction pressure was also maintained low (< 25 kPa), and then SMASP was operated stably for long time (≈200 d).

Author(s):  
Watsa Khongnakorn ◽  
Christelle Wisniewski

In wastewater treatment, the membrane bioreactor (MBR) holds the potential to become one of the new generation processes, ensuring effluent quality and disinfection of sufficiently high levels to allow water reuse and recycle. Furthermore, the possibility to operate with high biomass concentrations (2 to 5 times higher than in conventional activated sludge process, CAS) allows to impose high solid retention times(SRT) that can be beneficial to a sludge production reduction and so to a reduction of disposal costs. These non-conventional operating conditions (high SRT) can also induce different sludge characteristics and dewatering aptitude, which are essential parameters for the optimization of the sludge post-treatment, like mechanical dewatering. The objective of this work was to study the performances of a complete sludge retention membrane bioreactor, in terms of organic removal efficiency, sludge production and sludge dewaterability. The adaptability of Activated Sludge Model 3 (ASM3) to provide good prediction results of high SRT-MBR was studied. Typical parameters adopted to describe sludge dewaterability were quantified and compared with the conventional activated sludge process (CAS).


1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroyshi Emori ◽  
Hiroki Nakamura ◽  
Tatsuo Sumino ◽  
Tadashi Takeshima ◽  
Katsuzo Motegi ◽  
...  

For the sewage treatment plants near rivers and closed water bodies in urbanized areas in Japan and European countries, there is a growing demand for introduction of advanced treatment processes for nitrogen and phosphorus from the viewpoints of water quality conservation and environmental protection. In order to remove nitrogen by the conventional biological treatment techniques, it is necessary to make a substantial expansion of the facility as compared with the conventional activated sludge process. In such urbanized districts, it is difficult to secure a site and much capital is required to expand the existing treatment plant. To solve these problems, a compact single sludge pre-denitrification process using immobilized nitrifiers was developed. Dosing the pellets, which are suitable for nitrifiers growth and physically durable, into the nitrification tank of single sludge pre-denitrification process made it possible to perform simultaneous removal of BOD and nitrogen in a retention time equal to that in the conventional activated sludge process even at the low water temperature of about 10 °C. The 3,000 m3/d full-scale conventional activated sludge plant was retrofitted and has been successfully operated.


2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 203-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.-H. Chen ◽  
S. Saby ◽  
M. Djafer ◽  
H.-K. Mo

This paper presents three new approaches to reduce excess sludge production in activated sludge systems: 1) modification of conventional activated sludge process with insertion of a sludge holding tank in the sludge return line; 2) chlorination of excess sludge so as to minimize excess sludge production; and 3) utilization of a metabolic uncoupler, 3, 3′, 4′, 5-Tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) to maximize futile activity of sludge microorganisms thereby leading to a reduction of sludge growth. Pilot study was carried out to evaluate this modified activated sludge process (OSA). It has been confirmed that the OSA process is effective in reducing excess sludge; particularly when the ORP level in the sludge holding tank was kept at -250 mV, more than 50% of the excess sludge was reduced. This process can maintain the effluent quality and even perform with a better sludge settleability than a conventional system. Experimental work on the second approach showed that chlorination treatment of excess sludge at a chlorine dose of 0.066 g Cl2/g MLSS reduced the excess sludge by 60%, while concentration of THMS was found below 200 ppb in the treated sludge. However, such sludge chlorination treatment sacrificed sludge settleability. Thus, it is not feasible to introduce the chlorination step to a conventional system. The third approach confirmed that addition of TCS could reduce sludge growth effectively if the TCS concentration is greater than 0.4 ppm. A 0.8-ppm concentration of TCS actually reduced excess sludge by 45%. It was also experimentally demonstrated that presence of TCS increases the portion of active sludge microorganisms over the entire microbial population.


2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 203-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Adham ◽  
P. Gagliardo ◽  
L. Boulos ◽  
J. Oppenheimer ◽  
R. Trussell

The feasibility of the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process for water reclamation was studied. Process evaluation was based on the following: literature review of MBRs, worldwide survey of MBRs, and preliminary costs estimates. The literature review and the survey have shown that the MBR process offers several benefits over the conventional activated sludge process, including: smaller space and reactor requirements, better effluent water quality, disinfection, increased volumetric loading, and less sludge production. The MBR process can exist in two different configurations, one with the low-pressure membrane modules replacing the clarifier downstream the bioreactor (in series), and the second with the membranes submerged within the bioreactor. Four major companies are currently marketing MBRs while many other companies are also in the process of developing new MBRs. The MBR process operates in a considerably different range of parameters than the conventional activated sludge process. The preliminary cost evaluation has shown that the MBR process is cost competitive with other conventional wastewater treatment processes.


2008 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 953-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Balest ◽  
G. Mascolo ◽  
C. Di Iaconi ◽  
A. Lopez

The removal of selected endocrine disrupter compounds (EDCs), namely estrone(E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), bisphenol A (BPA) and 4-tert-octylphenol (4t-OP) from municipal wastewater was investigated using a sequencing batch biofilter granular reactor (SBBGR), a new system for biological treatment based on aerobic granular biomass. This new biological treatment is characterized by high biomass concentration (up to 40 g/L), high sludge retention times (up to 6 months) and low sludge production (i.e., an order of magnitude lower than commonly reported for conventional biological technologies). The investigation was carried out comparing a demonstration SBBGR system with a conventional full-scale activated sludge process. Results showed that the SBBGR performed better than a conventional activated sludge process in removing E1, E2, BPA and 4t-OP. In fact, the average removal percentages of the above mentioned EDCs, obtained during a four month operating period, were 62.2, 68, 91.8, 77.9% and 56.4, 36.3, 71.3, 64.6% for the demonstrative SBBGR system and the conventional activated sludge process of the municipal sewage treatment plant, respectively


2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Kobayashi ◽  
M. Yasojima ◽  
K. Komori ◽  
Y. Suzuki ◽  
H. Tanaka

Pharmaceuticals resident in sewage and in the aqueous environment has begun to attract attention. The objectives of this research were to clarify the behaviour of selected human antibiotics in wastewater treatment plants, namely levofloxacin (LVFX), clarithromycin (CAM) and azithromycin (AZM) which are much used in Japan. The concentrations in raw influent of LVFX, CAM, AZM were respectively 425~981ng/L, 340~573ng/L, ND(<190 ng/L)~371ng/L. The averages of removal ratio were about 50 % for all selected antibiotics. It was suggested that selected antibiotics was not too much removed in the conventional creature processing like the conventional activated sludge process. The remarkable removals in activated sludge tank using high class treatment method were confirmed about all selected antibiotics. The rise of the concentrations of CAM and AZM was confirmed after the addition of chemical coagulants in one wastewater treatment plant. From the result of batch experiment with activated sludge, it was suggested that LVFX and AZM were removed from water mainly by the absorption to activated sludge. Also, in batch experiment with chemical coagulants, it was suggested that LVFX was removed from water and CAM, AZM were eluted a little in water by adding sulphuric acid band.


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