BioE 411 and AE/CE/BRT 511

Wastewater treatment

Attached growth systems:

sewage farms

Morestead sewage farm

Berlin sewage farm layout

Sewage farm

Overland flow designs

Improved attached growth:

early biobed

Large-scale wastewater
treatment

Rotating disc arrangement

Simple treatment: septic

tank

Leach field after septic tank

Suspended growth systems

So far, we have studied systems where treatment is
effected by bacteria, and other organisms, which are
attached to a solid medium, i.e. soil, rocks, etc. There
are also systems where the microbial growth occurs
in suspension. The bacteria then aggregate into
flocs, which are barely visible to the naked eye, but
each consists of millions of bacteria and often
protozoa attached to the floc.
Systems range from the simple facultative lagoon or pond, with no
aeration, to aerated ponds and to sophisticated activated sludge systems,
where the biomass is separated from the effluent and recycled to treatment
and excess production treated separately.
The simple lagoon or pond systems purify the water quite well, but since
there is no provision to separate the biomass production, the effluent is
quite turbid and still contains much organic material, but stabilized to a
non-smelling and not rapidly degrading form.

Facultative lagoons
Facultative lagoons or stabilization ponds use only natural phenomena and
almost no mechanical action. Oxygenation for bacterial oxidation of
organics comes from photosynthesis by algae and a bit from wind.
CO2 released by bacteria is used by the algae. Excess biomass and other
settleables are treated by anaerobic bacteria at the bottom.

Facultative lagoon
interactions

http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~keller/courses/esm223/
esm223_15.pdf

Design approaches to pond

treatment systems
Ponds usually require lengthy treatment periods, weeks for facultative
systems and days for aerated systems. Although facultative systems have
very little mixing other than inflow, gas bubbles and wind effects, the long
retention periods ensures some homogeneity except with respect to depth, as
there is much stratification.
As in any mixed system, the contents have the same concentration as the
overflow. This means that the organisms in the pond continuously experience
a low level of substrate to feed on, which slows down the treatment
considerably, as the typical first-order reactions are directly proportional to the
BOD. Therefore, significant improvement in treatment rate can be achieved
by approaching a channel (tube) flow, or using multiple ponds.
Multiple pond system analysis can be performed by assuming that each is a
completely mixed system, operating on a first-order degradation and a mass
balance around each provides one equation. Intermediate values can be
eliminated as of no interest, so the solution will provide final effluent quality for
given retention times, or more importantly, retention times to achieve a
necessary effluent quality.

Activated sludge process

Activated sludge flocs

Note filamentous bacteria

Note Vorticella
and other
protozoa

Activated sludge model

L
0

Activated sludge plants

Hyperion, Playa del Rey, CA)

Primary aeration tank

Oxygenated systems

Cryogenic air separation facility, Hyperion, Playa del Rey, CA)

Settling tanks

Secondary settling tank, Hyperion, Playa del Rey, CA)

Aerobic suspended
systems activated
sludge
Volumetric loading
= QL0/V
QL0

Nitrogen removal
Nitrification (Nitrosomonas and
Nitrobacter)
NH3 + O2 NO2-
NO3 Denitrification
NO3- + organics CO2
+ N2
Process adaptations
Anoxic

Air

Aerobic

Phosphate removal
BNR plants
Discarding phosphate anaerobically

Luxury aerobic uptake of P in aerobic stage

Process adaptations for N and P removal
Air
Wastewater
Anaerob
ic

Anoxic

Aerobic

Excess biomass disposal

Production
Separation
Further biological treatment
(an)aerobic
Dewatering
Drying solar or gas heated
Disposal/ beneficial use soil
amender/fertilizer
or fuel
The cost of biomass disposal amount to about
half the cost of wastewater treatment. Aeration,
if used, almost up to half of the rest of the cost.

Typical steps in modern wastewater

treatment

How are living beings

classified?
Historic development of classification
Linnaeus
Haeckel
(1735)
(1866)
2 kingdoms 3 kingdoms

Chatton
(1925)
2 groups

Animali Animali
a
a
Vegetab Plantae Eukaryo
te
ilia

Copeland
Whittaker
Woese
(1938)
(1969)
(1977,1990)
4 kingdoms 5 kingdoms 3 domains
Animali Animali
a
a
Plantae Plantae
Fungi

Eukarya

Protocti
Protista
sta

(not
Archae
Protista
treated)
Procary Monera Monera a
Bacteri
ote
a

How are living beings

classified?
Two
Three
super.kingdom domains
s

Six
kingdoms

Mineralia non-life
Acytota / Aphanobionta
(Viruses, Viroids, Prions?, ...)
non-cellular life

Biota
/
Vitae Cytota
life

cellular
life

ProkaryoBacteria Eubacteria
ta / Pro
Archaebact
carya
Archaea
eria
(Monera
Protista
)
Fungi
Eukaryota /
Eucarya
Plantae
Animalia

Carl Woeses Tree of Life