CHAPTER FOUR : SECONDARY/BIOLOGICAL AND

TERTIARY WASTEWATER TREATMENT

Important Data and information to be gathered for
secondary treatment processes
Select the type of biological treatment process.
Conduct a material mass balance and determine expected
range of flows (minimum, average, and peak) and loadings
(COD, TSS, nutrients, etc.).
Determine biological kinetic coefficients (lab studies).
Develop a preliminary site plan, piping layout, and
location of collection boxes, return sludge pumps, etc.
Obtain design criteria.
Obtain effluent quality criteria (BOD5, TSS, TN and TP).
Develop data on settling characteristics of the biological
solids.
Obtain list of equipment manufacturers and provide
equipment selection guide
Most commonly used biological processes are:

a. The Activated Sludge Process

b. Aerated Lagoons/ Stabilization Ponds
c. Trickling Filters
d. Rotating Biological Contactors
 Cont…
Most commonly used aerobic biological treatment
process.
The sewage effluent from primary sedimentation
tank is mixed with activated sludge which contains a
large concentration of highly active aerobic micro-
organisms.
The volume of returned AS is typically 20 to 30
percent of the wastewater flow.
The microorganisms utilize the absorbed organic
matter as a carbon and energy source.
 Cont…
The mixture of wastewater and activated sludge in the
aeration basis is called mixed liquor.
The biological mass (biomass) in the mixed liquor is
called the mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) or mixed
liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS).
The MLSS consists mostly of:
•microorganisms
•non-biodegradable suspended organic matter, and
•other inert suspended matter
The microorganisms in MLSS are composed of:
70 to 90 percent organic and 10 to 30 percent
inorganic matter
Microbial growth in the mixed liquor is maintained in
the declining or endogenous growth phase to insure good
settling properties.
Activated sludge processes
 Design considerations involved in an ASP

1. Aeration Tank Loadings

The important terms which define the loading rates of
an activated sludge plant, include:
i. Aeration Period (i.e. Hydraulic Retention Time -
HRT)
ii. BOD loading per unit volume of aeration tank
(i.e. volumetric loading)
iii. Food to Micro-organism Ratio (F/M)
iv. Sludge age
iv. Sludge Age
The sludge age is an operation parameter related to the
F/M ratio.
It may be defined as the average time for which
particles of suspended solids remain under aeration.
It indicates the residence time of biological solids in the
system.
The residence time of biological solids in the system is
much greater than aeration periods and is measured in
days.
When sewage passes through the aeration tank only
once and rather quickly, the resultant biological growths
and the extracted waste organics (solids) are repeatedly
recycled from the secondary clarifier back to the
aeration tank, thereby increasing the retention time of
solids.
This time is called Solids Retention Time (SRT) or Mean
Cell Residence Time (MCRT) or Sludge Age.
The most common method of expressing sludge age
usually represented by c in days, is to express it as the
ratio of the mass of MLSS in the aeration tank relatively
to the mass of suspended solids leaving the system per
day.
Sludge age (c)

For a conventional activated sludge plant with the

flow (Q), concentrations of solids (Xt), and BOD5
(Y), as marked in Figure below: