Performance Stability of Small Biological Chemical Treatment Plants

Abstract

Biological and chemical treatment plants constitute a main portion of the overall number of treatment plants in Norway. The biological and chemical plants are divided into three process groups, simultaneous precipitation and activated sludge, combined precipitation and rotating biological contactors (RBC) and post precipitation and activated sludge. Aluminium sulphate or ferric chloride are the commonly used flocculants in the chemical precipitation process. Effluent data from 174 Norwegian biological chemical treatment plants are evaluated. Compared to the effluent standards for each process group, post precipitation shows the best performance. On an average these plants have the lowest actual utilization of the design capacity. The most important factors that cause the treatment plants not to meet the effluent standards are, poor quality of the sewer system, improper design of the plant and organizational problems. Satisfactory separation of particles, flow equalization and proper operational management, are the basic demands to achieve low effluent concentrations for tot-P and BOD7.