Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant Research Articles

Application of UV disinfection in municipal wastewater treatment plants for agricultural use of reclaimed wastewater in Turkey

In this study, the UV disinfection efficiency based on wastewater quality parameters such as suspended solids, UV transmittance, and initial coliform concentrations (total and fecal coliform) was examined and the appropriate UV-C doses for providing the fecal and total coliform values declared at different regulations and standards for agricultural reuse were investigated. The study was carried out in a UV pilot plant installed at Pasakoy advanced biological wastewater treatment plant, located in Istanbul. The pilot plant was an open-channel system with a capacity of 100 m3/h. The pilot plant also contained a pressurized sand filter. The effluent taken from the outlet of final clarifiers of Pasakoy WWTP was used in the pilot plant trials. Experiments were conducted with filtered and unfiltered wastewater at various UV-C doses between 20 and 150 mWs/cm2. The results of the study indicated that the required UV-C dose to achieve a Class 1 water quality according to Turkish Regulations is 140 mWs/cm2. UV tran...

Ozone-Enhanced UV Disinfection at the Indianapolis Belmont Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Ozone-Enhanced UV Disinfection at the Indianapolis Belmont Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Cost/Benefit Evaluation Of Sulaibiya Wastewater Treatment Plant In Kuwait

In May 2001, the Government of Kuwait awarded a build, operate and transfer (BOT) contract to a local company to finance, design, build and operate an advanced wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) at Sulaibiya. The contract has a 30-year life, comprising 30 months of design and build and 27.5 years of operation and management. The total project cost was K.D. 116 million (US$ 442 million). The Sulaibiya plant currently treats up to 375 million imperial gallons. It is designed for extension to 600 million imperial gallons and is the first of its kind to be built in the Middle East. It is the largest in the world to use ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) for water purification. Ultrafiltration will remove all suspended solids and will provide a substantial reduction in micro biological activities. The main obstacle against the use of ultrafiltration membranes for WWTP has always been the higher operating cost of ultrafiltration. Up until now, this higher cost has prevented implementation of UF in all plants. A new membrane has been designed with the aim of tailoring it toward lowest total cost of ownership. Typical operating conditions have been used to quantify the following parameters for a potential large scale wastewater treatment system (UF + RO): amortization of investment in UF membranes and equipment; operating costs of the UF system; reduction in operating costs of the RO, when being compared against a conventional treatment system; and the increased output of the RO plant due to higher availability and shorter construction time. The total cost of ownership of a UF based RO plant has been determined (expressed in US$/m3 of water produced). Taking all factors into account, the total cost of ownership of a dual membrane WWTP (UF + RO) will be 2–7% lower than the total cost of ownership of on conventional retreatment plant.

Evaluation of Biological Activated Carbon (BAC) process in wastewater treatment secondary effluent for reclamation purposes

The effects of two different granular activated carbon (GAC) types (steam activated, PK1–3 and chemically activated, CAgran) on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal, nitrification and denitrification were evaluated in BAC columns for wastewater reclamation/reuse purposes. Continuous-flow laboratory-scale BAC columns were operated for 320 days using the secondary effluent water of Pasakoy Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. During the first 83 days of column operation, when adsorption was the dominant mechanism, the average DOC removal efficiency was 81% for PK1–3 and 64.5% for CAgran. Later on, the efficiencies dropped to 45.9% for PK 1–3 and 37.8% for CAgran, which shows the operational time period when breakthrough is reached and DOC removal is dominantly due to biodegradation. BAC columns were also capable of removing total nitrogen; removal efficiencies were observed to be 54.0% for the biofilter packed with PK1–3 and 51.5% for the one packed with CAgran. The results also showed that DOC and ammonia nitrogen concentrations immediately decrease due to dilution and biodegradation at the top of the BAC columns. This study establishes that a carefully operated BAC system, which was used for tertiary treatment of a secondary effluent, can remove organic carbon and total nitrogen to a significant extent.

External Carbon Storage and Feed System to Accommodate Alternative Carbon Substrates at the Blue Plains AWTP: Challenges and Remedies to Handle Glycerol

External Carbon Storage and Feed System to Accommodate Alternative Carbon Substrates at the Blue Plains AWTP: Challenges and Remedies to Handle GlycerolDesign of the Enhanced Nitrogen Removal Facility (ENRF) at DCWater's Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Blue Plains) has been recently completed. The carbon facility designed as part of this project will be country's largest wastewater treatment plant carbon facility and is designed to handle methanol and other alternative carbon substrates including waste glycerol from the biodiesel...Author(s)Anup ShahSalil KharkarAklile TesfayeKaren DurdenJohn WillisTom SadickDenny ParkerPaul SchlegelSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 62: Developments in Process DesignDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2010ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20100101)2010:12L.4354;1-DOI10.2175/193864710798182745Volume / Issue2010 / 12Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)4354 - 4368Copyright2010Word count161Subject keywordsDCWaterENRFMethanolGlycerolAlternate CarbonDenitrificationBlue PlainsGlycerin

Operating North America 's First Full Scale Nutrient Recovery Facility

Operating North America 's First Full Scale Nutrient Recovery FacilityThe first full scale struvite nutrient recovery installation in North America became operational in May, 2009 at the Clean Water Service's (CWS) Durham Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Tigard, Oregon. Recovering ammonia and phosphorus as struvite had an impact on plant operations, reducing the amount of chemicals needed and reducing both tons of biosolids generated and the phosphorus content...Author(s)Rob BaurSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 8: Value-Added ProductsDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2010ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20100101)2010:4L.497;1-DOI10.2175/193864710802767074Volume / Issue2010 / 4Content sourceResiduals and Biosolids ConferenceFirst / last page(s)497 - 506Copyright2010Word count72Subject keywordsStruviteOstaranutrient recoverymagnesium ammonium phosphateEPBR

Evaluation of Onsite Sodium Hypochlorite Generation at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Evaluation of Onsite Sodium Hypochlorite Generation at the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Denitrification Stoichiometry and Kinetics of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor

Denitrification Stoichiometry and Kinetics of Moving Bed Biofilm ReactorThe Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) technology was determined to be a promising and viable process for denitrification to achieve total nitrogen of between 3–4 mg N/L and nitrate concentration below 1 mg N/L. A post-denitrifying pilot MBBR system was set up at the Blue Plains AWTP (Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant) and a bench scale kinetic evaluation was conducted. This study is a...Author(s): Arbina ShresthaRumana RiffatCharles BottImre TakacsBeverley StinsonMarija PericDilli NeupaneSudhir MurthySourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 2 - Fixed Film/Hybrid Process Modeling & MechanicsDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2009ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20090101)2009:4L.153;1-DOI10.2175/193864709793901338Volume / Issue2009 / 4Content sourceNutrient Removal and Recovery SymposiumFirst / last page(s)153 - 165Copyright2009Word count418Subject keywordsBiomass DensityDenitrificationHalf Saturation ConstantMoving Bed Biofilm ReactorSpecific Denitrification Rate

Partitioning of Brominated Flame Retardants in Wastewater Treatment: Model Calibration and Loading Projections

Partitioning of Brominated Flame Retardants in Wastewater Treatment: Model Calibration and Loading ProjectionsData from an intensive inter-stage sampling project at an advanced wastewater treatment plant, which characterized congeners of the flame retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), were used to calibrate a fate model of the treatment plant. Flow and solids balances were first established, followed by predicting of the fate of the different congeners through the treatment plant. A...Author(s)Hugh MonteithHank AndresOliver SchraaSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 7 - Microconstituent Wastewater TreatmentDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2009ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20090101)2009:5L.331;1-DOI10.2175/193864709793900726Volume / Issue2009 / 5Content sourceMicroconstituents ConferenceFirst / last page(s)331 - 346Copyright2009Word count182Subject keywordsPBDEswastewaterfatemodel

Comprehensive Enhanced Digestion Evaluations at Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Comprehensive Enhanced Digestion Evaluations at Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment PlantThe District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DCWASA) has undertaken a long-term study to evaluate the performance and operational aspects of various sludge digestion alternatives. While the initial goal of this study was to determine an appropriate digestion technology for Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, the outcome has been an increased awareness of the fundamental...Author(s)Christopher A. WilsonJohn T. NovakSudhir N. MurthyWalter F. BaileySourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 14 - Pre-Digestion ConditioningDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Jan, 2009ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20090101)2009:3L.887;1-DOI10.2175/193864709793846745Volume / Issue2009 / 3Content sourceResiduals and Biosolids ConferenceFirst / last page(s)887 - 898Copyright2009Word count236Subject keywordsAerobic digestionanaerobic digestionbiosolids odornitrogenreactor stagingretention timesludge minimization

Multi-objective Optimization Models for Distributing Biosolids to Reuse Fields: A Case Study for the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant

This paper presents multi-objective optimization models that simultaneously minimize biosolids odors as well as wastewater treatment and biosolids distribution costs and can be proactively used by biosolids managers at advanced wastewater treatment plants. The computational aspects of these models are daunting, typically involving over 200,000 constraints and about 145,000 variables and are thus difficult to solve. Also, some of the mathematical terms involve bilinear, nonconvex pieces which need to be approximated. This paper presents both a numerical approximation scheme to linearize these nonconvex terms using Schur’s decomposition and SOS2 variables as well as a Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition method to improve the computational times. The computational results as well as a sensitivity analysis are performed using data from the Blue Plains advanced wastewater treatment plant in Washington, DC.

Methods for Quantifying Lime Incorporation into Dewatered Sludge. II: Field-Scale Application

Postlime stabilization of municipal sludge requires methods for assessing the degree of lime incorporation and stability of the final product, as well as for evaluating and monitoring the performance of individual components in the process. The goal of this research was to systematically apply selected measures of lime incorporation and stability at the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority’s Blue Plains advanced wastewater treatment plant (see the companion paper). The transfer of sludge by screw conveyance prior to the lime blender did not appear to make it more difficult to incorporate lime in a bench-scale mixer. However, in the full-scale system, it may impede mixing by rolling the sludge into large plugs, and thus creating a discontinuous supply of sludge to the blender. Screw conveyance of limed sludge downstream from the blender appears to subject the limed sludge to additional mixing, resulting in improved lime incorporation and stabilization. The impact of lime purity (CaO%) appeared to...

Denitrification with Carbon Addition—Kinetic Considerations

The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Washington, D.C.) uses methanol as an external carbon source in a postdenitrification process, to achieve low effluent total nitrogen concentrations. This becomes more difficult in winter, at lower mixed liquor temperatures and higher flows, as a consequence of the kinetic behavior of the methanol-utilizing heterotrophs. The paper reports on an experimental batch test study conducted on Blue Plains postdenitrification sludge to investigate (1) the maximum specific growth rate of methanol-utilizing heterotrophs (Mu(METH)); (2) the temperature dependency of the growth rate; and (3) the efficacy of alternate substrates (ethanol, acetate, and sugar). A limited number of tests were conducted on sludge from two other treatment plants with methanol addition.

고도처리 효율 향상을 위한 통계적 접근

Statistical analysis technique was applied to operating parameters and removal efficiency data sets obtained from advanced wastewater treatment plant during 1 year. Through factor analysis three factors derived varimax rotation were selected each plant. Three components explained 96%, 87% of the total variance of the process, respectively. The components on <TEX>$A_2O$</TEX> Plant were identified in the following order : 1) Shortening the SRT during high-flow period, 2) Keeping biomass high on winter 3) factor was related to DO. On DNR plant, we defined them as follows: factor 1, Prolonged the SRT during high-flow period; factor 2 was related to sludge return; factor 3, Influent BOD during low-DO period. This technique was believed to assist operators in identifying priorities to improve operation efficiency.

The role of river inputs on the hypolimnetic chemistry of a productive reservoir: implications for management of anoxia and total phosphorus internal loading

The effect of DOC and nitrate river inputs on summer hypolimnetic oxygen and nutrient dynamics in the advective-dominated, canyon-shaped Sau Reservoir (Spain) was investigated using 11 years of monitoring data. River water entering the reservoir during summer was the main driver defining hypolimnetic oxygen and nutrient concentration. Thus, volume-normalized hypolimnetic oxygen concentration was highly correlated with the river DOC, but not significantly correlated with surrogates of the epilimnetic primary production or with in-lake features. Also, the areal extent of anoxia and nitrate concentration controlled total phosphorus content in the hypolimnion, suggesting that the river DOC and nitrate inputs control internal load of phosphorus. Because improvement of the river water quality was the consequence of implementation of advanced wastewater treatment plants in the reservoir watershed, we advocate these solutions to manage reservoir eutrophication problems. Our results should prompt reservoir limnologists to always take into account the probable, direct effect of allochthonous sources in the hypolimnetic oxygen content and nutrient dynamics, especially in human-impacted systems.

UV Technology Helps Georgia Wastewater Plant Earn USEPA Recognition

This article announces that the Flat Creek Water Reclamation Facility in Gainesville, Georgia, is using ultraviolet (UV) disinfection equipment from Aquionics to keep the plant's treated wastewater well below permit limits for fecal samples required by the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The Flat Creek plant's performance also has earned it a second place award for operations and maintenance in the large advanced wastewater treatment plant category in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) 2007 Clean Water Act Recognition Awards. Gainesville's Flat Creek Water Reclamation Facility, which serves more than 33,000 people, was recognized by USEPA for optimizing its treatment process with the use of inline flow equalization.

Fate and Transport of Mercury in a Large Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Fate and Transport of Mercury in a Large Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Application of artificial neural networks to effluent phosphate prediction in struvite recovery

In advanced wastewater treatment plants (AWWTP), the recovery of phosphorus (P) has become a recent focus of the wastewater engineering industry. The potential economic savings behind improved sludge management and the control of struvite encrustation in AWWTP are two of the primary driving forces behind this. Process control of phosphorus (struvite) recovery systems has only been partially successful because: (1) key control variables have yet to be identified and (2) there is no adequate performance evaluation model that is applicable to struvite recovery technologies. In process control, two different types of modeling are most commonly seen: mechanistic and “black-box” style models. In recent years, varying models have been developed to try to predict the formation of struvite in both sludge digestion process lines and P-recovery technologies designed for struvite removal. All of these are strictly mechanistic models, based on either the chemical equilibrium of the system or the associated kinetic parameters, with varying degrees of complexity. Artificial neural networks (ANN), as a type of black-box modeling, have seen limited application in wastewater treatment with regards to phosphate recovery. The analysis of several historical daily operational databases evaluated the predictive ability of two mechanistic and one ANN models. It was determined that the newly developed ANN model was not site specific and had the highest predictive ability of the three. This would be beneficial for the development of an automated control system for struvite removal package treatment processes.

Achieving Limits of Technology (LOT) Effluent Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal at the River Oaks Two-Stage Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant

Achieving Limits of Technology (LOT) Effluent Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal at the River Oaks Two-Stage Advanced Wastewater Treatment PlantDue to unprecedented population growth in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hillsborough County, FL, developed an aggressive capital improvement program, including a 3-phase construction program to increase the capacity of the River Oaks Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWTP) from 3 mgd to 10 mgd while improving plant performance to significantly reduce the nutrient discharges to Tampa Bay. When...Author(s)Jose A. JimenezDenny S. ParkerWalt ZdziebloskiRodney L. PopeDwayne PhillipsJames A. NissenHarold E. SchimdtSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationSubjectSession 5: Nutrient Removal: Nitrogen and PhosphorusDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Oct, 2007ISSN1938-6478SICI1938-6478(20071001)2007:19L.406;1-DOI10.2175/193864707786831705Volume / Issue2007 / 19Content sourceWEFTECFirst / last page(s)406 - 416Copyright2007Word count151Subject keywordsNITROGEN REMOVALSEPARATE-STAGE DENITRIFICATIONAEROBIC STABILIZATIONPHOSPHORUS REMOVALADVANCED WASTEWATER TREATMENT

A multiobjective optimization model for processing and distributing biosolids to reuse fields

Advanced wastewater treatment plants remove deleterious nutrients, chemicals, and microorganisms from wastewater and produce biosolids products to be reused at farms and other sites. These biosolids are carefully regulated by environmental restrictions but still may be malodorous to the local populations. In this paper, we develop a multiobjective optimization model to simultaneously minimize the biosolids odours as well as processing and distribution costs. The model employs a linear odour function and bilinear costs; the latter being approximated via Schur's decomposition and special ordered set (SOS) type 2 variables resulting in a mixed integer linear multiobjective optimization problem. Such a model can be used proactively by these plants to produce the least malodorous product at minimal costs. We demonstrate use of the model with a case study for the Blue Plains advanced wastewater treatment plant run by the DC Water and Sewer Authority in Washington, DC.