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High-rate activated sludge processes for municipal wastewater treatment: the effect of food waste addition and hydraulic limits of the system

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Abstract

Conventional activated sludge (CAS) process is one of the most commonly applied processes for municipal wastewater treatment. However, it requires a high energy input and does not promote energy recovery. Currently, high-rate activated sludge (HRAS) process is gaining importance as a good option to reduce the energy demand of wastewater treatment and to capture organic matter for valorizing through anaerobic digestion (AD). Besides, food waste addition to wastewater can help to increase the organic matter content of wastewater and thus, energy recovery in AD. The objective of this study is to evaluate the applicability of co-treatment of municipal wastewater and food waste in a pilot-scale HRAS system as well as to test the minimal hydraulic retention times (HRTs) such as 60 and 30 min. Food waste addition to the wastewater resulted in a 10% increase in chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of influent. In the following stages of the study, the pilot-scale system was operated with wastewater solely under the HRTs of 60 and 30 min. With the decrease of HRT, particulate COD removal increased; however, soluble COD removal decreased. The results demonstrated that if the settling process is optimized, more particulate matter can be diverted to sludge stream.

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Abbreviations

AD:

anaerobic digestion

AnMBR:

anaerobic membrane bioreactor

BOD:

biological oxygen demand

CAS:

conventional activated sludge

cCOD:

colloidal chemical oxygen demand

COD:

chemical oxygen demand

DO:

dissolved oxygen

F/M:

food/microorganisms ratio (kg COD/kg VSS day)

FOG:

fat, oils, and grease

HRAS:

high-rate activated sludge

HRT:

hydraulic retention time

pCOD:

particulate chemical oxygen demand

PSD:

particle size distribution

RAS:

return activated sludge

SCADA:

supervisory control and data acquisition

sCOD:

soluble chemical oxygen demand

SRT:

solids retention time

SVI:

sludge volume index

TN:

total nitrogen

TP:

total phosphorus

TS:

total solids

TSS:

total suspended solids

VLR:

volumetric loading rate (kg COD/m3 day)

VS:

volatile solids

VSS:

volatile suspended solids

WAS:

waste activated sludge

WWTP:

wastewater treatment plant

ZSV:

zone settling velocity

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Funding

This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of Turkey, and Istanbul Environment Management Industry and Trade Company (ISTAC) (Project no. 0534.STZ.2013-2), and Istanbul Technical University Scientific Research Projects Office (Project no. 38833).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineering Faculty, Environmental Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Ayazaga Campus, Maslak, 34469, Istanbul, Turkey

    Huseyin Guven, Hale Ozgun, Mustafa Evren Ersahin, Recep Kaan Dereli, Ilknur Sinop & Izzet Ozturk

  2. School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

    Recep Kaan Dereli

Authors
  1. Huseyin Guven
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  2. Hale Ozgun
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  3. Mustafa Evren Ersahin
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  4. Recep Kaan Dereli
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  5. Ilknur Sinop
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  6. Izzet Ozturk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huseyin Guven.

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Responsible editor: Ioannis A. Katsoyiannis

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 The detailed information regarding instrumentation and equipment in the pilot-scale system
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Guven, H., Ozgun, H., Ersahin, M.E. et al. High-rate activated sludge processes for municipal wastewater treatment: the effect of food waste addition and hydraulic limits of the system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 1770–1780 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3665-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3665-8

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