“Activated Sludge”

Prem Sagar Mishra

Manager CTS
 Activated Sludge Process

 The term “Activated Sludge” comes from the sludge particles teeming with
active bacteria, fungi and protozoans.
 This fundamental process is the heart of activated sludge treatment.
 Organics + O2 + nutrients + inert matter CO2 + H20 + new microorganisms
+ additional inert matter

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Design Parameters for Various Activated
Sludge Processes
Process MCRT, days F:M ratio, lbs BOD applied/d / lb MLVSS MLSS, mg/L

Conventional 5 – 15 0.2 – 0.4 1500 – 3000

Complete Mix 5 – 15 0.2 – 0.6 2500 – 4000

Step Feed 5 – 15 0.2 – 0.4 2000 – 3500

Modified Aeration 0.2 – 0.5 1.5 – 5.0 200 – 1000

Contact Stabilization 5 – 15 0.2 – 0.6 1000 – 3000

4000 – 10000

Extended Aeration 20 – 30 0.05 – 0.15 3000 – 6000

High Rate Aeration 5 – 10 0.4 – 1.5 4000 – 10000

High Purity Aeration 3 – 10 0.25 – 1.0 2000 – 5000

Oxidation Ditch 10 – 30 0.05 – 0.30 3000 – 6000

Single Stage Nitrification 8 – 20 0.10 – 0.25 2000 – 3500

Separate Stage Nitrification 15 – 100 0.05 – 0.20 2000 – 3500

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Performance problems can be caused by

 Changes in influent characteristics

 Hydraulic overloading
 Mechanical equipment failures
 Insufficient operator training

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System Components

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 Biological Reactors -The tanks where aerobic, anaerobic, or anoxic conditions
are created to produce healthy mixed liquor and facilitate biological treatment processes.
 Clarifiers - Sedimentation tanks used to remove settleable solids in water or
wastewater.

 Mixed Liquor -A mixture of raw or settled wastewater and activated sludge

contained in an aeration tank or biological reactor.
 Suspended Solids - Insoluble solids that either float on the surface of, or are in
suspension in, water, wastewater, or other liquid.
 Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) –The concentration (mg/L) of
suspended solids in activated sludge mixed liquor.

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Return Activated Sludge (RAS)
Return Activated Sludge (RAS) - Settled activated sludge
returned to mix with incoming raw or primary settled
wastewater.
Clarifier
RAS
Pump
Return Activated Sludge
Biological Reactor

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 Solids Retention Time (SRT) -The average time suspended solids are held in a
biological wastewater treatment system.
 Also called Mean Cell Residence Time (MCRT)
 Mixed Liquor Volatile Suspended Solids (MLVSS) -The organic fraction of the
suspended solids in activated sludge mixed liquor that can be driven off by combustion at
550 °C.

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Microbiology

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Microorganisms

 Types of microorganisms present in activated sludge depend on

 Composition of the wastewater
 Length of the system’s MCRT
 pH
 Temperature
 DO concentration
 Microorganism population type affects both activated sludge characteristics

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Why are they important?

Role in treatment systems
 Removed in water treatment
 Key role in wastewater treatment
 Major role in problems & solutions to solid waste

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 Examples of Bacteria Found in Wastewater

•Most are soil bacteria.

•For WW Treatment, bacteria are the most important microorganisms in the process.
•They are one of the simplest forms of life, use soluble food and are capable of self-reproduction

Individual cells come in sphere (coccus), rod (bacillus) and spiral (spirillum) shapes and range in
size from 0.5 to 5.0 microns
•About 95% of microorganisms in mixed liquor for activated sludge systems are the bacteria.
•Don’t want to see many spiral, they are disease-causing bacteria

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Two Types of Bacteria

Heterotrophic and autotrophic bacteria differ in the
source of nutrition they require.

Heterotrophic:

CBOD removers

Denitrifiers

Autotrophic

Nitrifiers

Algae

Higher plants

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Heterotrophic

•Need organic carbon as their food source.

•Humans
•Protozoa
•Most wastewater bacteria
•All animals are heterotrophs, as are most microorganisms (the major exceptions being
microscopic algae and bluegreen bacteria).


Heterotrophs can also be further classified based ont their oxygen requirements:

Aerobes require free DO to function
 Anoxic use nitrogen bound oxygen like nitrate (NO 3-) and nitrite (NO2-), no free DO
 Anaerobes thrive in the absence of free DO, use sulfate (SO 4-) or carbon dioxide (CO2)

Facultative bacteria prefer free DO but can function in its absence

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Autotrophic

 Use carbon dioxide (inorganic) as a carbon source

 Autotrophic organisms take inorganic substances into their bodies and transform
them into organic nourishment.
 Nitrifiers like Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are important autotrophic bacteria.
 Autotrophic bacteria make their own food, either by photosynthesis (which uses
sunlight, carbon dioxide and water to make food) or by chemosynthesis (which uses carbon
dioxide, water and chemicals like ammonia to make food - these bacteria are called nitrogen
fixers and include the bacteria found living in legume roots and in ocean vents).
Food
 Two types of “food”
 Dissolved
 Example: sugar in oatmeal
 “Chunky”
 Example: oats in oatmeal
 Our body uses both “foods”
 We eat and our stomach and gut breaks the “chunky food” down into smaller
dissolved food that our cells in our bodies can use.
 If you had to stay in the hospital and could not eat, they would “feed” you
dissolved food in
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Microorganisms
 Bacteria have a little tail, they swim around and eat food
 Once food runs low, they loose their tail and start leaving behind waste product
that is sticky (polysaccharide slime)
 This sticky waste makes them stick to other bacteria and creates heavy floc
 If high slug of BOD, they don’t loose their tail, they continue to swim around and
don’t have sticky stuff to attach to them, therefore, the don’t floc and settle out.

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 Protozoa
 Single-celled animals that also reproduce by binary fission
Protozoans are much larger than bacteria.
 Their size ranges from 10-500 microns
 Have complex digestive systems that ingest organic matter which they use as an
energy and carbon source
 Graze on bacteria
 They are an important link in the activated sludge food chain because they
consume bacteria to fill a large part of their nutritional needs.
 This seems not only to remove excess bacteria from WW, but appears to stimulate
the growth of healthy bacteria, which produce floc more quickly and aid in the clarification of
the effluent
 Form cysts
 Beneficial in wastewater treatment
 Indicators of health of system
 Examples:
 Paramecium
 Stalked Ciliates
 Amoeba
 Euglena
 Flagellate
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 Protozoa
 Ciliates are usually found Free Swimming are usually present when there is a
large number of in large numbers when the bacteria in the activated sludge activated sludge
is in fair They feed on bacteria and help produce a clear effluent.
to good settling condition They are associated with a good degree of treatment.
 Ciliates are classified into
2 basic groups
 Free-swimming ciliates Stalked ciliates are usually present when the free-
swimming ciliates
 Stalked ciliates are unable to compete for the
available food
 A large number of stalked ciliates and rotifers will indicate a stable and efficiently
operating activated sludge process.

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Protozoa

Protozoa Fungi
 A euglena is a protistthat  Fungi
can eat food like animals  Soil organisms
do (partly heterotrophic)  Degrade dead organic matter (saprophytic)
and can make food like  Microscopic non-photosynthetic plants
plants do (partly  Not desireable in WW
autotrophic).  They like low pH ~ 4-5; therefore their presence is a warning
 Use 1 or more whip-like sign in mixed liquor
tail to move  Attached growth systems may have more of them because of
attachment to biofilm on media
 Many Euglena contain
chloroplasts and
chlorophyll a and b.

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 Water Bear

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Microorganisms Predominance

 If conventional plant and you start to see more rotifers and less free-swimming
ciliates, you need to increase wasting to make old sludge go away/
 If extended aeration plant and you have pin floc and nematodes, you are holding
your sludge too long.
 If you see a predominance of amoebas and flagellates in the microbial population,
this is an

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Phases of Microorganism’s Life

 Exponential Growth –The number of microorganisms in a culture broth will grow

exponentially until an essential nutrient is exhausted. Typically the first organism splits into two
daughter organisms, who then each split to form four, who split to form eight, and so on
 Declining Growth –As food supply declines, the microorganisms work harder to get
their food. Reproduction rates gradually slow down.
 Endogenous Respiration –There is inadequate food to maintain the biomass. Some
microorganisms starve and die others use their own stored energy to live.

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Food-to-Microorganism Ratio (F:M) - The ratio of
organic loading to microorganisms in the activated sludge system

Most plants operate right before endogenous respiration

Exponential Declining Endogenous

Growth Respiration
Growth
Number of Microorganisms

Time

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Bulking

 Clouds of billowing sludge that occur

throughout the secondary clarifiers and sludge
thickeners when the sludge does not settle
properly.
 In the activated sludge process,
bulking is usually caused by filamentous
bacteria or bound water.
 Bulking activated sludges can be
caused by:
 Elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide
 Low F/M
 Nutrient deficiencies

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Filaments

 Some filamentous organisms are

good, but too many are bad
 Filamentous organisms can form a
network or backbone upon which clumps of
activated sludge can gather
 This produces a floc with excellent
settling characteristics
 If filaments become excessive, a
bridging mechanism forms and prevents the
numerous small clumps of sludge from
gathering or packing together
 If they are prevented from clumping
together, sufficient particle mass will not be
produced to achieve good settling rates
 Activated sludge with good settling
characteristics do not have a predominance of
filamentous bacteria.

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Filaments

 Conditions that promote filamentous organism growth:

 Consistently low DO in biological reactors ~ 0.4 – 0.7
 High-BOD wastewater (for example, high-sugar industrial wastewater)
 Low pH
 Chlorination may be used for temporary control of
filamentous organisms.
 Dose of 1 – 10 mg/L and so that chlorine will be in contact with RAS for ~ 1 min
before mixing with incoming settled WW

RAS Pump

Cl

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Filaments

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Nocardia

 Nocardia can be controlled by

 Maintaining an MCRT <1 day in warm
weather
 Works with pure oxygen systems
 Can be very difficult in nitrifying plants
 Physical removal and disposal by
skimming and disposal
 Spray with chlorine

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Activated Sludge Process Goals

 CBOD removal
 Nitrification (where required)
 TSS removal
 Maintaining neutral pH
 Minimizing the amount of solids
produced
 Optimizing the energy used

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 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
– Measure of quantity of oxygen used in
biochemical oxidation of organic matter.
 Can be divided into:
 CBOD – carbon-based compounds
 NBOD – nitrogen-based compounds

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pH

 A measure of the hydrogen ion

concentration in a solution.

 The pH scale typically runs

0 to 14, with 7 being neutral.

 When neutral pH levels are not maintained, there may be

 Inability to maintain a healthy biomass;

 Potential damage to process equipment; and/or

 Increased cost because of chemical addition.

 During nitrification, alkalinity is needed to buffer the pH.

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Typical Activated Sludge Values

Parameter Influent Effluent

BOD5 100 – 300 mg/L 5 – 20 mg/L

TSS 100 – 300 mg/L 5 – 30 mg/L

Ammonia 10 – 30 mg/L < 2 mg/L

pH 6.5 – 8.5 ~ 7.0

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Activated Sludge Process Modes
 Plug-flow (conventional)
 Complete mix
 Contact stabilization
 Step feed
 Extended aeration Oxidation ditches
 High-rate aeration
 High-purity oxygen
 Sequencing batch reactors

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Plug Flow

 Raw wastewater goes in as a “plug”

and leaves as a “plug”
 Smaller foot print needed
 Highest DO requirement at inlet
 Highest F:M at inlet
 F:M decreases as you go through the
process
 You must have a primary clarifier,
State won’t let you otherwise

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Plug Flow Design Parameters

Application Domestic and Industrial

BOD Removal Efficiency 85 – 95%

Aeration Type Diffused or Mechanical

MCRT 5 – 15 days

Aeration Time 4 – 12 hours

MLSS 1500 – 3000 mg/L

RAS Flow 25 – 75% of influent

F:M 0.2 – 0.4 lbs BOD/d/lbs MLVSS

Organic Loading 20 – 40 lbs BOD/d/1000 ft 3

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Discussion

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