Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Practical
Experiences and Guidelines for Design, Modelling and
Operation for Treating a Mix of Municipal and Industrial
Wastewaters
M. Huhtamäki*, D. Sen**
*Juurocon Oy, Alitalontie 11, FIN-21110 Naantali, Finland (E-mail:
juurocon.oy@dnainternet.net)
**Santa Clara Valley Water Authority, 5750 Almaden Expressway, San Jose, CA 95118
Abstract: The IFAS processes have proved their effectiveness and the number of references
is increasing rapidly. The special features of IFAS process for plant designers and operators
are described. A case based on real data is modelled and simulated under different
conditions. One of the results was that lower environmental load with lower costs could be
achieved at the municipal wwtp, if the industrial effluent pre-treatment would be by-passed.
This was verified also in practice. Practical general guidelines are given for process design
and optimisation based on the global technical experiences as well as on the simulation work.
Introduction
Integrated fixed film activated sludge process (IFAS) utilizes the benefits of activated sludge
process and MBBR. The hybrid process is more compact, flexible and stable. The biofilm
processes are often characterised by better sludge settling properties and better capability to
handle toxic shock loads. These features are verified in plants having parallel lines both for
IFAS and activated sludge processes. E.g. at Windsor Lock, CT (Hubbell and Krichten 2004)
Except the ammonia removal, better SVI test results and improved recovery from shock
loads and plant upsets was noticed in IFAS line. Total nitrogen concentration of 8 mg/l was
reached with IFAS-process (web type media) at 12 oC and 2.5 h HRT.
Several types of media available for IFAS systems fall in two categories: fixed and
dispersed media. These are categorized in table 1. The process was patented over 70 years
ago by Tholin and La Grange (1937). The sponge type of media, which was applied at that
time are still on markets by several suppliers. Alternative media types have been developed
actively and the number of IFAS references have increased remarkably during the last years.
Methods
The process modelling, simulation and optimisation described here are based on a high
loaded biological process with about 6 hours residence time. The main flow comes from
municipal sources. In addition industrial effluent with various pre-treatment alternatives is
taken to the town wwtp. The wwtp of Raisio, Finland was selected to the basis for the
evaluation due to several reasons. In the process there are two lines equipped with on-line
analysator for NH4-N, NO3-N, PO4-P and MLSS. In addition a lot of data exists for the
process evaluation. The process was originally a fully aerated AS plant, then converted to a
DN-process and later to a 4-stage Bardenpho process equipped with biofilm media. The plant
has been loaded with food industry effluent, which is pre-treated on different ways covering
anaerobic process, activated sludge process, aerated buffer tank and only mechanical pre-
treatment. The demonstration was partly financed from EU-Life Environment This is a
plentiful case for testing a simulation model under different conditions.
The used simulation model is described in detail by Sen et al (2007). The model is tested
for several types of processes and conditions. Sen et al (2006) evaluated ten full scale
wastewater treatment facilities applying the model. The analysis showed that the model was
able to accurately predict the performance of the facilities.
The aeration has to be intensive enough to get the a good turbulence on the biofilm
surface and to mix the carriers in the sections. Each media type has its own requirements for
aerator placing. The mixers in anoxic sections should be gentle enough in order not to break
the media. Often biofilm media is not installed to the anaerobic and anoxic sections.
The structure of biofilm media, mixing and aeration have a major effect on turbulence and
mass transfer on the biofilm surface. However, only very limited information is available
from these effects for nitrification. The effect of turbulence to the oxygen profile in the
biofilm has been studied by Nagaoka and Sanda (2005).
Process data
The nitrogen load and reductions as monthly averages, the operated process mode at the
Raisio town wwtp and periods when a major fraction of industrial effluent load consists of
mechanically pre-treated effluent are shown for the past six years in figure 2.
Nitrogen removal bound to sludge kg/month
Nitrogen removal to/from air (= influent - effluent - sludge N) kg/month
Environmental load NO3-N kg/month
Environmental load NH4-N kg/month
kg N/ IFAS, Fully aerated MBBR; DN
month Line 1
AS; Fully aerated AS; DN-process - IFAS; DN Line 2
25 000
Normal load B D
20 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
-5 000
1 2001
2 2001
3 2001
4 2001
5 2001
6 2001
7 2001
8 2001
9 2001
10 2001
11 2001
12 2001
1 2002
2 2002
3 2002
4 2002
5 2002
6 2002
7 2002
8 2002
9 2002
10 2002
11 2002
12 2002
1 2003
2 2003
3 2003
4 2003
5 2003
6 2003
7 2003
8 2003
9 2003
10 2003
11 2003
12 2003
1 2004
2 2004
3 2004
4 2004
5 2004
6 2004
7 2004
8 2004
9 2004
10 2004
11 2004
12 2004
1 2005
2 2005
3 2005
4 2005
5 2005
6 2005
7 2005
8 2005
9 2005
10 2005
11 2005
12 2005
1 2006
2 2006
3 2006
4 2006
5 2006
6 2006
7 2006
8 2006
9 2006
10 2006
11 2006
12 2006
Aver 2004
Aver 2005
Aver 2006
Aver 02 tests
2001 - 2002
Nitrogen fixation from air Yellow: Nitrogen removal >60% Raisio Plc pre-treatment by-
Green: Nitrogen removal >70% pass partly or totally
When unaerated food industry wastewater was taken to the wwtp (DN-process and > 7.0)
the required 70% nitrogen removal was reached. The useful effect of the soluble BOD in
industrial effluents can be noticed even better by analysing the composite samples (figure 3).
During the period no other carbon sources were added. Methanol addition was started at the
end of January 2007 and 70% nitrogen removal was achieved. The analyses show clearly that
the denitrification is limited by insufficient easily biodegradable carbon source.
The optimal addition of BOD-sol is the amount, which would be needed as methanol
(mg/l) at the municipal wwtp. At that point the load replaces methanol without increasing
sludge production. Better nitrogen removal can be achieved if the load is higher. If it is
lower, some additional carbon source has to be added.
The pre-aeration of industrial wastewater with 12 hours residence time removed most of
the soluble BOD.
M. Huhtamaki and D. Sen 5
60%
- Normal load: At the wwtp both lines in
50% operation. At the industry an efficient
biological pre-treatment.
40% - Test periods B and D: Only line 2 in use in
which a 30 volume-% unaerated zone was
30% created by closing the aerator valves.
- During period B more soluble BOD was
discharged to the wwtp than during period
20% D. During period B the redox-potential in
the unaerated zone was all the time
10% negative but during period D it was
between -100 ... + 100 mV.
0%
0 5 10 15 20 25
Influent BOD7(ATU) /N-tot ratio
Figure 3. Nitrogen reduction versus industrial load and BOD/N relation during 2001 -2003
Simulation data
The simulations were done for the basic data according to table 1 corresponding the load
level of the evaluated plant from 2006 and real analytical and calculated data.
Based on the data, different situations were simulated e.g. for flow increase of wastewater
sources, pre-treatment alternatives of the industrial effluent, summer and winter conditions,
media filling ratios and recycle flows. The basin volume was fixed to 3600 m3, the MLSS
concentration (of free sludge) to 3 g/l and the process to a 4-stage Bardenpho process in
which the post-anoxic section can also be aerated, if needed. (The configuration is similar to
fig.4, except the anaerobic section.)
In figure 5 the key simulation results are shown in the case where industrial effluent is
discharged after screening and the process configuration is close to the existing one. From
6 M. Huhtamaki and D. Sen
the figure can be seen, that the post-anoxic department is inefficient for denitrification
without carbon source addition. At this load it is not needed for 70% nitrogen removal or 15
mg/l residual nitrogen.
Me3+ or Me3+
Me2+
Me3+
Figure 4. A typical BRN-plant and alternative places to add coagulant when needed
12 mg/l 16 000
NH4-N 0,2 200
NO3-N 9,6 mg/l
TN-out
14 000
10 11,50 mg/l 180
TN-in 54,7 mg/l 12 000
160 Mixed Liquor VSS
8
10 000 Biofilm
NH4N Uptake, kg/d
140
6 8 000
120
6 000
4 100
4 000
80
2 2 000
60
0 0
40
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time of the day N to prim. sludge 11960 m3/d
20
20 %
N to secondary sludge 19 % 0
AA
Anox
Anox
Aer
Aer
Aer
Anox
Anox
Aer
Aer
N as gas to air
-
-
79 %
Load Munic. Ind Sum clarif. out Denitrification in Biofilm and MLVSS
Anox
Anox
Aer
Aer
Aer
Anox
Anox
Aer
Aer
-
Figure 5. Effluent quality. Conditions: Load 100% basic load; Industr. Mech. pre-treated;
Basin: 25% pre-anoxic, 52,5% aerobic, 20% post-anoxic and 2,5 % post-aeration; RAS 125%;
NR 75%; Media 200 m2/m3 in each cell except in the first post-anoxic cell.
The variation of ammonium and nitrate concentration in the situation, when the municipal
load is 30% and industrial load 50% higher than today are shown in figure 6. The alternatives
with and without efficient pre-treatment are evaluated. The simulation shows that 70%
nitrogen removal can be achieved if the industrial effluents would be discharged after
screening. The post-anoxic section should be aerated in order to oxide ammonium better.
Interesting is that if the industrial effluent would be pre-treated anaerobically, even with
M. Huhtamaki and D. Sen 7
methanol addition at that load 70% nitrogen removal can not be reached and also the
recipient nitrogen load is higher in that alternative.
A fraction (5 – 15%) of the pre-clarified water can be taken to the post-anoxic section. It
reduces the oxygen concentration in the recycle streams and may reduce the risk for bristle
worms. This has only a minor effect on nitrogen removal. The simulation can also be used
for optimising the oxygen concentrations and recycle streams. High oxygen concentration in
the aeration increases oxygen load to denitrification through recycle flows. These parameters
can be optimised for nitrogen removal by using the process simulation.
Eff SCODbio Eff NH4N Eff NO3N Flow Eff SCODbio Eff NH4N Eff NO3N Flow
a) Flow, m3/h b) Flow, m3/h
Eff SCODbio Eff NH4N Eff NO3N Flow Eff SCODbio Eff NH4N Eff NO3N Flow
c) Flow, m3/h d) Flow, m3/h
SCODbio, NH4N, NO3N conc, mg/L
Figure 6. Effluent quality. Conditions: Municipal 130%; Industry 150%. a) and b) Ind. ww
mech. pre-treated; c) and d) Ind. anaerobically pre-treated; Conditions like in fig 5 except in
6b) post anoxic section is aerated; NR=0; RAS=180% and in 6d) 60 g/m3 methanol is added.
3
Q m /d 17700 3400 21100 21673 21100 9 NH4-N
NO3-N
2,0
6,9 mg/l
mg/l 1 200
8
TN-out 11,35 mg/l 1 000
SS kg/d 6750 2002 8752 2854 211 7 TN-in 43,8 mg/l
6 800
Figure 7. Effluent quality. Munic. load 135% and flow 150%; Industry 200% mech. pre-treated
When simulating even higher loads e.g. as described in figure 7 can be seen that the flow
and the industrial load could be increased remarkably if the existing process volumes would
be fully utilized. In the situation described in figure 7, nitrogen load of the biological section
8 M. Huhtamaki and D. Sen
is 0.2 (kg N/d)/m3, HRT 4 hours, temperature 9 oC and aerobic sludge age 2,5 days. Under
these conditions the sludge treatment and hydraulic capacities are exceeded although the
biological treatment would have the possibilities for the required reduction.
Conclusions
A proper simulation model is a valuable tool for the system design and optimisation of the
results. The IFAS process utilises both the activated sludge and biofilm media. Due to
different characters of the biomass in the activated sludge and in the biofilm, these have to be
calculated separately and parallel to each other.
An efficient pre-screening is a must.
Both the municipality and the industry could benefit, if the biological pre-treatment is
reduced in a way that the soluble BOD can replace the used methanol at municipal wwtp.
Carrier type of media has more specific surface area than other IFAS media types. Despite
of hundreds of references in carrier processes, the mechanical solutions and design practices
need to be developed further. Open discussion and change of experiences are needed.
Biological P removal can be increased and stabilized for BNR-plants by adding biofilm
media especially in the aerobic section to improve nitrification and denitrification.
References
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