1

MICROBIAL GROWTH KINETICS

2
Overview of Biological Treatment
Objectives of Biological Treatment:
For domestic wastewater:
Transform (oxidize) dissolved and particulate biodegradable
constituents into acceptable by-products
Capture and incorporate suspended and non-settleable
colloidal solids into a biological floc or bio-film
Transform or remove nutrients, such as nitrogen and
phosphorous
Remove specific trace organic constituents and compounds
3
Overview of Biological Treatment
Objectives of Biological Treatment:
For industrial wastewater:
Remove or reduce the concentration of organic and inorganic
compounds
Pre-treatment of industrial wastewater may be required due to
presence of toxicants before being discharged to sewer line.

For agricultural wastewater:
Remove nutrients, such as N and P, that stimulate the growth
of aquatic life

4
Overview of Biological Treatment
Role of Microorganisms (MOs) in Wastewater Treatment:
Microorganisms (principally bacteria) oxidizes dissolved and particulate
carbonaceous organic matter into simple end-products:

Microorganisms are required to carryout the conversion
Ammonia can be oxidized by specific microorganisms (nitrification) to
nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-)



Other bacteria can reduce oxidized nitrogen to gaseous nitrogen


cells new O H CO PO NH O Matter Organic
Micro
+ + + + +

2 2
3
4 3 2
products end energy cells H NO H O NO
products end energy cells O H H NO O NH
r Nitrobacte
bacteria
Nitrate
as Nitrosomon
bacteria
Nitrite
2 2 2 2
2 2 3 2
3
) (
2 2
2 2
) (
2 3
+ + + + + +
+ + + + + +
+ +
+
5
Types of Biological Processes
The principle categories of biological processes are:
Suspended growth processes
Attached growth (bio-film) processes
Successful design and operation of any process
require the knowledge of the following:
Types of microorganisms involved
Specific reactions they perform
Environmental factor that affect their performance
Nutritional needs of the microorganisms
Reaction kinetics of microorganisms
6
Suspended Growth Processes
Needs appropriate mixing methods
Can be operated aerobically or anaerobically (for
industrial wastewater having high organic content and
organic sludge)
The most common process used in domestic
wastewater is the Activated sludge process
7
Suspended growth
8
Suspended growth
9
Attached Growth Processes
Microorganism are attached to an inert packing
material
Packing materials include:
Rock, Gravel, Sand
Slag
Redwood
Wide range of Plastic and other synthetic materials
Operate as aerobic and anaerobic processes
The packing can be submerged completely in liquid
or not submerged
The most common process is the trickling filter
The process is followed by settling tank
10
Attached Growth Processes
11
Attached Growth Processes
12
Introduction to Microbial Metabolism
Understanding of microbial metabolism (biochemical activities) is
important to design and selection of biological treatment.
Organisms require the following for growth:
Source of energy
Carbon for cell synthesis
Nutrients

13
Introduction to Microbial Metabolism
Carbon source:
Microorganisms obtain their carbon for cell growth from either:
organic matter (heterotrophs)
or from carbon dioxide (autotrophs).

Autotrophs have lower growth rate than Heterotrophs
14
Introduction to Microbial Metabolism
Energy Source:
15
Introduction to Microbial Metabolism
Nutrient and growth factor requirements:
Nutrients: The principal inorganic nutrients:
N, S, P, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Na, and Cl
Growth factor: Organic nutrients required by some organisms include:
amino acids
purines and pyrimidines
vitamins
16
Introduction to Microbial Metabolism
Nutrient and growth factor requirements:
In biological wastewater treatment process, two types of organisms are
important:
17
Bacterial Growth
Bacterial reproduction:
The primary mechanism of reproduction is binary fission.
One cell becomes two new cells.
The time required for each division (generation time) can vary
from days to less than 20 minutes
If generation time is 30 min, one bacterium would yield about
16 million (2
24
)bacteria after 12 hours.
This rapid change of biomass depends on environmental
conditions ; availability of substrate and nutrients.
18
Bacterial Growth
Bacterial growth pattern in batch reactor

19
Bacterial Growth
Biomass Yield
Ratio of the amount of biomass produced to the amount of substrate
consumed:


OR
Since wastewater contains a large number of organic compounds, the yield is expressed in terms of measurable parameters such as COD
or BOD. Thus the yield would be:
consumed) (i.e., utilized substrate g
produced biomass g
yield Biomass = Y
BOD g or COD g
biomass g
yield Biomass = Y
20
Bacterial Growth
Estimating biomass yield and oxygen requirements
A stoichiometric relationship exists between the substrate removal, the amount of oxygen consumed, and the
observed biomass yield. Assuming organic matter can be represented as C
6
H
12
O
6
(glucose), the following equation
(7-3) can be written:
The yield based on the glucose consumed cab be obtained as follows:

O 14H 8CO NO H 2C 2NH 8O O H 3C
2 2 2 7 5 3
8(32)
2
3(180)
6 12 6
+ + + +
) 113 ( 2 ) 17 ( 2
used glucose cells/g g
g/mole) 3(180
g/mole)
O H C
) NO H (C
6 12 6
2 7 5
42 . 0
113 ( 2
) (
= =
A
A
= Y
21
Bacterial Growth
Estimating biomass yield and oxygen requirements
To express the yield in COD bases, the COD of glucose must be determined:


The theoretical yield expressed in terms of COD is given by:
O 6H 6CO 6O O H C
2 2
6(32)
2
(180)
6 12 6
+ +
used COD g / cells g 0.39
glucose) 07gCOD/g g/mole)(1. 3(180
g/mole)
COD as O H C
) NO H (C
6 12 6
2 7 5
=
=
A
A
=
113 ( 2
) (
Y
glucose /g O g 1.07
g/mole) (180
g/mole) 6(32
) O H (C
) (O
COD
2
6 12 6
2
= =
A
A
=
22
Bacterial Growth
Estimating biomass yield and oxygen requirement
The amount of oxygen required can be obtained based on the stoichiometry as defined by equation (7-3) in which
8 moles of oxygen are required for 3 moles of glucose.




used COD /g O g 0.44
glucose) COD/g g 07 g/mole)(1. 3(180
/mole) O g 8(32
COD as Glucose
used Oxygen
2
2
=
=
O 14H 8CO NO H 2C 2NH 8O O H 3C
2 2 2 7 5 3
8(32)
2
3(180)
6 12 6
+ + + +
) 113 ( 2 ) 17 ( 2
23
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Microbial growth kinetic terminology
bCOD: biodegradable COD since wastewater contains numerous substrates, the concentration of organic
compounds is defined by biodegradable COD. bCOD comprise soluble, colloidal, and particulate components.
bsCOD: biodegradable soluble COD.
TSS (total suspended solids) and VSS (volatile suspended solids): represents
the biomass solids in the bioreactor.
MLSS (mixed liquor suspended solids) and MLVSS (mixed liquor volatile
suspended solids): the mixture of solids resulting from combining recycled
sludge with influent wastewater in the bioreactor.
nbVSS: non-biodegradable volatile suspended solids
iTSS: inert inorganic total suspended solids


24
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Rate of utilization of soluble substrate
The substrate utilization rate in biological system can be modeled with the
following expression:


Where; r
su
= rate of substrate change due to utilization, g/m
3
d
k = max. specific substrate utilization rate, g sub/g micro d
X = biomass (microorganisms) concentration
S = growth limiting substrate concentration, g/m
3


S K
kXS
r
s
su
+
=
25
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Rate of utilization of soluble substrate
26
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Rate of utilization of soluble substrate
The maximum growth rate of bacteria is related to the maximum specific
substrate utilization rate as follows:



Where;
m
= max. bacteria growth rate, g new cells/g cellsd



Y
k
and
kY
m
m

=
=
) ( S K Y
XS
r
s
m
su
+
=

S K
kXS
r
s
su
+
=
27
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Rate of biomass growth with soluble substrate
The relationship between cell growth rate and substrate utilization rate is given by: (not all subs. is
converted to cells)

But bacteria experience loss in growth rate due to decay and predation, this is termed endogenous
decay:

Therefore;



If both sides of Eq. (7-22) are divided by the biomass concentration X, the specific growth rate is defined as:


su g
Yr r =
X k r
d d
=
X k
S K
kXS
Y
X k Yr r
d
s
d su g

+
=
=
28
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Rate of biomass growth with soluble substrate


Where;
= specific biomass growth rate, g VSS/g VSS d

d
s
g
k
S K
kS
Y
X
r

+
= =
29
Microbial Growth Kinetics
Kinetic Coefficients, Oxygen Uptake and Temperature
Typical kinetic coefficients are given in T7-9.
The rate of oxygen uptake is given by:





Effects of temperature on reaction rate:

u varies from 1.02 to 1.25 in biological systems

24) - (7 eq 42 . 1
g su o
r r r =
k k
T
T
) 20 (
20

= u
cells g gO
NO H C
(O
COD
O 2H NH 5CO 5O NO H C
2
2 7 5
2
2 3 2
5(32)
2
(113)
2 7 5
/ 42 . 1
) 113 (
) 32 ( 5
) (
)
= =
A
A
=
+ + +