411-407 Biochemical and Environmental Engineering 3

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Objectives:

Students successfully completing this unit will:

• understand the nature of waste streams and the principles underlying their treatment;

• be familiar with the important processes commonly in use to treat industrial, domestic and agricultural wastes;

• be able to use rational design models in the process design of activated sludge and other treatment systems;

• have practical experience in the operation of a bench-scale activated sludge unit and the common assay procedures used to quantify its performance.

Content:

Objectives of waste treatment. Characteristics of wastes. Primary, secondary and tertiary treatment. Waste assay procedures: BOD, NOD, COD, TOC, TSS, VSS, NVSS. Physical and chemical treatment processes. Sedimentation and flotation clarifiers. Biological waste treatment: role of various microbial groups. Anaerobic, facultative, aerobic and aerated lagoons - microbial and physical factors affecting the design. Design of oxygen transfer equipment for aerated lagoons. Activated sludge: microbiological aspects. Sludge volume index. F/M ratio. Process variations. Design of a conventional plant using Eckenfelder approach. Experimental determination of kinetic and yield parameters. Calculation of sludge recycle ratio. Biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal. Design of trickling filters. Other suspended and adherent growth processes. Anaerobic treatment processes. Microbiological and physiochemical factors affecting design of anaerobic systems. Land treatment processes. Practical work - activated sludge.

Assessment: