Evaluation of aeration energy saving in two modified activated sludge processes

Enhancement of biological nutrient removal process with advanced process control tools in full-scale wastewater treatment plant

One of the major challenges in existing WasteWater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) is to comply with the increasingly stringent nutrient discharge limits established by the competent authorities to enhance environmental protection, while keeping operation costs as low as possible. This paper describes the results obtained from upgrading a full-scale WWTP during seven years (2013-2020) applying five different Advanced Process Control (APC) strategies. Results show that implementation of APC and the development of ammonia-based aeration control, aeration/non-aeration cycles, improved internal/external recirculation and chemical dosage controls resulted in an improvement in nutrients removal rates (+25.48% and +9.25%, for nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively) and in a reduction (-21.79%) of the specific energy ratio. In addition, the promotion of an Enhanced Biological Phosphorous Removal (EBPR) process by APC resulted in an improvement in biological phosphorous removal (+43.90%), chemical savings (-20.00%) and nutrient recovery in the dewatered sludge. Molecular biology tools and laboratory batch tests confirmed the Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms (PAOs) activity, specifically Tetrasphaera genera. Finally, an economic analysis was conducted, showing a rate of return for the incurred capital expenses with the implemented APC systems of about five years, being an affordable alternative to the upgrading existing WWTPs.

Application and Evaluation of Energy Conservation Technologies in Wastewater Treatment Plants

High energy consumption is an important issue affecting the operation and development of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This paper seeks energy-saving opportunities from three aspects: energy application, process optimization, and performance evaluation. Moreover, effective energy-saving can be achieved from the perspective of energy supply and recovery by using green energy technologies, including wastewater and sludge energy recovery technologies. System optimization and control is used to reduce unnecessary energy consumption in operation. Reasonable indexes and methods can help researchers evaluate the application value of energy-saving technology. Some demonstration WWTPs even can achieve energy self-sufficiency by using these energy conservation technologies. Besides, this paper introduces the challenges faced by the wastewater treatment industry and some emerging energy-saving technologies. The work can give engineers some suggestions about reducing energy consumption from comprehensive perspectives.

Unraveling characteristics of nutrient removal and microbial community in a novel aerated landscape - Activated sludge ecological system

In this study, a novel landscape-activated sludge ecological system (LASeM) was constructed with the advantages of promising treatment, less land need and significant landscape services. Compared to literature, this study provided promising integrated wastewater treatment and landscape for wastewater treatment. This first-attempt study clearly deciphered interactive effect of aeration rate (AR) on nutrient removal and microbial community structure in LASeM. When AR was 0.016m(3)h(-1), the most appropriate removal of COD, NH4(+)-N and TP were 96%, 97% and 74% with the effluent of 14.3, 1.7 and 0.7mgL(-1), respectively, which showed satisfactory capabilities for rural domestic wastewater treatment. According to clone library analysis, Proteobacteria (71%), Bacteroidetes (17%) were found to be the dominant bacterial phylums present in LASeM for biodegradation. In particular, the incorporation of plants altered the microbial community and strengthened capability for the nutrients removal likely due to synergistic interactions among species in the ecosystem.