Biological wastewater

treatment

Overview of Wastewater Engineering

 Wastewater
 The liquid waste (wastewater) that is the water supply of the community
after it has been used in a variety of application

 Can be classified as (based on source)

Domestic: water used for normal activity in homes, businesses and
institutions. Domestic wastewater is readily treatable.
Industrial: The character of industrical wastewater depends on the type
of industry using the water. Some industrial wastewaters can be treated
the same as domestic wastes without difficulty. Others may contain
toxic substances or high percentages of organic materials or solids
which make treatment difficult. In such cases, the industrial plant may
have to pretreat its wastewater to remove these pollutants or reduce
them to treatable levels before they are accepted into a general
treatment facility.
Storm: usually low in pollutants. Great amounts of storm water can
interfere with treatment efficiency in two ways: Storm water may cause
too much dilution of the wastewater. At the same time, it may cause
hydraulic overloading of the plant. In most cases, wastewater systems
now call for separate storm sewers.
 Other classification
 市鎮污水 ( 生活污水 )
 工業廢水
 畜牧廢水
 農業廢水
 垃圾滲出水
 台南縣河川各項污染源所佔比例
名　稱 市鎮污水 工業廢水 畜牧廢水
(%) (%) (%)
八掌溪 59 14 27
急水溪 37 33 30
將軍溪 19 20 61
曾文溪 35 17 48
鹽水溪 42 42 16
二仁溪 22 39 39
Source ：台南縣水污染防治實施方案，康城顧問公司規劃報告
Wastewater Characteristics

What
Why
How
 What?
 Wastewater characteristics

General classes of wastewater

constituents such as physical, chemical,
biological
 Why
 An understanding of the nature of
wastewater is essential in the design
and operation of collection,
treatment, and reuse facilities, and in
the engineering management of
environmental quality.
 How
 Proper sampling and analytical
techniques are of fundamental
importance in the characterization of
wastewater
 Wastewater characteristics

Pollution indicators 污染指標

 Chemical ： pH 、生化需氧量 (BOD) 、化學需氧量

(COD) 、氮 (N) 、磷 (P) 、懸浮固體物 (SS) 、溶氧

(DO) 、重金屬、農藥

 Physical ：溫度、濁度 (Turbidity) 、色度 (Color) 、

臭度 (Odor)

 Biological ：大腸菌數 (Coliform) 、病原體

(Pathogen)
Wastewater characteristics
1. ORGANIC MATTER
– Sugars, proteins, lipids;
– Toilet wastes, cleaning, food wastes,…
COD – Chemical Oxygen Demand (mg O2/l)
 A measure of the oxygen-consuming capacity of
organic matter present in wastewater.
 COD is expressed as the amount of oxygen consumed
from a chemical oxidant (K2Cr2O7 ) in mg/L during a
specific test.
BOD – Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg O2/l)
 The quantity of oxygen (O ) that microorganism use
2
per litre water, during a continuous period of 5 days, at
20°C. The rate at which organisms use the oxygen in
wastewater while stabilising decomposable organic
matter under aerobic conditions.

 Domestic wastewater: BOD/COD = 0.4; Dairy wastewater: BOD/COD

= 0.6 – 0.7
If
BOD5/COD > 0.6 ，則易為生物分解 (biodegradable) 之
廢水
BOD5/COD < 0.2 ，則為難生物分解 (non-
biodegradable, recalcitrant) 之廢水
BOD5/COD ≒ 0 ，則為有毒性之廢水

In general,
COD/TOC ≒ 3 ~ 4
BOD5/TOC ≒ 1.35 ~2.62 ，且在處理後值會下降
Wastewater characteristics
2. NITROGEN (N)
– Organic nitrogen: proteins, amino acids, urea,
…;
– Ammonia nitrogen (NH3, NH4+);
– Nitrate- (NO3-), nitrite nitrogen (NO2-);
– Nitrogen gas (N2).

Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN)

Nitrogen in the form of organic proteins or their
decomposition product ammonia, as measured by the
kjeldahl Method.
Wastewater characteristics
3 PHOSPHORUS (P)
– Organic phosphorus: foodstuff, toilet wastes,
animal wastes…;
– Orthophosphate (PO4-P): fertilizer;
– Polyphosphate: detergents.

Eutrophication
Natural process in which surface waters receive
inputs of nitrates and phosphates resulting in
overnourishment of aquatic ecosystems.
-> Algae bloom, anaerobic surface water
Wastewater characteristics
4. Solids
 Wastewater contains a variety of solids varying
from rag to colloidal material
 Imhoff cone test for settleable solids

 60% of suspended solids in

municipal wastewater are settleable.
0.45~2 μm
 TSS is a lumped parameter.
However, TSS and BOD are the two
universally used effluent standards
to evaluate the performance of
treatment plants for regulatory
control purposes.
 Priority pollutants （優先列管物
質）
 The priority pollutants are a subset of "toxic
pollutants" as defined in the Clean Water Act
(USA) .
 It refers to a list of 129 specific pollutants that
includes heavy metals and specific organic
chemicals.
 These 126 pollutants were assigned a high priority
for development of water quality criteria and
effluent limitation guidelines because they are
frequently found in wastewater.
 Priority pollutants （優先列管物
質）
 Heavy Metals (Total and Dissolved): occur only at
trace levels in water, but are very toxic and tend to
accumulate; As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Zn
 Pesticides: DDT, Aldrin, Chlordane, Endosulfan,
Endrin, Heptachlor, and Diazinon
 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs): a family
of semi-volatile organic pollutants; two main sources :
spilled or released petroleum products and combustion
products that are found in urban runoff.
 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): widespread use in
electrical transformers and hydraulic equipment
 Secondary treatment are generally
concerned with the removal of
Biodegradable organics
Total suspended solids
Pathogens

More stringent: removal of nutrients,

heavy
metals, and priority pollutants
 Analytical Methods

 Qaulitative: biological, physical

determination

 Quantitative: chemical
determination; precise
Quantitative analysis
 Gravimetric 重量分析 : mass
 Volumetric 容量分析 : volume
 Physicochemical 物化分析
 Turbiditimetry 濁度測定法
 Colorimetry 色度測定法
 Potentiometry 電勢測定法 ; 電位測定法
Instrument
 Absorption spectrometry 吸收光譜學 al methods
 Fluorometry 螢光測定法
 Spectroscopy 光譜學
 Nuclear radiation 核輻射
Standard Methods

by APHA
AWWA
WEF
 環保署 環境檢驗所 檢測方法
http://www.niea.gov.tw/
 Units of
measurement
Biological characteristics
By ASM