Kerry J Howe; David W Hand; John C Crittenden; R Rhodes Trussell; George Tchobanoglous

1.
George Tchobanoglous Principles of Water Treatment

Wastewater engineering: treatment and reuse [4 ed.]

0071122508, 9780071122504

Wastewater Engineering Treatment and Reuse SOLUTIONS MANUAL [5th Intern. ed.]

1259010791, 9781259010798

2.1 Dissolved Oxygen (DO)

All gases of the atmosphere are soluble in water to some degree. Oxygen is classified as
poorly soluble, and its solubility is affected both by atmospheric pressure, and physical and
chemical properties of water such as temperature, salinity, pollutants, etc.

The solubility of atmospheric oxygen in fresh waters ranges from 14.6 mg/L at 0 o C to about
7mg/L at 35o C under 1 atm. of pressure. Most of the critical conditions related to dissolved-
oxygen deficiency, both in natural waters and biological wastewater treatment, occur during
the warmer months when temperatures are high and solubility of oxygen is at a minimum.
The low solubility of oxygen is a major factor limiting the purification capacity of natural
waters. In aerobic biological treatment processes, the limited solubility of oxygen is also of
great importance, because it governs the rate at which oxygen will be absorbed by the
medium and therefore the cost of aeration. Hence, DO analysis is a key test both in natural
waters and water pollution control practice.

2.2 Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) is defined as the amount of oxygen required by bacteria
while stabilizing decomposable organic matter under aerobic conditions. The

BOD test is widely used to determine the pollutional strength of domestic and industrial
wastewaters in terms of the oxygen that they will require if discharged into natural
watercourses in which aerobic conditions exist. The test is one of the most important both
in regulatory work and in studies designed to evaluate the purification capacity of receiving
water bodies. Its disadvantage is the long time required by the test, generally taking 5 days.

2.3 Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is another parameter used widely to measure the
pollutional strength of domestic and industrial wastewaters. COD is defined as the amount
of oxygen required to oxidize organic matter chemically. Potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) is
generally chosen for this purpose due to its strong chemical oxidizing capability. Almost all
organic compounds (except for ammonia, aromatic hydrocarbons, pyridine and their related
compounds) can be oxidized by dichromate under heated acidic and AgSO 4-catalysed
conditions, equivalent to 95 – 100% of the theoretical values.

One of the main limitations of the COD test is its inability to differentiate between
biologically oxidizable and biologically inert organic matter. Nor can it provide any evidence
of the biological decomposition rate that precedes either in natural or man-made conditions.
The major advantage of COD test is the short time required for evaluation. The
determination can be made in about 3 hr rather than the usual 5 days required for the
measurement of BOD.

2.4 Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

TOC measures the organic carbon concentration in the water and wastewater. The test can
be performed very rapidly (only several minutes) and conveniently (by TOC instrument) and
is becoming more popular. For a given wastewater, if a repeatable empirical relationship is
established between its TOC and BOD or COD, then measurements in TOC can be used to
estimate the accompanying BOD or COD. However, this relationship must be established
independently for each set of conditions, such as at various points in a treatment process.

The BOD test is a biochemical test involving the use of microorganisms. The COD test is a
chemical test. The TOC and TOD tests are instrumental tests

The solution to this problem involves a mixing basin calculation, determination of BOD
decay with distance downstream, and conversion among the various measurements of
BOD.� First, examine a schematic of the stream,
 
Flow in the mixing basin is given as the sum of the river and waste flows,
 

The mixing basin calculation for DO is,

 

A similar calculation is performed for NBOD, using the ThNOD value for the waste as
calculated in Problem #1 (NBOD = ThNOD) and the NBOD of the river upstream of the
waste input, as calculated from the specified upstream NH 3-N concentration,
 

 
 
 
to perform the mixing basin calculation,
 

 
he ultimate CBOD of the waste (229 mgAL-1) was determined in Problem #2 and the
ultimate CBOD of the river (2 mgAL-1) is given.� The mixing basin CBOD is,
 
 

 
The ultimate CBOD and NBOD downstream can be calculated as a simple exponential
decay,
 

 
where t = time of travel downstream calculated as,
 

The ultimate CBOD remaining at 18km is,

 
 

which corresponds to a 5-day CBOD of,

 

 
The NBOD remaining at 18km is,
 

 
and the corresponding NH3-N is,
 

 
4. The first step in calculating the critical distance and the deficit at that point is to
determine the initial deficit,
 

 
inserting the measured calculated mixing basin DO (5.7 mgAL-1) from Problem #2 and the
value for
for DOsat specified in the problem statement (10 mgAL-1),
 

 
Then utilizing the equation for the critical distance,
 

 
with specified values for k1 = 0.1, k2 = 0.3 and with the mixing basin L 0 as determined in
Problem #2 (27.2 mgAL-1),
 

 
the corresponding distance is calculated from a knowledge of the river velocity,
 

 
The deficit at this location can be calculated from,
 

 
with all inputs as described above,
 

 
 
 
 
 
and the corresponding oxygen concentration is given by,
 

 
which for the specified DOsat and the calculated D, yields,
 

 
 
5. The steady state phosphorus concentration is given by:
 
 

CBOD vs NBOD
•The biological oxygen demand is made up of two parts, the carbonaceous oxygen
demand (CBOD) and the nitrogenous oxygen demand
• Like carbon nitrogen is a critical element required for protein synthesis and hence
essential for life
•When living things die or excrete waste products, nitrogen that was tied to organic
molecules is converted to ammonia by bacteria and fungi
• In aerobic environments, nitrite bacteria (Nitrosomonas) convert ammonia to nitrite
(NO2-) and nitrate bacteria (Nitrobacter) convert nitrite to nitrate (NO3-)
•2NH3+ 3 O22NO2-+ 2H++ 2H2O•2NO2-+ O22NO3-

•The conversion of ammonia to nitrate requires oxygen

•The oxygen needed to oxidize organic carbon to carbon dioxide is called the CBOD
while the oxygen needed to convert ammonia to nitrate is called NBOD
Types of waste water
• Grey water: Water from bath, shower, washing machine, bathroom sink and
dishwasher -> reuse for toilet, irrigation or cleaning
• Black water: water flushed from toilets, water flushed from urinals
• Industrial waste water: -Water from processes- > reuse for irrigation or cleaning
Wastewater treatment 1. Pre-treatment and segregation
•Prior to any treatment, it is necessary to operate a pre-treatment facility consisting of
screening coarse particles and removing mineral oil and grease through oil and grease
traps.
2. Lagooning system
•The lagooning system is based on a symbiotic exchange of bacteria and algae. It is the
most simple and cheapest treatment system when land is available. The double-
lagooning system (anaerobic pond followed by aerobic pond) is recommended.
Normally a single lagoon is dimensioned to obtain 70% of efficiency (% of pollution
load removed). The efficiency of a well managed double-lagooning system reaches
90%.
 a. Aerobic fermentation for heavy pollution load•In this system, micro-organism
convert the organic pollution into carbon dioxide and new biological cells
(biological sludge). Aerobic effluent treatment can achieve high efficiency (up to
99%), however, the operating costs and energy consumption are relatively high. It
is estimated that for each COD removed at least 1 kWh of electrical energy will
be consumed.
b. •Associated sludge production is estimated at 0.3 to 0.5 kg per kg of COD
removed. Sludge disposal can be a major secondary problem for milling and
bakery factories located in the vicinity of towns. Usually, these sludges are
spread on land for fertilization purposes

 Purpose of chemical analysis

o To know state of decomposition of sewage

o To identify existence of any toxic substance

o To know efficiency of treatment operation

o To know burden imposed on system

The main advantages of the BOD test are related to the fact that the test allows:

• An approximate indication of the biodegradable fraction of the wastewater;

• An indication of the degradation rate of the wastewater; Wastewater characteristics,

treatment and disposal

• An indication of the oxygen consumption rate as a function of time;

• An approximate determination of the quantity of oxygen required for the biochemical

stabilisation of the organic matter present.

However, the following imitations may be mentioned (Marais & Ekama,1976):

• Low levels of BOD5 can be found in the case that the microorganisms responsible for the
decomposition are not adapted to the waste;
• Heavy metals and other toxic substances can kill or inhibit the microorganisms;

• The inhibition of the organisms responsible for the oxidation of ammonia is necessary, to
avoid the interference of the oxygen consumption for nitrification (nitrogenous demand) with
the carbonaceous demand;

• The ratio of BODu/BOD5 varies with the wastewater;

• The ratio of BODu/BOD5 varies, for the same wastewater, along the WWTP treatment line;

• The test takes five days, being not useful for operational control of a WWTP.

Despite of the limitations above, the BOD test continues to be extensively used, partly for
historical reasons and partly because of the following points:

• The design criteria for many wastewater treatment processes are frequently expressed in
terms of BOD;

• The legislation for effluent discharge in many countries, and the evaluation of the
compliance with the discharge standards, is normally based on BOD
NBOD
Nitrogeneous BOD (NBOD)
− +
NH 3 +1 . 5O2⃗
Nitrosomonas NO 2 + H 2 O+ H

1
NO−2 + O 2⃗ −
Nitrobacter NO 3
2
2 moles oxygen/1 mole of ammonia

4.57 grams oxygen/gram ammonia-nitrogen

Like CBOD, the NBOD can be modeled as a simple 1st order decay:

dLN
=−k N L N
dt
COD: A chemical test
The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a waste is measured in terms of the amount of
potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) reduced by the sample during 2 hr of reflux in a medium of
boiling, 50% H2SO4 and in the presence of a Ag2SO4 catalyst.

The stoichiometry of the reaction between dichromate and organic matter is:

a
C n H a O b + Ψ Cr 2 O−2 +
7 +8 ΨH →nCO 2 +2 Ψ Cr
=3
(
+ 4Ψ + )H O
2 2

Where:

 COD test is faster than BOD analysis: 2 n a forb quick assessment of wastewater
Y = used
+ −
strength and treatment performance
3 6 3

 Like the BOD, it does not measure oxidant demand due to nitrogeneous species

 It does not distinguish between biodegradable and non-biodegradable organic matter.

As a result COD's are always higher than BOD's.

 TOC: total organic carbon

• measured with a TOC analyzer

• related to oxygen demand, but does not reflect the oxidation state of the
organic matter

 other group parameters

• oil & grease

 specific organic compounds

Oxygen Demand
It is a measure of the amount of “reduced” organic matter in a
water

 Relates to oxygen consumption in a river or lake as a result of a pollution discharge

 Measured in several ways

 BOD - Biochemical Oxygen Demand

 COD - Chemical Oxygen Demand

 ThOD - Theoretical Oxygen Demand

BOD: A Bioassay

 Briefly, the BOD test employs a bacterial seed to catalyze the oxidation of 300 mL of
full-strength or diluted wastewater. The strength of the un-diluted wastewater is
then determined from the dilution factor and the difference between the initial D.O.
and the final D.O.

BOD t ≡DOi −DO f

BOD with dilution
When BOD > 8mg/L
DO i - DO f
BOD t =
 Vs 
 
Where  Vb 
BODt = biochemical oxygen demand at t days, [mg/L]

DOi = initial dissolved oxygen in the sample bottle, [mg/L]

DOf = final dissolved oxygen in the sample bottle, [mg/L]

Vb = sample bottle volume, usually 300 or 250 mL, [mL]

Vs = sample volume, [mL]

BOD - Oxygen Consumption

y
NBOD
or

BODL=oxidizable carbonaceous material remaining to be oxidized

CBOD
(mg/L)
BOD t ≡ y t =Lo −Lt
BOD - loss of biodegradable organic matter (oxygen demand)

Time
 BOD
Modeling

Temperature Effects