Small wastewater treatment plants - a challenge to wastewater engineers

1997 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Boller
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Sand Filters ◽  
Small Areas ◽  
Skilled Personnel ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Construction Operation

Three conferences on “Small Wastewater Treatment Plants” organized by the IAWQ Specialist Group demonstrate worldwide interest and activities in this matter and the need to exchange experience concerning planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and control of small treatment plants. In near future, the number of small treatment works will increase tremendously and will be accompanied by a strong demand for information on appropriate procedures and technologies. Pollution problems caused by small wastewater flows are usually restricted to small areas, however, in view of the high per capita costs, treatment requirements and alternatives have to be studied carefully. In comparison to larger plants, more pronounced and different boundary conditions such as load fluctuations, operation and maintenance problems, per capita costs, and a large variety of feasible treatment and disposal systems ask for experienced engineers with a broad and sound knowledge in rural water quality management. The technical alternatives reaching from mechanical and simple biological low rate systems such as ponds, sand filters and reed beds to complex high rate suspended and fixed biomass reactors have to be evaluated regarding plant size, operation safety, reliability, demand for skilled personnel, investment and operation costs. In this respect, water engineers are increasingly challenged, not only to deal with a broad range of present and future treatment technologies, but also to integrate economical and social aspects into their evaluations.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATION COSTS

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Balmér ◽  
Bengt Mattsson
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Operation Costs ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
Per Capita

Operation and maintenance costs have been compiled for 20 wastewater treatment plants in the range of 7 000 to 650 000 population equivalents. Great effort has been made to exclude the effects of local conditions on the costs. Data on energy and chemical consumption and manpower are given as well as the total operating costs and the distribution of manpower, energy, chemical and other costs. The results show that costs for manpower and electricity as well as total costs on a per capita basis decrease with increasing plant size. The variation between individual plants is, however, large even when differences in local conditions are accounted for.

PARAMETERS FOR DYNAMIC SIMULATION OF W ASTEW ATER TREATMENT PLANTS WITH HIGH-RATE AND LOW-RATE ACTIVATED SLUDGE TANKS

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Brands ◽  
M. Liebeskind ◽  
M. Dohmann
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Dynamic Simulation ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Yield Coefficient ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Low Rate

This study shows a comparison of important parameters for dynamic simulation concerning the highrate and low-rate activated sludge tanks of several municipal wastewater treatment plants. The parameters for the dynamic simulation of the single-stage process are quite well known, but parameters for the high-ratellow-rate activated sludge process are still missi ng, although a considerable number of wastewater treatment plants are designed and operated that way. At present any attempt to simulate their operation is restricted to the second stage due to missing data concerning growth rate, decay rate, yield coefficient and others.

Compact high-rate treatment of wastewater

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
H. Ødegaard ◽  
Z. Liao ◽  
E. Melin ◽  
H. Helness
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Treatment Process ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Primary Treatment ◽  
Biofilm Reactor ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Process ◽  
Direct Filtration ◽  
Colloidal Matter

Many cities need to build compact wastewater treatment plants because of lack of land. This paper discusses compact treatment methods. An enhanced primary treatment process based on coarse media filtration is analysed. A high-rate secondary wastewater treatment process has specifically been investigated, consisting of a highly loaded moving bed biofilm reactor directly followed by a coagulation and floc separation step. The objective with this high-rate process is to meet secondary treatment effluent standards at a minimum use of chemicals, minimum sludge production and minimum footprint. It is demonstrated that the biofilm in the bioreactor mainly deals with the soluble organic matter while coagulation deals with the colloidal matter. The bioreactor may, therefore, be designed based on the soluble COD loading only, resulting in a very compact plant when a compact biomass/floc separation reactor (i.e. flotation or direct filtration) is used. The paper reports specifically on the coagulant choice in flotation and filter run time in direct filtration.

Tertiary filtration in small wastewater treatment plants

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 219-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Naddeo ◽  
V. Belgiorno
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Particle Size Distribution ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Rotating Disk ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Particle Removal ◽  
Sand Filters ◽  
Filter Performance

Tertiary filtration can be proposed in small wastewater treatment plants with impact on protected water bodies. Rotating disk filters may be adopted, in respect to conventional sand filters, when low availability of space and low investment costs are the prevailing conditions. The overall objective of this research was to evaluate the filtration efficiency of rotating disk filters; to compare effectiveness with traditional sand filters; to analyse thoroughly the importance of particle size distribution in wastewater tertiary filtration. In the experimental activity, conventional wastewater quality parameters were investigated and particle size distribution (PSD) was characterized to discuss the filter effectiveness. The effect of design and operation parameters of tertiary filters were discussed related to particle removal curves derived from particles counts. Analysis of particle size distribution can be very useful to help comprehension of filtration processes, design of filtration treatments and to decide the best measures to improve filter performance.

scholarly journals Detection of Helminth Ova in Wastewater Using Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Coupled to Lateral Flow Strips

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 691
Author(s):  
Vivek B. Ravindran ◽  
Basma Khallaf ◽  
Aravind Surapaneni ◽  
Nicholas D. Crosbie ◽  
Sarvesh K. Soni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Lateral Flow ◽  
Recombinase Polymerase Amplification ◽  
Detection Methods ◽  
Water Current ◽  
Recycled Water ◽  
Lateral Flow Strip ◽  
Skilled Personnel

Ascaris lumbricoides is a major soil-transmitted helminth that is highly infective to humans. The ova of A. lumbricoides are able to survive wastewater treatment, thus making it an indicator organism for effective water treatment and sanitation. Hence, Ascaris ova must be removed from wastewater matrices for the safe use of recycled water. Current microscopic techniques for identification and enumeration of Ascaris ova are laborious and cumbersome. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based techniques are sensitive and specific, however, major constraints lie in having to transport samples to a centralised laboratory, the requirement for sophisticated instrumentation and skilled personnel. To address this issue, a rapid, highly specific, sensitive, and affordable method for the detection of helminth ova was developed utilising recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) coupled with lateral flow (LF) strips. In this study, Ascaris suum ova were used to demonstrate the potential use of the RPA-LF assay. The method was faster (< 30 min) with optimal temperature at 37 °C and greater sensitivity than PCR-based approaches with detection as low as 2 femtograms of DNA. Furthermore, ova from two different helminth genera were able to be detected as a multiplex assay using a single lateral flow strip, which could significantly reduce the time and the cost of helminth identification. The RPA-LF system represents an accurate, rapid, and cost-effective technology that could replace the existing detection methods, which are technically challenged and not ideal for on-site detection in wastewater treatment plants.

Anaerobic co-digestion of sludge with other organic wastes in small wastewater treatment plants: an economic considerations evaluation

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (10) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Pavan ◽  
D. Bolzonella ◽  
E. Battistoni ◽  
F. Cecchi
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Biogas Production ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Anaerobic Reactors ◽  
Green Certificates ◽  
Economic Considerations ◽  
Economic Comparison

This paper deals with an economic comparison between costs and incomes in small wastewater treatment plants where the anaerobic co-digestion process of sludge and biowaste with energy recovery is operated. Plants in the size range 1,000–30,000 persons equivalent (pe) were considered in the study: typical costs, comprehensive of capital and operating costs, were in the range €69–105 per person per year depending on the plant size: the smaller the size the higher the specific cost. The incomes deriving from taxes and fees for wastewater treatment are generally in the range €36–54 per person per year and can only partially cover costs in small wastewater treatment plants. However, the co-treatment of biowaste and the use of produced energy for extra credits (green certificates) determine a clear improvement in the possible revenues from the plant. These were calculated to be €23–25 per person per year; as a consequence the costs and incomes can be considered comparable for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with size larger than 10,000 pe. Therefore, anaerobic co-digestion of biowaste and sludge can also be considered a sustainable solution for small wastewater treatment plants in rural areas where several different kinds of biowaste are available to enhance biogas production in anaerobic reactors.

The cost of municipal sewage treatment – structure, origin, minimization – methods of fair cost comparison and allocation

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (9) ◽  
pp. 289-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Bode ◽  
T. Grünebaum
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Water Quality Management ◽  
Sewage Treatment ◽  
Cost Comparison ◽  
Municipal Sewage ◽  
Wastewater Management ◽  
Management Association ◽  
Major Factors

Cost comparison in the field of wastewater treatment is a difficult task, particularly concerning sewages charges in different countries. German wastewater management is, for one thing, known to be very efficient, yet, for another, comparatively costly on an international scale. In this context, the marginal conditions typically prevailing in the field of sewage treatment in Germany should be mentioned: dense population and industrialization with high export-oriented production rates, high-profile purification requirements enforced by law. To establish a valid cost comparison, it is necessary to include both the investment and the operating expenses within the scope of the overall annual costs. The major factors impacting the different cost types are represented. Only if these factors are taken into account and quantified, will cost comparison be fair and lead to useful results. Ten hints for cost minimization are given to serve as a guideline for successful and responsable cost reduction. Cost transparency is the prerequisite for the possibility to develop saving potentials while simultaneously securing the social and political acceptance of the charges levied, and to compare the different plants with one another. Experience from Ruhrverband, a water management association for an entire catchment area, being responsible for planning, building and operation of 94 wastewater treatment plants and other plants for water quantity and water quality management, is reported.

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