Intermittent Ozonation to Reduce Excess Biological Sludge in SBR

• Main Authors: Afshin Takdastan, Aliakbar Azimi, Ali Torabian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Water and Wastewater Consulting Engineers Research Development 2009-09-01
• Series: آب و فاضلاب
• Subjects: Sequencing Batch Reactor; Biological Sludge; Oxidation of Sludge; Yield Coefficient; Ozon
• Online Access: http://www.wwjournal.ir/article_1670_aed88e01521787d9d1e21fb919d5b201.pdf

A combination of ozonation and an aerobic biological process such as the activated sludge has been recently developed as an alternative solution for sludge reduction with the objective of minimizing the excess biological sludge production. In this study, two SBR reactors each with a capacity of 20 liters and controlled by an on-line system are used. Once the steady state conditions were set in the reactors, sampling and testing of such parameters as COD, MLSS, MLVSS, DO, SOUR, SVI, residual ozone, and Y coefficient were performed over the 8 months of research. Results showed that during the solid retention time of 10 days, the kinetic coefficients of Y and Kd were 0.58 mg biomass/mg COD and 0.058 1/day, respectively. In the next stage of the study, different concentrations of ozone in the reactor were intermittently used to reduce the excess biological sludge production. The results showed that 22 mg of ozone per 1 gram of MLSS in the reactor was able to reduce the yield coefficient Y from 0.58 to 0.23 mg Biomass/mg COD. In other words, the excess biological sludge reduced by 60% but the soluble COD increased slightly in the effluent and the removal percentage decreased from 92 in the blank reactor to 76 in the test reactor. While the amount of SVI and SOUR for this level of ozone concentration reached 6 mgO2/h.gVSS and 27 ml/g, respectively. No excess sludge was observed in the reactor for an ozone concentration of 27 mg per 1 gram of MLSS.