Reducing Energy Footprint of a Waste Water Treatment Plant by Increasing Harvesting Efficiency of Solids following Primary Clarification

Details

Event TechConnect
National Harbor, MD USA. Date of Talk: 6/15/2014

Speakers

Armin R. Volkel
Cory D Lancaster
Kole, Ashutosh
Mark J Stephenson
Event

Reducing Energy Footprint of a Waste Water Treatment Plant by Increasing Harvesting Efficiency of Solids following Primary Clarification

This paper describes a novel hydrodynamic separation (HDS) technology that has the potential to reduce the energy footprint of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) by reducing the energy required for aeration and by increasing biogas production to offset plant energy demand. These goals are achieved by harvesting from primary effluent those organic solids, which are nearly neutrally buoyant and do not sediment out, before they enter the secondary treatment step. Biodegradable solids not removed in primary treatment translate into greater oxygen demand in the downstream biological processes. In addition, organic solids harvested in primary treatment have higher energy content than the biomass in the waste activated sludge. Therefore, improved primary treatment performance can yield energy benefits not only from the increased mass of organic solids for biogas production but also from reduced oxygen demand (aeration) in secondary treatment.

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