Academic literature on the topic 'Biosolid generation rate'

The anaerobic process for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater has been in practice for over a century. Apart from treatment of wastewater, the process has the advantage of lower sludge and biogas production that can save energy. Application of this process in a primary clarifier in such a way that there is simultaneous digestion of primary settled sludge and organic removal from wastewater can be more advantageous in an aerobic treatment plant. The paper discusses the performance of such a primary claridigester at ambient temperature. With a single hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4.5 h, the organic (chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)) removal efficiency was 36.3% and 34.6%, respectively. The biosolid production rate was 0.383 g VSS/g COD removed or 0.818 g VSS/g BOD3 removed. However, biogas contains 80.8% methane and the COD mass balance revealed the loss of removed COD as 41.5% in the form of dissolved effluent from the claridigester. On account of sludge characterization, it was observed that nitrogen and zinc were present in highest concentration (2.55% and 1,776 mg/kg dry solids) and other nutrient and heavy metal parameters were within limits of not posing any risk of soil toxicity if disposed of for enrichment of soil.

The ultimate disposal of biosolids has been and continues to be one of the most expensive problems faced by wastewater utilities. Previous work has shown that the waste sludge generation in an activated sludge plant can be reduced by promoting cryptic growth conditions (i.e., biomass growth on intracellular products). For this purpose, excess biosolids from a continuous flow activated sludge system were solubilized using ozone as the cell lysing agent, and then returned to the aeration tank. The results of these preliminary studies indicate that the proposed process configuration has the potential to reduce the waste sludge production by 40% to 60%. In the present research, the details of the ozonation process is further investigated to determine the maximum solubilization efficiency. For this purpose, a number of variables such as the solids concentration in the excess sludge, ozonation time, and ozonation dosage rate are studied.

A research program was undertaken to establish the stability of waste activated sludge generated from seven activated sludge treatment plants, both nutrient removal and conventional, and determine what further treatment is required to produce a substantially stabilised (ie. non-odorous) sludge. It has been previously thought that waste activated sludge from extended aeration plants (sludge age of approximately 25 days) was sufficiently stabilised to permit dewatering and stockpiling without odour generation. However, experience at a number of treatment plants with large unaerated mass fractions for biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus has demonstrated that these sludges are generally odorous. With the increasing requirement for on-site storage of sludge to remove pathogens prior to sludge re-use, odour generation from secondary sludges has the potential to pose significant environmental problems for many treatment plants. The objective of the research program was to quantify the degree of stabilisation achieved in various activated sludge treatment plants, what additional aerobic treatment is required to achieve a stabilised sludge and what are the readily identified characteristics of a stabilised sludge, including volatile solids content, specific oxygen uptake rate and pathogen destruction. The phosphorus leaching characteristics were also compared between various sludges and between continuous and intermittent aerobic digestion process.

A research program was undertaken to establish the stability of waste activated sludge generated from several activated sludge treatment plants, both nutrient removal and conventional, and determine what further treatment is required to produce a substantially stabilised (ie. non-odorous) sludge. It has been previously thought that waste activated sludge from extended aeration plants (sludge age of approximately 25 days) was sufficiently stabilised to permit dewatering and stockpiling without odour generation. However, experience at a number of treatment plants with large unaerated mass fractions for biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorus has demonstrated that these sludges are generally odorous. With the increasing requirement for on-site storage of sludge to remove pathogens prior to sludge re-use, odour generation from secondary sludges has the potential to pose significant environmental problems for many treatment plants. The objective of the research program was to quantify the degree of stabilisation achieved in various activated sludge treatment plants, what additional aerobic treatment is required to achieve a stabilised sludge and what are the readily identified characteristics of a stabilised sludge, including volatile solids content, specific oxygen uptake rate and pathogen destruction. The phosphorus leaching characteristics were also compared between various sludges and between continuous and intermittent aerobic digestion processes.

The rapid increase in the population is expected to result in the approaching of design capacity for many US wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) over the next decade. WWTPs treat both municipal and industrial wastewater influents, resulting in the production of biosolids after digestion. Biogas, a potential recovered alternative energy source, is also produced as an output from successful anaerobic digestion. More than 7M of dry tons/year of biosolids produced in the US are most often disposed in either landfills or land-applied (~80%). These options are becoming more challenging to implement due to increases in transportation costs and tipping fees, decreases in the availability of landfill/landfarm space, and most importantly, increased regulations. This situation is strongly encouraging WWTPs to find alternatives for the disposal of biosolids. Developing alternative management/disposal options for biosolids are evolving. One of the most attractive alternative option from a sustainability perspective are biorefineries (converts waste to commercial products), which are a fast-growing option given the push toward circular urban source economies (little to no waste generation). Anaerobic digestion has been widely applied in WWTPs to reduce the volume of activated sludge due to its low energy requirements, effective handling of fluctuations due to organic loading rate, relative flexibility with temperature and pH changes, and since biogas is produced that can be transformed into energy. Various pretreatment methods for waste sludges prior to digestion that have been studied to reduce solids production and increase the energetic content of the biogas are presented and discussed. Solids handling and management, which comprises ~60% of the operational cost of a WWTP, is estimated to save more than $100 M annually by achieving at least 20% reduction in the annual production of biosolids within the US. This review incorporates an assessment of various pretreatment methods to optimize the anaerobic digestion of waste sludges with a focus on maximizing both biosolids reduction and biogas quality.

In tropical regions, where most of the developing countries are located, septic tanks and other onsite sanitation systems are the predominant form of storage and pre-treatment of excreta and wastewater, generating septage and other types of sludges. The septage is disposed of untreated, mainly due to lack of affordable treatment options. This study presents lessons that have been learned from the operation of pilot-scale constructed wetlands (CWs) for septage treatment since 1997. The experiments have been conducted by using three CW units planted with narrow-leave cattails (Typha augustifolia) and operating in a vertical-flow mode. Based on the experimental results, it can be suggested that the optimum solids loading rate be 250 kg TS/m2 yr and 6-day percolate impoundment. At these operational conditions, the removal efficiencies of CW units treating septage at the range of 80–96% for COD, TS and TKN were achieved. The biosolid accumulated on the CW units to a depth of 80 cm has never been removed during 7 years of operation, but bed permeability remained unimpaired. The biosolid contains viable helminth eggs below critical limit of sludge quality standards for agricultural use. Subject to local conditions, the suggested operational criteria should be reassessed at the full-scale implementation.

The article considers the experience of the United States in the management of garbage waste, including biosolids (BO) of animals. It provides an understanding of deposit and waste management processes as a timely example of the integration of science into the environmental and economic process and presents the policy of the US government in the field of spent biological waste management, as well as efforts at recycling through composting, disposal and other methods. A national strategy for converting BW into various types of energy and the cost-effectiveness of environmental measures is considered using the example of the USA, presented by such authors and researchers as Gasanov M. A., Kolotov K. A., Demidenko K. A., Podgornaya E. A., Kadnikova O. V. and others. At the end of 2015, 71 incinerators (MSZs) were operating in 20 US states, more than 20% of which are concentrated in the state of Florida. The installed capacity of power generation systems at such MSZs is 2.3 GW, which corresponds to < 1% of the installed capacity of US energy facilities. Almost all of the country's MSZs were built before 1995, and only one plant was commissioned in 2015 - West Palm Beach-2, with a capacity of 95 MW. According to the consulting and consulting company Frost & Sullivan, by 2020 the volume of the US digital transformation technology market in the field of biosolids management in monetary terms increased to $3.6 billion, compared to $3.3 billion in 2017. At the same time, the average annual growth rate of this market is expected to be 2.74% by 2030.