EXAMPLE 8 - 3 , page 724

Sequencing Batch reactor Process Design

Design a sequencing batch reactor process to treat a domestic wastewater with a
flow of 7570 m 3 /d with the following wastewater characteristics. The reactor mixed-
liquor concentration at full volume 3500 g/m 3 and the temperature is 12 0 C. The
required effluent NH4-N concentration = 0.5 g/m3. Primary treatment is not used.

Wastewater characteristics:

Constituent Concentration,
g/m3
BOD 220
sBOD 80
COD 485
sCOD 160
rbCOD 80
TSS 240
VSS 220
TKN 35
NH4-N 25
TP 6
Alkalinity 200 as CaCO3
bCOD/BOD ratio 1.6
Note: g/m3 = mg/L

Design conditions and assumptions:

1 Use n tanks 2
2 Total liquid depth when full 6 m
3 Decant depth = m % of tank depth 30 %
4 SVI 150 mL/g
5 NOx = p % of TKN 80 %
6 Use kinetic coefficients in Tables 8-10 and 8-11
 flow 7570 m3/d
mixed-liquor concentration at full volume, X 3500 g/m3
0
temperature 12 C
Required effluent NH4-N concentration, N e 0.5 g/m3 =mg/L

Solution

1 Develop wastewater characteristics needed for process design.

a. Determine bCOD using Eq. (8-8).
bCOD 352 g/m3
(bCOD = 1.6 * BOD)

b. Determine nbVSS concentration using Eq. (8-4)

bpCOD/pCOD 0.69
bpCOD/pCOD = (bCOD/BOD)(BOD-sBOD)/(COD-sCOD)

nbVSS 68 g/m3
nbVSS = (1 - bpCOD/pCOD).VSS

c. Determine iTSS
iTSS 20 g/m3 iTSS = TSS0 - VSS0
iTSS = TSS0 - VSS0 TSS (Total suspended solids)
iTSS (inert TSS)

2 Determine SBR operating cycle

The total cycle time (Tc) consists of fill (tF), react/aerate (tA), settle (tS), and decant (tD).
An idle time (tI) can also be added. Thus, the total cycle time Tc = tF + tA + tS + tD + tI.
At least 2 tanks are needed so that when one tank is in the fill period tF, the following
cycles are occuring in the other tank: aeration tA, settling tS, and decant tD cycles. Thus,
tF = t A + t S + t D
 Select period times :
Assume : tA 2 h
tS 0.5 h
tD 0.5 h
tI 0 h

Then tF = 3.0 h
for each tank (Note: Some aeration may also be done in the fill period.)
Total cycle time Tc = 6.0 h
Number of cycles / tank . D 4
= (24 h/d) / (6 h/cycle)
Total number of c ycles / d 8 cycles / d
=(2 tanks) [(4 cycles / d) / tank]
Fill volume / cycle 946.3 m3 / fill
= (7570 m3/d) / (8 cycles/d)

3 Determine fill fraction per cycle (VF/VT) allowed and compare to selected
design value of 0.3
a. Develop a mass balance based on solids in the reactor
Mass of solids at full volume = mass of settled solids
VTX = VSXS
where VT = total volume, m3
X = MLSS concentration at full volume, g/m3
VS = settled volume after decant, m3
XS = MLSS concentration in settled volume, g/m3

b. Solve mass balance and determine the fill fraction/cycle

i. Estimate XS based on an assumed SVI value of 150 mL/g.
XS = (1000 mg/g) (1000 mL/L) / (SVI, mL/g) 6666.7 g/m3
 ii. Determine the settled fraction.
VS/VT = X/XS 0.525
Provide 20 percent liquid above the sludge blanket
so that solids are not removed by the decanting mechanism.
VS/VT = 0.63
iii. Determine the fill fraction.
VF + VS = VT
where VF = fill volume, m3
VF/VT + VS/VT = 1.0
VF/VT = 0.37
Selected VF/VT = 0.3 is acceptable

4 Determine the overall hydraulic retention time, HRT

Full liquid depth = 6 m
Decant depth = 1.8 m
3
VT = 3154 m /tank
VT = (VF/tank)/0.3
Overall HRT = V / Q 20 h
3 3
HRT = (2 tanks)*(3154 m /tank)*(24h/d) / (7570 m /d)

5 Determine the SRT

a. Use Eqs. (8-15), (8-16), and (7-58) to obtain a relationship
that can be used to solve for (PX,TSS) SRT.

(PX,TSS) SRT = 11039583 g

(PX,TSS) SRT = (V ) (X MLSS)

b. Develop input data to solve the above relationship for SRT :

nbVSS = 68 g/m3 (step 1a)
Assume S0 ~ S0 - S
S0 = bCOD = 352 g/m3 (step 1a)
 Q= 3785 m3/tank.d
iTSS0 = 20 g/m3 (step 1c)
3
NOx = 28 g/m
Kinetic coefficients from Tables 8-10 and 8-11:
Y= 0.4 g VSS / g bCOD
0
kd (12 C) = 0.088 g/g.d
Yn = 0.120 g VSS / g NOx
0
kdn (12 C) = 0.058 g/g.d
fd = 0.15 g/g

(PX,TSS) SRT = QY (S 0 - S )SRT / [1 + (kd)SRT](0.85)

+ Q (nbVSS)SRT
+ QY n (NOx)SRT / [1 + (k dn)SRT] (0.85)
+ [(f d ) (k d ) Q (Y ) (S 0 - S ) SRT2] / [1 + (k d )SRT] (0.85)
+ Q (TSS0 - VSS0)SRT

Substituting values and calculations for above equation yields

11039583 = ( 532928 SRT ) / [1 + ( 0.088 ) (SRT)]*(0.85)
+ 258777.5 SRT
+ ( 12717.6 SRT ) / [1 + ( 0.058 ) (SRT)]*(0.85)
+ 7009.3 SRT2) / [1 + ( 0.088 ) (SRT)]*(0.85)
+ 75700 SRT

Solve for SRT (Use spreadsheet with solver or solve by successive trials)
Left Right Set Objective
11039583 11039583.33 11039583.33

SRT = 16.97979748 day

SRT ~ 17 day
6 Determine MLVSS concentration
a. Solve Eq. (7-54) (SRT = 17 day) S0 ~ S0 - S

(PX,VSS) SRT = 8958563 m3.g/m3

X MLVSS = 2840 g/m3

(PX,VSS) SRT = (V T ) (X MLVSS)

(PX,VSS) SRT = QY (S 0 - S )SRT / [1 + (kd)SRT]

+ Q (nbVSS)SRT
+ QY n (NOx)SRT / [1 + (k dn)SRT]
+ [(f d ) (k d ) Q (Y ) (S 0 - S ) SRT2] / [1 + (k d )SRT]
+ Q (TSS0 - VSS0)SRT

b. Determine the fraction of MLVSS

X MLVSS / XMLSS = 0.81

7 Determine amount of NH 4 -N oxidized (NO x )

Nitrogen balance (Eq. 8-18)

PX,bio = 268197 g/day

268 kg/day
PX,bio = QY (S 0 - S ) / [1 + (kd)SRT]
+ QY n (NOx) / [1 + (k dn)SRT]
+ [(f d ) (k d ) Q (Y ) (S 0 - S ) SRT] / [1 + (k d )SRT]

NOx = 26 g/m3
NOx = TKN0 - Ne - 0.12 PX,bio / Q
8 Check the degree of nitrification to determine whether NH4-N will be
removed to a level of 0.5 g/m 3 in a 2 hours aeration period
a. Determine the amount of oxidizable N available.
NOx = 26 g/m3 = NH4-N in feed flow that can be oxidized
Oxidizable NH4-N added/cycle:
VF(NOx) = 946 m3/cycle
24600 g/fill
NH4-N remaining before fill = VS(Ne)
Ne = 0.5 g/m3 NH4-N
VS(Ne) = Ne(V - VF) = 1104 g
Total oxidizable N at beginning of cycle = 25704 g
Initial concentration (N0) = 8.15 g/m3

b. Determine the reaction time.

Using Eq. (8-40), the react time (aeration) after fill to achieve the desired NH4-N
concentration can be calculated. First, the nitrifier concentration must be determined.
i. Nitrifier concentration
Xn = 31.92 g/m3
X n = Q (Y n) (NOx) SRT / [1 + (k d)SRT] V

ii. Determine the time for reaction

um = 0.75 g/g.d Table 8-10
0
umn (12 C) = 0.44
Kn = 0.74 g/m3 Table 8-11
0
Kn (12 C) = 0.49
K0 = 0.5 g/m3 Table 8-11
DO = 2
A= 10.45
B= 92.89
t= 0.113 days
2.70 hrs
 [Knln(N0/Nt)] + (N0 - Nt) = Xn (umn / Yn) (DO/(K0 + DO) t
A = [Knln(N0/Nt)] + (N0 - Nt)
B = Xn (umn / Yn) (DO/(K0 + DO)

b. Determine the aeration time.

Required aeration time = 2.7 hrs
Aeration time selected was 2 hrs
Therefore, aeration is required during part of the fill period
Fill time = 3 hrs
At least one half of the fill time should be used for mixing without aeration
to provide a selector operation for SVI control .
Total aeration time = 3.5 hrs

Thus, there is sufficient time for nitrification. Because the factor of safety for
this design is quite low, other iterations can be done to develop a more
conservative design, which would result in a larger volume (V T ) and longer
SRT. The volume could be increased by making V F /V T smaller or by increasing
the time for the react period.