Evaluation of tertiary filtration and disinfection systems for upgrading high‐purity oxygen‐activated sludge plant effluent

Abstract

The Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) of the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County provides advanced primary and partial secondary treatment for 15.3 m 3 /s (350 MGD) of wastewater. A 7-mo pilot plant study evaluated several tertiary treatment alternatives for in-plant water reuse. The influent to the tertiary treatment system was the high-purity oxygen-activated sludge plant effluent. Three filtration systems were evaluated: a deep-bed anthracite filter. a shalIowdepth pulsed-bed sand filter, and a continuous backwash deep-bed sand filter. Chlorination and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection were also compared. All three filters were capable of consistently meeting the State of California's effluent turbidity limit. The differences in turbidity removal efficiencies were insignificant. Changes in hydraulic loading rate, up to 0.2 m 3 /m 2 • min (5 gpm/ft 2 ), had insignificant effects on the quality of all filter effluents when filtering normal secondary effluent. The effect of chemical filter-aids on turbidity removal depended strongly on the characteristics of the filter influent and the filter design configuration. Breakthrough of alum might occur with an excessive dosage of alum. The estimated costs for filtering the secondary effluent by the three filters were similar. A high-UV dose of 300 mW-s/cm 2 would be required to reduce the total coliform concentrations :52.2 MPNIIOO mL, mainly because of the low UV transmittance (40-63%). The 2.2 MPNIIOO mL coliform standard could be met either by a chlorine residual of 5 mgl L with a contact time of )20 min or 10 mglL for 60 min. Water Environ. Res .. 69,34 (1997).The Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) is operated by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (the Districts). It provides advanced primary and partial secondary treatment for 15.3 ml/s (350 MGD) of wastewater. A 7-mo pilot plant study was conducted recently, from August 1994 to February 1995, to evaluate several tertiary treatment alternatives for in-plant water reuse. The influent to the tertiary treatment system was the clarified effluent from the high-purity oxygenactivated sludge plant. The potential in-plant reuse applications include wash water for plant operations and truck cleaning and process water for cooling towers. The overall objective was to provide information for a conceptual design and a process cost estimate for the in-plant water reuse.Three different filtration systems were evaluated: a downflow, gravity, deep-bed anthracite filter, a downflow, gravity, shallow-depth, pulsed-bed sand filter, and a continuous backwash, upflow, deep-bed, sand filter. Two disinfection methods, chlorination and UV irradiation, were compared. The specific 34 objectives of this study were to compare turbidity and suspended solid (SS) removals; correlate SS and turbidity of the secondary and filter effluents; determine the effect of chemical addition on filters' performances; study special features of the filters; determine headloss and backwash requirements; assess reliability of th...

Potential and Representatives for Application of Environmental Management System (EMS) to Food Industries

“…A seven-month pilot-plant study in Los Angeles County (California) evaluated three filtration systems for water reuse using high-purity oxygen-activated sludge plant effluent: a deepbed anthracite filter, a shallow depth pulsed-bed sand filter and a continuous backwash deep-bed sand filter. All three filters were capable of consistently meeting the State of California's effluent turbidity limit and were characterized by similar costs (Kuo et al, 1997). Field-scale evaluation of gravel-bed hydroponic wetlands in Egypt demonstrated the capacity for removing eggs of human parasites and producing effluents which met the World Health Organization (WHO) microbiological guidelines for reuse (Stott et al, 1997).…”

Water reclamation and reuse

“…An extensive menu of technologies is available to choose from to meet project specific goals. Kuo et al (1997) reported on the results of a 7-month, pilot-plant study in Los Angeles County, California, which evaluated three filtration systems for in-plant water reuse using high-purity oxygen-activated sludge plant effluent: a deep-bed anthracite filter, a shallow-depth pulsed-bed sand filter, and a continuous backwash deep-bed sand filter. Chlorination and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection were also compared.…”

Improvement of Oxygen Transfer Efficiency in Diffused Aeration Systems Using Liquid-Film-Forming Apparatus

“…However, bubble transfer is the predominant means of oxygen transfer. So far, considerable research interests have been focused on the enhancement of the bubble transfer efficiency by developing a wide variety of new aeration techniques, including the utilization of high-purity-oxygen aeration system [4][5][6][7][8][9][10], deep aeration system [11][12][13] and fine bubble diffuser [14][15][16][17], etc. Nevertheless, only a little effort has been devoted to the research on the improvement of surface transfer efficiency.…”