Incorporation of inorganic material in anoxic/aerobic-activated sludge system mixed liquor

In the bioreactor of the nitrification denitrification (ND)-activated sludge system, the mixed liquor is made up of organic and inorganic materials. In the current design procedures and simulation models, the influent wastewater characteristics and biological processes that influence the bioreactor mixed liquor organic solids (as volatile suspended solids, VSS, or COD) are explicitly included. However, the mixed liquor total suspended solids (TSS, i.e. organic+inorganic solids) are calculated simply from empirical ratios of VSS/TSS. The TSS concentration is fundamental in the design of secondary settling tanks and waste activated sludge disposal. Clearly, the empirical approach to obtaining an estimate for TSS is not satisfactory within the framework of a fundamentally based model. Accordingly, the incorporation of the inorganic material present in the influent wastewater into ND-activated sludge system mixed liquor was investigated. From an experimental investigation into the distribution of inorganics in the influent, mixed liquor and effluent of a laboratory-scale ND-activated sludge system, it was concluded inter alia that (i) of the total inorganic solids in the influent, only a small fraction (2.8–7.5%) is incorporated into the mixed liquor, (ii) most of the inorganics in the influent (mean 88%) and effluent (mean 98.5%) are in the dissolved form, the balance being particulate, and (iii) the influent and effluent inorganic dissolved solids concentrations are closely equal (mean effluent to influent ratio 100%). Further, a number of models were developed to quantify the mixed liquor inorganic, and, hence, total solids. From an evaluation of these models against the experimental data, it would appear that the best approach to model the incorporation of inorganics into the activated sludge mixed liquor is to follow the concepts and principles used to develop the existing models for organic materials. With this approach, reasonably close correlation between predicted and measured data for mixed liquor and effluent inorganic concentrations were obtained.