Appropriate Design of Activated Sludge Systems for Nitrogen Removal from High Strength Wastewaters

Abstract

The study is focused on defining a conceptual approach for the design of activated sludge systems treating strong wastewater for nitrogen removal. The effect of major factors such as COD/N ratio, denitrification potential, available nitrate, anoxic volume fraction, and recycle ratio is evaluated in terms of basic stoichiometry. An algorithm for appropriate design is developed for a continuous flow activated sludge and sequencing batch reactor, both operated in a pre-denitrification mode. The design approach is tested for two types of strong industrial wastewaters with different N contents and COD/N ratios and a typical domestic sewage for comparative evaluation.

Keywords:

• Activated sludge
• Continuous-flow systems
• Modeling
• Nitrogen removal
• Predenitrification
• Sequencing batch reactor
• Stoichiometry
• Strong wastewater
• System design