Predicting biological treatability of a multicomponent wastewater based upon treatability of the individual components

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This research was conducted in the hope of finding some predictive technique which could enable the design engineer to determine the activated sludge treatability parameters of a multicomponent waste based upon knowledge of each of the influent constituents. Treatability studies were conducted upon eight individual organic substrates. The results of the individual compound treatability studies were utilized to formulate predictive models. These predictive models were tested upon treatability data collected from multicomponent wastewaters which were composed of mixtures of the same eight organic constituents.

Findings and Conclusions: After screening ten predictive techniques, several showed a certain degree of success in predicting mixed liquor volatile suspended solids and effluent TOC concentrations. Several acceptable methods for predicting specific compound concentrations in treated effluents of test units administered a multisubstrate influent were also found. Settleability, as measured by the sludge volume index test, could not be reliably predicted but dewatering was demonstrated to be predicted reasonably well by a simplistic technique.