A modified integrated physical advanced primary treatment to enhance particulate organic carbon removal in municipal wastewater treatment plants

In the pursuit of a treatment approach that is both cost-effective and environmental-friendly, the applicability of microscreen (MS) techniques coupled with a primary sedimentation tank (PST) as a physical advanced primary treatment (APT) to enhance the removal of particulate organic carbon (POC) fr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water science and technology 2024-02, Vol.89 (4), p.1094-1105
Main Authors: Lasaki, Behnam Askari, Maurer, Peter, Schönberger, Harald
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
advanced primary treatment
Carbon
cod
Flocculation
microscreening
particulate organic carbon
settling
tss
Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
Wastewater
Water Purification - methods
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Summary:In the pursuit of a treatment approach that is both cost-effective and environmental-friendly, the applicability of microscreen (MS) techniques coupled with a primary sedimentation tank (PST) as a physical advanced primary treatment (APT) to enhance the removal of particulate organic carbon (POC) from municipal wastewater was investigated. A pilot unit, including a modified MS, adjustable to different meshes (including 20 and 15 μm) was operated continuously downstream to the PST at the Büsnau wastewater treatment plant in Stuttgart, Germany, and monitored for more than half a year. A strategy involving time-dependent backwashing and recirculation of MS permeate was employed to remove as much POC as possible from primarily treated wastewater, thereby extending the application of the MS. The optimal configuration, PST + 15-μm MS, achieved maximum removal efficiencies of 90% for turbidity, 90% for total suspended solids (TSS), and 80% for total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD). These results are significant, as comparable removal levels for these parameters were conventionally achieved using less eco-friendly methods such as physiochemical APT, including coagulation-flocculation with iron or aluminum salts followed by microscreening or sedimentation. However, this study's findings ascertained that solo physical APT applications could produce equivalent effluent quality with a much smaller footprint while keeping the advanced primary treated wastewater suitable for biological treatment.
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.2024.044