Sludge settling characterization for the mathematical modelling of sidestream treatment processes

Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Environmental Engineering, Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland

^* Corresponding author: piotr.balbierz@pwr.edu.pl

Abstract

More stringent effluent limits, especially with regard to total nitrogen, force wastewater treatment plants to consider sidestream nitrogen removal from digested sludge dewatering liquor which can contain up to 20% of incoming nitrogen load. Deammonification, the most promising biological technology for sidestream nitrogen removal, is based on partial short-cut nitrification and the Anammox process. Both steps of this process are conducted by slowly growing autotrophic bacteria, namely nitrifies and Anammox, which however may form different types of sludge: flocculent and granular, respectively. Nevertheless, ensuring effective sludge separation from treated effluent is crucial for the ability to retain both kinds of slowly growing biomass in the system. This paper presents the principles of sludge settling modelling, the results of a series of column tests conducted on sludge from pilot-scale two-stage deammonification treatment facility, as well as an attempt to estimate settling parameters in order to fit a sedimentation model.