ASP

The activated-sludge process is a biological method of wastewater treatment that is performed by a variable and mixed community of microorganisms in an aerobic aquatic environment. These microorganisms derive energy from carbonaceous organic matter in aerated wastewater for the production of new cells in a process known as synthesis, while simultaneously releasing energy through the conversion of this organic matter into compounds that contain lower energy, such as carbon dioxide and water, in a process called respiration. As well, a variable number of microorganisms in the system obtain energy by converting ammonia nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen in a process termed nitrification. This consortium of microorganisms, the biological component of the process, is known collectively as activated sludge. The overall goal of the activated-sludge process is to remove substances that have a demand for oxygen from the system. This is accomplished by the metabolic reactions (synthesis-respiration and nitrificaction) of the microorganisms, the separation and settling of activated-sludge solids to create an acceptable quality of secondary wastewater effluent, and the collection and recycling of microorganisms back into the system or removal of excess microorganisms from the system.

The activated-sludge process contains five essential interrelated equipment components. The first is an aeration tank or tanks in which air or oxygen is introduced into the system to create an aerobic environment that meets the needs of the biological community and that keeps the activated sludge properly mixed. At least seven modifications in the shape and number of tanks exist to produce variations in the pattern of flow.

Second, an aeration source is required to ensure that adequate oxygen is fed into the tank(s) and that the appropriate mixing takes place. This source may be provided by pure oxygen, compressed air or mechanical aeration. Just as there are modifications in the shape and number of aeration tanks that can be used in the activated-sludge process, different equipment systems exist to deliver air or oxygen into aeration tanks.

Third, in the activated-sludge process, aeration tanks are followed by secondary clarifiers. In secondary clarifiers, activated-sludge solids separate from the surrounding waterwater by the process of flocculation (the formation of large particle aggregates, or flocs, by the adherence of floc-forming organisms to filamentous organisms) and gravity sedimentation, in which flocs settle toward the bottom of the clarifier in a quiescent environment. This separation leads ideally to the formation of a secondary effluent (wastewater having a low level of activated-sludge solids in suspension) in the upper portion of the clarifier and a thickened sludge comprised of flocs, termed return activated sludge, or RAS, in the bottom portion of the clarifier.

Next, return activated sludge must be collected from the secondary clarifiers and pumped back to the aeration tank(s) before dissolved oxygen is depleted. In this way, the biological community needed to metabolize influent organic or inorganic matter in the wastewater stream is replenished.

Finally, activated sludge containing an overabundance of microorganisms must be removed, or wasted (waste activated sludge, or WAS), from the system. This is accomplished with the use of pumps and is done in part to control the food-to-microorganism ratio in the aeration tank(s).