Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

In the secondary settling tanks, three different types of settling phenomena occurs; i.e., zone settling for sludge thickening in the bottom part of settling tank, and discrete and flocculent settling for clarification in the upper part. In this paper, morphological parameters of the floc in sludge ...

In the secondary settling tanks, three different types of settling phenomena occurs; i.e., zone settling for sludge thickening in the bottom part of settling tank, and discrete and flocculent settling for clarification in the upper part. In this paper, morphological parameters of the floc in sludge blanket layers along the length of a long rectangular tank were investigated. The plant used for this study had a serious bulking problem caused by Microthrix parvicella. Floc size decreased as the surface area of settling tank increases, which indicates that in the secondary settling tank where zone settling believed to be predominant, free or flocculent type of settling contributes to floc size distributions. Large floc particles deposit in the front zone of settling tank, but small and loose flocs mostly in the zone near its outlet. On the other hand, filament length contained in one gram of sludge blanket solid increases along the flow direction. Large flocs with less filaments settle faster, but small flocs having more filaments result in poor settling. These results support function of microorganism selection occurring in secondary settling tank. In addition, designing a long rectangluar settling tank with double hoppers might be one of the ways of bulking control, but this idea has to be verified with a further study.

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