Tutorial 1- CH2402- 2019

Question 1
A water treatment plant has a flow rate of 0.6 m 3/s. The settling basin at the plant has an effective settling
volume that is 20 m long, 3 m tall and 6 m wide. Will particles that have a settling velocity of 0.004 m/s be
completely removed? If not, what percent of the particles will be removed?
How big would the basin need to be to remove 100% of the particles that have a settling velocity of 0.004 m/s?

Question 2
Determine the terminal velocity for a sand particle with an average diameter of 0.5 mm and a density of
2600kg/m3 settling in water at 20 C. Density and viscosity values are mentioned below
Viscosity= 1.002*10-3 Ns/m2
Density of water =998.2kg/m3

Question 3
Design a sedimentation unit to provide for a sewage flow rate of 4 mgpd (Mega gallon per day), with suspended
solids concentration of 300 mg/L. The following conditions apply:
• Surface loading rate = 600 gpd/sq ft
• Suspended solids removal = 60%
• Sludge solids content = 4%
• Sludge specific density = 1.02

i. Calculate total tank surface area:

ii. Using a depth of 8 ft, calculate total volume
iii. Calculate weir length requirement, assuming 3 rectangular tanks and allowable weir loading rate of 15,000
gpd/linear ft.
iv. Calculate weight of solids removed, assuming 60% removal:
v. Calculate sludge volume, assuming a specific gravity of 1.02 and a moisture content of 96% (4% solids)

Question 4

Design a rectangular sedimentation tank to treat 2.4 million litres of raw water per day. The detention period
may be assumed to be 3 hours.

i. Calculate the volume of the tank

ii. Assume depth of the tank is 3m.calculate the surface area.

iii. Consider L:W is 3. Find the length and the width

iv. Find the surface overflow rate.

Question 5
The aeration tank influent is 145mg/l and the aeration tank flow rate is 1.6MGD. what is the F/M ratio if
the MLVSS is 2300mg/l and the tank volume is 1.8MG
Key points:
 If the MLVSS concentration is not available , it can be calculated if the volatile matter % of the
mixed liquor suspended solids(MLSS) is known.
MLVSS=MLSS×%VM
 The food value in the F/M ratio for computing loading to an activated bio solids process can be
either BOD or COD. Remember, the reason for bio solids production in the activated process is

1
 to convert BOD to bacteria. On e advantage of using COD over BOD for analysis of organic load
is that COD is more accurate.

Question 6
Find out the size of the aeration tank required to treat 0.15m3/s waste water with BOD5 of 84 mg/l to 30 mg/l of
BOD5 and SS= 30mg/l MLVSS of the reactor is 2000 mg/l.
Assume that BOD5 of the suspended solids to equal 63% of the SS solid concentration.
Ks= 100 mg BOD/l
µmax= 2.5/ day
Kd = 0.05/day
Y= 0.5 mg VSS/mg BOD5 removed

Question 7

Design a complete mixed activated sludge process aeration tank for treatment of 4 MLD sewage
having BOD concentration of 180 mg/L. The effluent should have soluble BOD of 20 mg/L or
less. Consider the following:
MLVSS/MLSS = 0.8
Return sludge SS concentration = 10000 mg/L
MLVSS in aeration tank = 3500 mg/L
Mean cell residence time adopted in design is 10 days

i. Find treatment efficiency based on soluble BOD

ii. Calculation of reactor volume
iii. Calculate HRT
iv. Calculate F/M
v. Calculate volumetric loading
vi. Calculate Quantity of sludge waste
vii. Calculate Sludge waste volume based on mean cell residence time
viii. Estimate recirculation ratio

Question 8
Consider the design of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) for a community with average daily and peak
hourly wastewater design flows of 2.0 MGD and 5.0 MGD. The raw sewage has an average of 230 mg/L BOD5
and 260 mg/L of suspended solids.

1 After screening and grit removal, the WW is to be treated by primary sedimentation in two parallel treatment
trains of circular clarifiers (so 2 sedimentation tanks, each gets ½ the flow).

i. Determine the diameter of each tank and the nominal side water depth for design criteria of an
overflow rate of 700 gpd/ft2 and detention time of 3 hours at average flow.
ii. Also, determine the overflow weir loading rate at peak hourly flow if the weir is placed all around the
circumference of the tank. Compare to design standards.

2. Assume that the primary sedimentation process removes 60% of the suspended solids and 40% of the BOD5
of the raw sewage.

i. Determine the SS and BOD5 concentrations in the primary sedimentation effluent flow.
ii. Also determine the mass of primary sludge produced per day at average flow conditions, as both dry
solids and as wet sludge assuming a sludge concentration of 6% solids and a specific gravity of 1.03.

2
3. The primary effluent is to be treated by two parallel trains of the complete mix activated sludge process.
Assume average flow conditions, and the primary sedimentation performance as described in part 2 above.
Assume the following for the activated sludge process:
 Plant effluent BOD5 of 8 mg/L
 Biomass yield of 0.55 kg biomass / kg BOD
 Endogenous decay rate (kd) = 0.04 day-1
 Solids Retention Time (θC) = 8 days
 MLVSS concentration in the aeration tank of 3000 mg/L
 Waste and recycle solids concentration of 12,000 mg/L

i. Determine the aeration tank volume in cubic meters.

ii. Determine the mass and volumetric flow rates (kg/day and cubic meters per day) of wasted sludge.
iii. Determine the return (recycle) flow rate in cubic meters per day (and in MGD).
iv. Determine the volumetric BOD loading to the aeration tank in lb BOD per 1000ft3.
v. Determine the food to microorganism ratio (F/M) for the aeration tank in kg BOD per day per kg
MLVSS.
vi. Determine the design hydraulic detention time (θ) in hours.

4. Suppose that the primary effluent is to be treated by two parallel high-rate single stage tricking filters with
the following characteristics:
o 6 feet deep rock trickling filter media
o Design BOD loading of 50 lb/day/1000 ft3
o Design hydraulic loading of 0.30 gpm/ft2
o Recirculation ratio of 1.5
i. Determine the volume (ft3) and diameter (ft) of each trickling filter.
ii. Determine the effluent BOD concentration at 20 ºC and at 10 ºC and comment on the
results.

Answer 3
 Calculate total tank surface area:
Surface Area = [Flow Rate]/[Surface Loading Rate]
= 4,000,000 gpd/600 gpd/sq ft = 6,666.7
Use 6,670 sq ft

 Using a depth of 8 ft, calculate total volume:

V = 8 x 6670 = 53,360 cu ft

This volume can be divided among three rectangular tanks (in parallel), 20 ft wide and 120 ft long, with a
satisfactory length-to-width ratio of 6:1. Two circular tanks (in parallel), 35 ft in diameter, would also be
suitable. This will provide flexibility of operation during routine or emergency maintenance

Calculate weir length requirement, assuming 3 rectangular tanks and allowable weir loading rate of 15,000
gpd/linear ft.

Design flow/tank = Total flow/3 = 4,000,000 gpd/3 = 1,333,333 gpd

Weir length/tank – 1,333,333 gpd/15,000 gpd/linear ft = 89 linear ft

Calculate weight of solids removed, assuming 60% removal:

Weight removed = 4 mgd x 300 mg/L x .60 = 6,000 lb/day; therefore 1,500 lb are removed per 1 mgd flow
3
Calculate sludge volume, assuming a specific gravity of 1.02 and a moisture content of 96% (4% solids):
Sludge volume = 6,000 lb/day/[1.20(62.4 lb/cu ft)(0.04)]
= 2,360 cu ft/day (@44mgd) = 17,700 gpd

Sludge handling in this example consists of removing sludge manually from settling tank sludge hopper, using a
telescoping drawoff pipe which discharges the sludge into a sump from which it is removed by a sludge pump.
Assume that the sludge will be wasted every 8 hours and is pumped for ½-hour to the digester.
Sludge sump capacity = daily sludge volume/number of wasting periods per day
= 2,360 cu ft/3 = 787 cu ft (5,900 gal)
Increase capacity 10% to compensate for scum removal volumes:
Sludge pumping capacity:
= [Sludge and scum volume/wasting period]/[30 minutes pumping/wasting period]
= 6,500/30 min = 217

Answer 4

• Raw water flow per day is 2.4 x 106 l. Detention period is 3h.

• Volume of tank = Flow x Detention period = 2.4 x 103 x 3/24 = 300 m3

• depth of tank = 3.0 m.

• Surface area = 300/3 = 100 m2

• L/W = 3 (assumed). L = 3B.

• 3W2 = 100 m2 i.e.W = 5.8 m

• L = 3W = 5.8 X 3 = 17.4 m
• Hence surface loading (Overflow rate) = 2.4 x 106 = 24,000 l/d/m2 < 40,000 l/d/m2 (OK)

• Answer 1
•
• v0 = Q/A = 0.6 m/sec / (20 m x 6 m) = 0.005 m/sec
• Since v0 is greater than the settling velocity of the particle of interest, they will not be completely
removed.
• The percent of particles which will be removed may be found using the
• following formula:
• Percent removed = (vp / v0) 100 = (0.004/0.005) 100 = 80 %
• 2.
• v0 = Q / A
• 0.004 = 0.6 / A
• A = 150 m3
• If the basin keeps the same width (6 m):
• A = 150 m3 = 6m x L
• L = 25 m