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Oxidation–Reduction Potential Changes in Aeration Tanks and Microprofiles of Activated Sludge Floc in Medium‐ and Low‐Strength Wastewaters
Author(s) -
Li Baikun,
Bishop Paul L.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/106143004x151662
Subject(s) - aeration , anoxic waters , activated sludge , wastewater , chemistry , chemical oxygen demand , biodegradation , reduction potential , redox , volatile suspended solids , sewage treatment , dissolved organic carbon , mixed liquor suspended solids , pollutant , environmental chemistry , organic matter , biochemical oxygen demand , bioreactor , pulp and paper industry , environmental engineering , inorganic chemistry , environmental science , organic chemistry , engineering
Real‐time control of aeration tank operation is key to high‐efficiency pollutant removal and energy savings. One of the aims of this study was to examine the potential for using redox potential (oxidation–reduction potential [ORP]) to indicate wastewater quality online in aerationtanks treating medium (chemical oxygen demand [COD] of 70 to 150 mg/L) and low (COD of 15 to 30 mg/L) pollutant‐concentration wastewaters. The field‐scale data provide a good relationship between ORP values and nutrient removal along the length of the aeration tanks. The ORP values increaseddramatically as organic matter was removed along the aeration tanks, indicating the improvement of the bulk liquor redox status. Dissolved oxygen higher than 1.0 mg/L was necessary for good biodegradation and improvement of the liquid redox status. Nitrification occurred at higher ORP values(380 to 420 mV) than was the case for organic substrate oxidation (250 to 300 mV). The microprofiles obtained from microelectrode measurements substantiate the heterogeneity of the microbial processes inside activated sludge flocs. Because of microbial oxygen utilization, the aerobic regionin the activated sludge floc was limited to the top layer (0.1 to 0.2 mm) of the activated sludge aggregate present in medium‐strength wastewater, with an anoxic zone dominating inside the flocs. When dissolved oxygen in the bulk water was higher than 4.0 mg/L, the anoxic zone inside the flocdisappeared. At low wastewater pollutant concentrations, the ORP and dissolved oxygen inside the activated sludge aggregates were higher than those from medium‐strength wastewater. The prospect of using ORP as an online control approach for aeration tank operation and the potential reasonsfor activated sludge floc size varying with pollutant strengths are also discussed.