Effect of Pressure, Water Depth and Water Flow Rate on Oxygen Saturation Level in Activated Sludge Process

Abstract

Problem statement: The role of aeration in activated sludge process is to provide oxygen to microorganisms as they assimilate the organic carbon compounds and digest a portion of them to carbon dioxide and water, sulfate and nitrate compounds. The water aeration equipment used in this process consumes as much as 60-80% of total power requirements in modern wastewater treatment plants. Approach: The objective of this study is to enhance the oxygen transfer in aeration tank in activated sludge process by increasing pressure inside the part of aeration tank to increase the saturation level of dissolved oxygen in wastewater. The diffuser cap model is the experimental model which was used to show the effect of increasing pressure on oxygen transfer level. Three cases were considered, the first used without diffuser cap, the second with diffuser cap and the third with diffuser cap and plastic strips. Results: Obtained results show that in case of using the model with diffuser cap enhanced the oxygen level by about 5% than in case of without diffuser cap while that of adding plastic strips enhanced the oxygen level by about 7%. The variation of water flow showed that increasing water flow rate from 1-2 L min^-1 decreased the oxygen saturation level by about 6%. Furthermore, increasing water depth from 15-60 cm increased the oxygen level by about 40%. Conclusion: The diffuser cap model showed that the increase of pressure and water depth increased the dissolved oxygen level while increasing water flow rate decreased the dissolved oxygen level.