Control of start-up of an osa system: an approach to reduce excess sludge production [Póster]

Abstract

In the most biological wastewater treatment process such as conventional activated sludge (CAS) system, though they have been recognized to be effective for organic wastewater treatment, the large amount of excess sludge derived from microbial growth generates high costs in equipment, operation, and final disposal. The OSA process is a midication of CAS process which can reduce sludge production by inserting a holding tank in return sludge circuit. In this holding tank, oxygen is not supplied so that excess sludge production can be reduced by an alternating exposure of activated sludge to oxic and anoxic environments (Saby et al. 2003, Chen et al. 2003, Jung et al. 2006, Rodríguez-Pérez el al. 2009, Rodríguez-Pérez et al. 2010). However, a better understanding of the cause of the process enabling excess sludge reduction is necessary for full scale experience. In this study, our experiments were carried out in two CAS systems, one of them modified to an OSA system. Primary experiments were carried out and the control or DO, pH and temperature were investigated after seed sludge inoculation.