CIVIL ENGINEERING – Vol.

I - Wastewater Management Engineering - Tomonori Matsuo, Eiichi Nakamura, Masahiro Osako

WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT ENGINEERING

Tomonori Matsuo
Department of Regional Development Studies, Toyo University, Itakura, Japan

Eiichi Nakamura
National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport, Tsukuba, Japan

Masahiro Osako
Research Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management, National Institute for
Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan

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Keywords: Water pollution, domestic wastewater, industrial wastewater, wastewater
treatment, activated sludge process, biofilm process, disinfections, physico-chemical

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process, sludge treatment, solid wastes, gavages, hazardous wastes, reduce, reuse,

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recycle, thermal recycle, and zero-emission.

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Contents
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C E
1. Introduction
2. Wastewater Management
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2.1. Historical Summary of Water Pollution Control

2.2. Collection and Treatment Schemes of Wastewater
2.3. Characterization of Wastewater
2.3.1. Municipal Wastewater
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2.3.2. Industrial Wastewater

2.4. Processes for Wastewater Treatment
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2.4.1. Screening
2.4.2. Sedimentation
2.4.3. Activated Sludge Processes
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2.4.4. Biofilm Processes

2.4.5. Stabilization Ponds and Aerated Lagoons
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2.4.6. Disinfection
2.4.7. Advanced Wastewater Treatment
2.5. Processes for Sludge Treatment
2.5.1. Thickening
2.5.2. Digestion
2.5.3. Dewatering
2.5.4. Incineration
2.5.5. Composting
3. Solid Waste Management
3.1. Historical Summary of Wastes Problems
3.1.1. Accumulation of Solid Wastes and Start of Public Health Issues
3.1.2. Conversion of Mass-disposal Society to Recycle-Oriented Society
3.1.3. International Concern over Hazardous Wastes
3.2. Definition of Wastes
3.2.1. Definition and Classification of Wastes

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3.2.2. Types of Wastes

3.2.3. Properties of Wastes
3.3. Waste Management Processes
3.3.1. Generation of Wastes
3.3.2. Sorting, Collection, Transportation
3.3.3. Intermediate Treatment and Landfilling
3.4. Waste Management System
3.4.1. Responsibility for Waste Management
3.4.2. System for Environmental Preservation
3.5. Waste Control Policies in the 21st Century
3.5.1. Order of Priority of Waste Control Policies
3.5.2. Building an Integrated Management System – Concept of Zero Emissions
4. Concluding Remarks
Glossary

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Bibliography

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Biographical Sketches

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Summary H O
General schemes of wastewater and solid wastes management engineering are presented
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in this chapter. Firstly, a brief historical development and changes of target substances
and management technologies and policies are introduced and some details of
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wastewater management and solid wastes management are analyzed.

A lot of water is consumed not only for daily life of the people but also for commercial,
industrial, and agricultural activities. Consumption of water, however, does not
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necessarily mean disappearance of water itself. In many cases, consumption of water

means degradation of water quality and production of wastewater contaminated with
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human wastes, industrial wastes, and other human activities. The discharge of
wastewater into natural water bodies usually causes water pollution and thereby damage
to both human health and natural ecosystems.
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To abate the water pollution, the wastewater should be collected separately and treated
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to remove the contaminants, target substances, using various technologies based on

physical, chemical, and biological principles. In the processes, the solid liquid
separation is used as a very basic and common unit process and the conversion to the
larger size solids is a basic concern in the treatment of wastewater.
As for the solid wastes management, the definition of waste is important. When
materials possessed by persons for human activities are no longer useful and have lost
their value for the owner, they are regarded as wastes. Among the wastes, the gavages
from human daily life are common target substances through the world. The industrial
wastes sometimes contain hazardous substances and in that case they have to be
separately treated and discharged into special landfill site.

Special feature of solid wastes management is that some categories of wastes can be
reusable directly or recycled for materials to be used for making new products. So the
separation process at the origin of wastes is thought to be very important process in the
management of the solid wastes. Although the generation of wastes is unavoidable as

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long as human activity continues, it is important for sustainable development of society

to minimize the generation of wastes and to appropriately dispose of or recycle
generated wastes.

1. Introduction

Most of the activities of modern societies highly depend on the supply of sufficient
amount of clean water. A lot of water is consumed not only for daily life of the people
but also for commercial, industrial and agricultural activities. Consumption of water,
however, does not necessarily mean disappearance of water itself. In many cases,
consumption of water means degradation of water quality. When water is once used
for some specific purpose, the water contains such compounds as carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids, metals, nutrients, or microorganisms and so on. Then the water is
called wastewater since such water is not clean enough for use and has to be wasted.

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Since the quantity and quality of wastewaters from municipal areas usually exceed the

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assimilative capacity of receiving natural waters, collection and treatment of

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wastewaters is required to keep the water resources clean enough. Water quality

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standards of natural waters are established for this purpose and wastewater management
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is carried out to achieve the water quality standards, or to sustain natural waters as
sound as possible.
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After the invention of modern sewerage systems in the late 19th century, various
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treatment methods were developed to purify wastewaters. Since sludge is produced

during the course of wastewater treatment, various sludge treatment technologies were
also developed. In the section of wastewater management engineering, municipal
wastewater treatment and sludge treatment technologies are introduced.
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Regarding solid wastes management, when materials possessed by persons for human
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activities are no longer useful and have lost their value for the owner, they are regarded
as wastes. Such wastes may be so dirty or harmful that they contaminate the natural
environment if discarded carelessly. Since the generation of wastes is unavoidable as
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long as human activity continues, it is important for sustainable development of society

to minimize the generation of wastes and to appropriately dispose of or recycle
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generated wastes. In the section of solid waste management, an outline of history of

waste management problems, political and technological aspects of solid wastes
management, and initiatives to define the type of integrated solid waste management
system in future scheme are introduced and discussed.
2. Wastewater Management

2.1. Historical Summary of Water Pollution Control

Water pollution has been an issue ever since people began to live in cities or areas of
high population density. The first signs of water pollution took the form of hygiene
problems resulting from the pollution of drinking water in industrialized and urbanized
cities like London in England in the early 1830’s. Although the knowledge about
pathogenic bacteria was inadequate at that time, people began to build large-scale sewer
systems and install flushing toilets in order to remove human waste from the living
environment as quickly as possible.

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The direct discharge of domestic wastewater through the sewer systems into rivers
caused water pollution in rivers and estuaries. Since water pollution at that time was
firstly caused by high oxygen consumption of organic loading from domestic and
industrial wastewater, treatment facilities for removing the so called BOD materials
were investigated and introduced in practice. After the original activated sludge process
was invented and applied in Manchester, England in 1914, the activated sludge
processes with a lot of modified processes prevailed all over the world.

In the Japanese experiences, industrial wastewater pollution in the late 1950s became a
very significant and serious issue in relation to water pollution control policies and
technologies. It was found at this time that trace amounts of toxic heavy metals could be
accumulated in living organisms, including fish, shellfish and crops, and that these toxic
substances could have a direct impact on human health when ingested through

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contaminated foods. These toxic substances are never degraded biologically during

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treatment processes or in the natural environment. It is therefore extremely important to

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restrict the discharge of these toxic substances in the environment even through sewer

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systems, and to control them at their sources through the prohibition of their usage or
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production.
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In 1972, serious damage to fisheries was reported as a result of a ‘red tide’ in the Seto
Inland Sea in Japan. In almost the same era, the problem of eutrophication in both
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closed sea areas and lakes and reservoirs became a key area of concern about water
pollution in the worldwide. Serious consideration was given to various approaches to
the minimization of the amounts of nutrients discharged into natural waters. Among the
methods studied were the development of phosphate-free detergents, the introduction of
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nutrient standards for effluent and environmental standards, and the application of
nutrient removal process as an advanced treatment in conventional secondary treatment
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facilities.

Other topical issues relating to water pollution include the safety of drinking water and
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the problem of global warming. As discussed above, the safety of drinking water from
pathogenic bacteria was the first issue in the history of water pollution. It is both
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interesting and significant that the safety of drinking water has once again become a
topic of concern due to water pollution resulting from advanced industrial activity.

In addition to this new concern about the safety of drinking water, global warming has
also emerged as a serious problem for future generations. The relationship between
water pollution and global warming is rather complex, since some wastewater treatment
processes may produce greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, while
complex ecosystems in treatment systems and natural water environments could be
affected by global warming.

The historical development of target substances in water pollution problems caused by

human civilization and industrialization in Europe and mainly in Japan is summarized in
Table 1. It is interesting to note that the construction of modern sewage works in
European countries in the early 19th century is listed as the first counter measure for the
waterborne disease like cholera as a basic sanitary issue related to water pollution, and

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the necessity of advanced water treatment technique to remove Cryptosporidium oocyst

which cause diarrhea and cannot be disinfected by chlorine in water supply system is
again listed as one of the latest target of water pollution control.

Era Target Substances Countermeasures

1800- Pathogenic bacteria Construction of sewer system and
disinfection
1900- Organic materials (BOD Biological treatment and
material) physico-chemical treatment
1950- Heavy metals and No production and no discharge to
non-biodegradable chemicals environment (treatment at source)
1970- Nutrient for eutrophication Nitrogen and phosphorus removal
1980- Trace substances in drinking processes

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water (Carcinogen, off-flavors Activated carbon or membrane
and taste) technologies

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Micro suspended solids, color

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and odor

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1990- H O Greenhouse gasses (CH4, NO2 Advanced treatment for water reuse
and CO2)
1995- Cryptosporidium oosyst Energy saving technologies
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1999- Endocrine disrupting chemicals Advanced treatment for micro solids
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separation
Surveillance of EDCs in water
environment
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Table 1: Historical Change of Target Substances in Water Pollution Control

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2.2. Collection and Treatment Schemes of Wastewater

The modern sewage system is an underground pipeline system which collects various
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wastewaters such as domestic wastewater from toilet and other water use as washing,
bathing, cooking, and so on, industrial wastewaters, and rain water in some cases. A
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typical scheme of the sewage system, which is used in Japan these days, is illustrated in
Figure 1.

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Figure 1: Typical Scheme of Sewage Systems in Japan

In the figure, the first stage starts from the vault latrine and cartage system toilet, in
which night soil could be stored for some time and used as source of compost or
collected by vacuumed pumping to the night soil treatment plant. At the night soil
treatment plant, the collected night soil is treated separately using biological treatments
as activated treatment systems and nutrient removal systems. The combined domestic
wastewater of night soil with flushing water and gray water from miscellaneous use in
the households could be treated at the on-site treatment facilities in one case and, in the
other case, the combined domestic wastewater collected by the separate pipeline could
be treated in the sewage treatment plant, although the size of the sewage treatment plant
might be changing very wide range from 10 to millions m3 per day.

In some cases, industrial wastewater could be collected in the same pipeline of domestic

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wastewater and treated same way in the sewage treatment plant, in case that the
industrial wastewaters are free from various toxic substances after the specific removal
treatment of the toxic substances at the local facilities in the industries. For the
collection and discharge of the rainwater or storm water from urbanized environment,
sewage systems execute very important function to protect the buildings and properties
from flood and preserve the comfortable living condition in the city. The combined
sewer systems collect together rainwater and urban wastewater including domestic and
industrial wastewater by one pipeline, and the separate systems collect separately
rainwater and urban wastewater by two pipelines.

In the recent years, issues related with the water quality control from the combined
sewer overflow (CSO) under the rainfall have come to be very hot issues in the water
pollution control policy. It is recommended that the storm water from densely inhabited
area should be treated simply by screening, sedimentation or disinfection before

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discharging to the natural receiving water bodies depending on the situation. The term

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of “wet weather water quality control” gives now very important meaning to basin-wide

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water quality control planning.

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H O
Besides the treatment systems of sewage and sewage sludge, the reuse systems of
wastewater and recovery of usable resources from sludge have been taken into
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consideration to compensate the fresh water supply and recover energy and materials.
One of the ideas of reuse systems of wastewater and sludge is illustrated in Figure 2.
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In this scheme, the reclaimed water is to be used as toilet flush, landscape irrigation,
washing and cooling water. In the anaerobic digestion process, the organic materials in
the sludge could be converted into methane gas and used as fuels. Nutrients in the
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sludge are expected to be used as fertilizers and compost. Inorganic solids in the sludge
is melted into slugs and used as construction materials.
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2.3. Characterization of Wastewater

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2.3.1. Municipal Wastewater

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Municipal wastewater generally consists of domestic wastewater, commercial

wastewaters and industrial wastewaters. Since their characteristics are remarkably
different, water quality and quantity characteristics vary considerably depending on the
percentage of wastewater of each origin.

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Figure 2: Reuse Systems of Wastewater, Waste Heat, and Sludge

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Table 2 shows a typical per capita loading of pollutants in Japan. Although the
consumption rate of water is generally high in summer and low in winter, the per capita
loading rates do not change so much according to seasons. Therefore, the
concentrations of most water quality constituents of domestic wastewater are generally
high in winter and low in summer.

Constituent Loading
(g/cap./day)
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) 58
Chemical oxygen demand (COD (Mn)) 27
Suspended solids (SS) 45
Total nitrogen (TN) 11
Total phosphorus (TP) 1.3

Table 2: Typical per Capita Loading in Japan

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Wastewaters from commercial areas show a significant difference depending on the

types of commercial activities. Some areas produce wastewaters of high organic
loadings with large volume of water, while the others produce low intensity and small
volume of wastewaters. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of wastewaters from
commercial areas is reported to be generally around 100 to 500 mg/l. When industrial
wastewaters are involved in the municipal wastewater, the characteristics of industrial
wastewaters must be carefully defined since they may seriously affect the removal
efficiency of wastewater treatment as well as the quality of sludge.

2.3.2. Industrial Wastewater

Industrial wastewaters considerably differ from industry to industry, from factory to

factory. Some industrial wastewaters should not be involved in the municipal
wastewater treatment. These include:

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(1) Wastewaters harmful to biological processes

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(2) Wastewaters harmful to equipment

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(3) Wastewaters with potential safety hazards
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(4) Wastewaters containing materials not properly treated by the employed processes
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These wastewaters include heavy metals, toxic chemicals, extreme pH wastes, highly
colored wastes, and large amounts of oil and grease. Factories producing these
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wastewaters have to install pre-treatment facilities to remove harmful materials to below

a required level before discharging the wastewaters into public sewer systems. The
wastewaters from food processing factories contain high concentration of organic
materials, while wastewaters from metal processing show little organic loadings though
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they show relatively high inorganic loadings. Wastewaters from so-called high-tech
industries producing semiconductors and related products might contain excessive
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amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Although modern wastewater

treatment systems have aeration systems and these VOCs can be stripped off, they
should be pre-treated since their effects on biological processes are not well understood
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and they might be released off to the air during the course of transportation by public
sewers.
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2.4. Processes for Wastewater Treatment

2.4.1. Screening

Since the municipal wastewater contains variety of visible materials, removal of these
materials is at first necessary for the subsequent processes. Screening devices are
generally used to remove the visible materials and they can be classified as fine screens
or coarse screens. A fine screen can remove significant amount of suspended solids,
while a coarse screen is used as a protective device for the other treatment equipment.

Coarse screens are normally used as the first treatment unit for protecting plant
equipment against physical damage or degradation of treatment efficiency. Their
effectiveness can be measured by examining the maintenance costs and downtime of the
other equipment and processes that are protected by the coarse screens. Coarse screens

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include bar screens, comminutors, and coarser woven-wire media.

Fine screens include fixed or static screens and moving screens. Fixed fine screens
with opening of less than 2.5 mm are generally employed. Their removal
efficiencies for BOD and Suspended Solids (SS) are commonly in the range of 20 to
35 %. Moving fine screens are continuous cleaned screens with rotating drum.
Various materials are used as screens such as stainless steel, nylon, and polyester. The
opening of moving screens varies from 0.02 to 3 mm depending on the purposes.

2.4.2. Sedimentation

When wastewaters are in a relatively quiescent condition, solids particles will settle
down because of gravity. Gravity settling is a method by which suspended matters are
removed. Primary settling tanks are constructed to remove the readily settleable solids

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prior to subsequent treatment. Final settling tanks are used to remove settleable solids

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that are produced by biological processes. Settling tanks are also used in the advanced

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wastewater treatment processes with the dosage of some chemicals. To remove

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soluble materials such as organics and phosphates by sedimentation, coagulants are used
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to make flocculants to increase settleability of these materials. Gravity thickening of
sewage sludge is performed by gravity settling of sludge.
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When wastewater is treated at the primary settling tanks, this level of treatment is
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generally called primary treatment. In some situations, coagulants are used at the
primary settling to enhance the treatment efficiency. This level of treatment is
sometimes called as advanced primary treatment. Depending on the concentration as
well as property of solids to be removed by settling, these solids materials are classified
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into three categories.

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1. Class I materials
(1) Solids are discrete particles.
(2) Settling rate is independent of concentration.
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(3) Settling rate is equal to overflow rate.

2. Class II materials
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(1) Particles will grow during settling.

(2) Overflow rate and detention time are critical.
(3) Rate of particle growth is important.
3. Class III materials
(1) Suspended solids concentration is high.
(2) Settling rate is a function of the concentration.
(3) Detention time and solids loading are important.

Primary settling tanks are designed and operated to remove the class I materials.
Design and operation of final settling tanks are done aiming at the removal of mixed
liquor suspended solids (MLSS) that are belonging to the class II materials. Primary
sludge or waste activated sludge (WAS) withdrawn from final settling tanks is usually
transported to sludge thickeners where class III materials are settled and thickened.
Therefore, settling properties of the class I and class II materials are to be considered in
the design and operation of biological wastewater treatment processes and settling

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properties of the class III materials should be considered in the sludge treatment.
Typical concentration levels of solids in wastewater before thickening are shown in
Table 3.

Sludge Source Sludge Concentration (%)

Raw primary, fresh 2.0 – 4.0
Biological, secondary 0.5 – 1.0
Raw primary with waste activated sludge 1.0
Rotating biological contactor (RBC) humus 0.8
Raw primary with RBC humus 1.0
Chemical sludge
Lime < 10
Alum and ferric <2

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sludge

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Table 3: Solids Concentrations in Wastewater before Thickening

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There are basically two types of settling tanks. One is rectangular, and the other is
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circular. Circular settling tanks are frequently called clarifiers. Geometrical ratios of
rectangular tanks commonly are: length vs. width of 3:1 or greater. The width of a
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tank is usually designed by taking the width of nominal sludge collectors into account.
The depth of a tank is 2.5 to 4.0 meters. The floor of a rectangular tank has a slope
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with the gradient of 1/100 to 2/100 to make the collection of settled sludge easier.
Circular tanks have wide range of diameters from 3 to 60 meters. Side water depth is 2
to 3 meters for primary settling, and 3 to 4 meters for secondary settling. Circular
tanks usually have a bottom slope of 5/100 to 10/100.
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In a rectangular tank, collection of settled sludge is carried out by chain flights or

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traveling bridges with scraper blades. The chain flights scrapers or scraper blades
move the settled sludge to the one end of a tank, usually to the inlet end where sludge
hopper is constructed. For a long rectangular tank, a hopper is constructed in the
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middle of tank. For final settling tanks, the moving bridges are sometimes equipped
with suction pipes instead of scraper blades to suck up the settled sludge into a trough
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along the tank side.

As a modification of a rectangular tank, a square tank is sometimes used. Square tanks

are equipped with rotating type scrapers whose mechanisms are similar to circular types.
Rotating mechanisms become possible with the installation of exploring rotating arms.
Although a square tank makes the best utilization of land, use of exploring rotating arms
is not recommended from the standpoints of operation and maintenance.

In a circular tank, collection of settled sludge is done by either scraping type or suction
type. While the scraping type is mainly used for primary settling sludge, the suction
type is used for activated sludge. When the diameter of a clarifier is greater than 30
meters, a suction type of sludge collector is most commonly used.

For both rectangular tanks and circular tanks, overflow rate is an important operational
factor. Overflow rate is the depth of wastewater that is handled by a unit surface area

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of settling tank in a specific period of time. In the primary settling tank, normal
overflow rates of 35 to 70 m3/m2/day are used for separate sewer systems, and 25 to 50
m3/m2/day for combined sewer systems in Japan. Although detention time for
sedimentation is not so important a factor as overflow rate, 1 to 2 hours are usually
adopted for primary settling. In the secondary settling tank, overflow rates of 20 to 30
m3/m2/day are used.

2.4.3. Activated Sludge Processes

Biological treatment processes by suspended growth type of microorganisms are

commonly used for secondary treatment of municipal wastewater. The mass of
suspended microorganisms grown under the aerobic condition is called activated sludge.
Depending on the reactor types or the modes of operation, a variety of activated sludge
treatment processes is developed, such as conventional activated sludge process,

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extended aeration process, step aeration, oxidation ditch, sequencing batch reactor,

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contact stabilization process, and pure oxygen aeration process.

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(1) Conventional activated sludge process
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The conventional activated sludge process is most commonly employed for a
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wastewater treatment process in developed countries. Figure 3 shows a typical flow
diagram of the conventional activated sludge process. A key unit in this process is an
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aeration tank where organic and inorganic materials in the wastewaters are removed by
activated sludge. An aeration tank has normally a depth of 4 to 6 meters, while a deep
aeration tank has a depth of about 10 meters.
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Figure 3: Typical Flow Diagram of Conventional Activated Sludge Process Including

Sludge Treatment Processes

Supply of air called aeration is done in an aeration tank through diffusers, though
mechanical surface aeration is employed for small plants such as pre-treatment of
industrial wastewaters. Aeration has mainly three purposes: first to supply oxygen to
the mixture of wastewater and activated sludge called mixed liquor, second to move the
mixed liquor fast enough to have good mixing of wastewater and activated sludge, and
third to keep activated sludge in suspension. Oxygen transfer efficiency that expresses
the percentage of oxygen actually dissolved in the water depends on types of diffusers

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since the bubble size, which may differ among diffusers, is an important factor for
oxygen transfer efficiency. Table 3 shows the oxygen transfer efficiencies and aeration
efficiencies based on electric power consumption for diffused aeration systems tested in
clean water for some of the typical diffusers employed in Japan.

Aeration Type Oxygen Transfer Aeration

Efficiency (%) Efficiency
(kg/MJ)
Fine bubble aeration
Normal depth 14 – 16 0.5 – 0.9
Deep depth 15 – 17 0.5 – 0.9
Whole floor 20 – 32 0.8 – 1.3
Course bubble aeration 8 – 13 0.3 – 0.4

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Jet aeration 15 – 26 0.4 – 0.6

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Submerged turbine aeration 20 – 30 0.4 – 0.6

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Table 4: Efficiency of Diffused Aeration in Clean Water Test
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Hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the aeration tank is 6 to 8 hours, and solids retention
time (SRT) is 3 to 6 days. The concentration of MLSS is 1,500 to 2,000 mg/l and food,
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and microorganism ratio (FM ratio) is 0.2 to 0.4 (kg BOD/kg SS/day). Although the
ratio of returned activated sludge (RAS) to the influent flow is varied with the
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operational MLSS concentration, ratio of around 0.5 is usually adopted for MLSS in the
range of 1,500 to 2,000 mg/l. As a reactor type, complete mixing is only employed for
small plants and plug flow type is normally applied. Under these normal operational
conditions, removal efficiencies of the conventional activated sludge process for BOD
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and SS are expected more than 90 %. The process has, however, some deficiencies in
that (1) the oxygen requirements at the head of aeration tank often exceed the aeration
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rate, and (2) the aeration tanks are not good approximation of stirred tanks or plug-flow
processes, as there is a considerable amount of back mixing in long narrow tanks. To
improve these deficiencies, a number of modifications of the conventional process were
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developed during the 1950s such as step aeration or tapered aeration.

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In step aeration, influent of wastewater to an aeration tank is dividedly fed into several
lower stream points of an aeration tank as well as the head of a tank. Such step
feeding of wastewater into an aeration tank makes the oxygen consumption rate in an
aeration tank relatively uniform and high oxygen consumption rate at the head of an
aeration tank experienced in the conventional process can be avoided.

Since the oxygen consumption rate of activated sludge gradually decreases from the
upper end to the lower end of an aeration tank, the rate of aeration can be reasonably
varied according to the direction of flow in an aeration tank. This process is called
tapered aeration. Supply of oxygen is matched to the oxygen demand of the activated
sludge and the deficiency problems can be solved by the tapered aeration.

(2) Extended aeration process

Since some of the other modification processes can be operated as extended aeration

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with relatively long SRT and low FM ratio, typical modification processes are explained.
In the extended aeration process, production of the excess sludge can be reduced
compared to the conventional process and nitrification proceeds relatively easily.
Since ammonia is toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms, nitrification is favorable
because the ammonia concentration of the effluent becomes relatively low. Primary
settling process is usually neglected. HRT in the aeration tank of 16 to 24 hours and
SRT of 13 to 50 days are generally applied. To keep the relatively long SRT, high
concentration of MLSS in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 mg/l is maintained under the
normal conditions. FM ratio is as low as 0.05 to 0.10 (kg BOD/kg SS/day).

A rectangular aeration tank, an oxidation ditch (OD) type reactor, or a sequencing batch
reactor (SBR) can carry out the extended aeration process. OD and SBR will be
described as the processes of advanced wastewater treatment.

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Recent advancement of material industries makes it possible to use membranes with

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very fine pore size. Membranes with nominal pore sizes of 0.1 to 0.5 microns are used

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as filters for the effluent to pass and for the activated sludge to remain in the reactor.

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Membrane separation or microfiltration (MF) activated sludge process is relatively a
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new process. There are several types of membranes such as plane membranes, string
membranes, and tube membranes. MF activated sludge process is compacted in scale
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and produces high quality effluent. Since the activated sludge is retained in the reactor,
there is no need of RAS and no need of either primary settling tanks or final settling
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tanks. MLSS is around 12,000 mg/l and SRT is 20 to 40 days, though HRT is usually
around 6 hours. Removal efficiency of BOD and SS is as high as 98 % and almost
100%, respectively. Since the pore sizes are very fine, continuous cleaning of the
surface of membranes is necessary to avoid clogging problems. For the cleaning
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purpose, gas to flow ratio (GQ ratio) of 40 to 50 is used in the membrane process, while
GQ ratio of conventional activated sludge process is around 5. Therefore, in spite of
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its advantages of high quality effluent and less land requirements, high consumption of
energy by membrane process discourages its adoption where price of electricity is high.
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2.4.4. Biofilm Processes

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Biofilm attached to solid surfaces used to be widely applied to remove soluble or

colloidal organics from wastewaters. Biofilm reactors include such processes as (1)
trickling filters, (2) rotating biological contactors (RBC), (3) anaerobic filters, (4)
submerged filters, (5) biological fluidized beds, (6) activated biofilters, and so on. The
bulk substrate removal is thought to comprise three main processes as (a) substrate
transport from the bulk to the biofilm, (b) molecular diffusion of the substrate within the
biofilm, (c) metabolic reactions within the biofilm. Therefore, in these processes, the
removal efficiency of organics is considered limited by the mass transfer resistance in
liquid and biofilm phases.

Biofilm plants are employed mainly for industrial wastewater treatment and advanced
wastewater treatment, whereas the rate of biofilm plants used for secondary treatment is
less than 5 % of the whole municipal wastewater treatment plants in Japan.

In the following, (1) trickling filters and (2) RBC, which are used as biofilm processes

©Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)

CIVIL ENGINEERING – Vol. I - Wastewater Management Engineering - Tomonori Matsuo, Eiichi Nakamura, Masahiro Osako

for secondary treatment in Japan, will be briefly described.

(1) Trickling filter

Trickling filters historically have been popular for use in small plants, because of their
ability to recover from shock loads and to perform well with a minimum of skilled
technical supervision, and because of their economy in capital and operating costs.

There are many types of media such as crushed trap rocks, granite, limestone, hard coals,
cokes, cinders, blast-furnace slag, wood, ceramic materials, and plastics. Trickling
filters also have been historically classified into high rate filters or standard rate filters,
depending on the organic and hydraulic loadings applied to the filters.

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(2) Rotating biological contactors (RBC)

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In RBC, about 40 percents of the total surface area of disks are always submerged.

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During the rotation of disks, the fixed biofilm absorbs organics and oxygen. Although

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RBC is an efficient process removing organics, it would have a deficiency that the
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biomass detached from disks sometimes changes into fine dispersed flocks in the reactor
and the color of effluent becomes white. Thus, a new system, in which the detached
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biofilm is drawn directly from the RBC reactor, has been under study.
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2.4.5. Stabilization Ponds and Aerated Lagoons

Treatment of wastewaters can be simply done by introducing the wastewaters into

ponds. The pond processes are classified as follows:
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(a) Aerobic ponds: shallow ponds, less than 1 meter in depth, where dissolved oxygen is
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maintained throughout the entire depth mainly by the photosynthetic reactions.

(b) Facultative ponds: ponds with the depth of 1.0 to 2.5 meters, having an anaerobic
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lower zone, a facultative middle zone, and an aerobic upper zone maintained by
photosynthesis and surface reaeration.
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(c) Anaerobic ponds: deep ponds receiving high organic loadings such that anaerobic
conditions prevail throughout entire pond depth.

(d) Maturation or tertiary ponds: ponds used for polishing effluents from other
biological processes. Dissolved oxygen is furnished through photosynthesis and
surface reaeration. This type of pond is also known as a polishing pond.

(e) Aerated lagoons: ponds oxygenated through the action of surface or diffused air
aeration.

The processes (a), (b) and (e) are commonly used for secondary treatment of wastewater.
Since sunlight penetrates into the bottom of aerobic ponds, the metabolic reactions of
bacteria and algae complement each other. Since algae produce the oxygen in the
photosynthetic reaction, aerobic bacteria can degrade organic compounds using the

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CIVIL ENGINEERING – Vol. I - Wastewater Management Engineering - Tomonori Matsuo, Eiichi Nakamura, Masahiro Osako

oxygen supplied by algae. In facultative ponds, not only aerobic zone but also
anaerobic zone and facultative zone exist. Therefore, many kinds of biological
reaction occur in the pond system.

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Bibliography

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Japan Sewage Works Association (2001). Guideline and Explanation of Planning & Designing of

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Municipal Sewerage Facilities, Vols. 1 and 2, 2001 Edition, Japan Sewage Works Association, [in
Japanese]. [This planning and design manual covers planning and designing methods in practice for
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whole the facilities of sewerage systems.]
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Matsuo T. (2000). Japanese experiences in water pollution control and wastewater treatment technologies.
Water Science and Technology, Vol. 42, No. 12, pp. 163-172. [This paper provides an overview of
Japanese experiences during the 1970s to the 1990s.]
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Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. Revised by Tchobanoglous G. and Burton F.L. (1991). Wastewater Engineering,
Treatment, Disposal, and Reuse, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill. [This textbook presents theories and
practices of wastewater management, including questions and answers.]
Morioka T. (Ed.) (1998). Industrial Society Aims for the Zero-Emission, Morikita Shuppan (Ltd.), [in
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Japanese]. [This book introduces the policy and objectives of the future industrial society for achieving
the zero-emission state.]
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OECD Environmental Data (Compendium 1999).

Public Works Research Institute (1989). Report on the Survey Results of Unit Loadings in Sewered Areas.
Technical Memorandum of Public Works Research Institute, No. 2766, Public Works Research Institute,
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Ministry of Construction, (in Japanese). [This report presents the results of survey on the unit loadings of
BOD, COD(Mn), SS, T-N and T-P in various sewered areas.]
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Sewerage Handbook Editorial Committee (1996). Sewerage Handbook for Practitioners, Kensetu
Sangyou Chousakai, [in Japanese]. [This book presents recent technologies in wastewater engineering
fields as well as legislative systems of water pollution control in developed countries.]
Tchobanoglous G., Theisen H. and Vigil S. (1993). Integrated Solid Waste Management, McGraw-Hill.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1977). Process Design Manual for Wastewater Treatment
Facilities for Sewered Small Communities, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. [This manual provides a relatively new source of information to be used in the
planning, design and operation of present and future wastewater treatment facilities for sewered small
communities.]
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1979). Process Design Manual for Sludge Treatment and
Disposal, Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory and Office of Research and Development, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency. [This manual presents an up-to date review of design information on
all applicable technologies available for treatment and disposal of municipal wastewater sludge.]
Water Environmental Federation & American Society of Civil Engineers (1998). Design of Municipal
Wastewater Treatment Plants, Vols. 1, 2 and 3, Fourth Edition, WEF Manual of Practice 8, ASCE Manual
and Report on Engineering Practice No. 76, Water Environmental Federation & American Society for

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CIVIL ENGINEERING – Vol. I - Wastewater Management Engineering - Tomonori Matsuo, Eiichi Nakamura, Masahiro Osako

Civil Engineers. [This design manual of practice covers the theories and practical examples of the design
of wastewater treatment plants.]

Biographical Sketches

Tomonori Matsuo graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Tokyo in
1963. In 1966 he started his research carrier at the Department of Urban Engineering of the same
university and he was promoted to Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Department in 1982.
He retired from the University of Tokyo in March 2000 and moved to the Department of Regional
Development Studies, Toyo University in April 2001. He is currently in charge of Dean, Graduate School
of Regional Development Studies, and Director, Center for Sustainable Development Studies, Toyo
University.

Eiichi Nakamura was Director of Water Quality Control Dept., National Institute for Land and
Infrastructure Management, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Tsukuba, Japan and is
presently Vice President of Showa Information Process Co., Ltd. since 2002. He has B.S. in Sanitary

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Engineering from University of Tokyo, M.S. in Environmental Engineering from University of Illinois at
U-C, and Dr. Eng. from University of Tokyo. He used to be involved in stormwater pollution control in

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sewered areas, such as caused by combined sewer overflows, storm waters and sanitary sewer overflows.
He had also worked in the field of eutrophication control in rivers and lakes. He is a member of IWA,

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JSWE, WEF, JSWA, JSCE, JSWRE and Tsukuba Science Academy.
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Masahiro Osako is Senior Researcher of Hazardous Waste Management Section in Research Center for
Material Cycles and Waste Management of National Institute for Environmental Studies since 2000. He
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has Dr. Eng. in Environmental Sanitary Engineering from Kyoto University. He has responsibilities to
conduct several research projects associated with ash management, landfill management, POPs control
measures, prevention for illegal dumping and life-cycle assessment. He had also worked in the field of
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odor evaluation and control engineering. He is a visiting associate professor of Tokyo Institute of
Technology.
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