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18-Env-B5 Industrial & Hazardous Waste Management · May 2018

Question 11 of 14: Recycled Bioreactor — Hydraulic and Sludge Retention Time

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

Notes on this paper

Reference texts: LaGrega, Buckingham & Evans, Hazardous Waste Management, 2nd ed.; Nemerow & Dasgupta, Industrial and Hazardous Waste Treatment, 2nd ed.; Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering: Treatment and Resource Recovery, 5th ed.; Davis & Cornwell, Introduction to Environmental Engineering, 6th ed.; Cooper & Alley, Air Pollution Control: A Design Approach; CCME, Guidelines for the Management of Biomedical Waste in Canada (1992); Ontario Environmental Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. E.19 and O. Reg. 347 (Waste Management – General); Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 (Canada) and Regulations; Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), 1999.

Question 11: Recycled Bioreactor — Hydraulic and Sludge Retention Time (10 marks)

Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.

Given.

QuantitySymbolValue
Reactor volume$V$200 m3
Wastewater flow rate$Q$400 m3/d
Settled (reactor) biomass concentration$X$15 g/L
Biomass wastage rate$P_x$300 kg/d

Find. The hydraulic detention (retention) time, $\theta$, and the sludge (solids) retention time, $\theta_c$ (SRT), of the reactor.

Approach. The hydraulic detention time follows directly from reactor volume and flow rate. Since biomass in the supernatant/effluent is stated to be negligible, essentially all the biomass in the system leaves via wasting, so the SRT is the total biomass mass held in the reactor divided by the daily wastage (mass) rate.

  1. Hydraulic detention time. $\theta = V/Q$: $$\theta = \frac{200\ \text{m}^3}{400\ \text{m}^3/\text{d}} = 0.5\ \text{d} = \boxed{12\ \text{hours}}$$
  2. Total biomass held in the reactor. Using the (settled/reactor) biomass concentration over the full reactor volume: $$M_X = X\times V = 15\ \text{g/L}\times200\ \text{m}^3 = 15\ \text{kg/m}^3\times200\ \text{m}^3 = 3000\ \text{kg}$$
  3. Sludge (solids) retention time. Since effluent (supernatant) biomass is ignored, the SRT is total biomass mass over the daily wastage rate, $\theta_c = M_X/P_x$: $$\theta_c = \frac{3000\ \text{kg}}{300\ \text{kg/d}} = \boxed{10\ \text{days}}$$
Final results
QuantityValue
Hydraulic detention time, $\theta$0.5 d (12 hr)
Biomass held in reactor, $M_X$3000 kg
Sludge retention time, $\theta_c$10 days
Check: assumes the "settled biomass concentration" of 15 g/L represents the reactor's own (mixed-liquor) biomass concentration used to size the total mass held in the tank — consistent with a recycled (activated-sludge-type) reactor where the wasted sludge is drawn at essentially the same concentration as the settled solids in the system, and with the question's own instruction to ignore effluent/supernatant biomass entirely.