Activated Sludge Modes In Wastewater Treatment

and um go from there so but um yeah i just think you know wanted to do that and let you all know about that as i go through um these things with wastewater treatment but um we can go ahead and get started with the uh flash card session And the very first thing we're going to ask is, or I'm going to ask is, what is the activated sludge process? And the activated sludge process is a biological treatment process that uses microorganisms, oxygen, and mixing to remove organic pollutants from wastewater.

What are the main components of a conventional activated sludge system? And those components are an aeration basin, a secondary clarifier, a return activated sludge or a RAS, R-A-S, and then a waste activated sludge or a WAS, W-A-S.

Those are the main components of a conventional activated sludge system.

What is mixed liquor? And we're not talking about alcohol.

Mixed liquor and wastewater is the mixture of wastewater and activated sludge microorganisms in the aeration basin.

And then the next thing is what is MLSS? That's what is abbreviated.

So what is MLSS? And that is mixed liquor suspended solids.

And that's the concentration of suspended solids in the aeration basin.

What is MLVSS? and mlvss is mixed liquor volatile suspended solids and that's the portion of the mlss or the mixed liquor suspended solids commonly used as an estimate of biological organic solids so whenever somebody talks about the volatile you always got to think organic it's always organic when they uh say i'm going to solve you know for The mixed liquor volatile suspended solids.

They want to know how much organics is in the suspended solids.

What is conventional activated sludge or CAS? And that is a process where wastewater and RAS or return activated sludge entering aeration basin receive biological treatment and then flow to a secondary clarifier.

What is the main purpose of an aeration basin? And that is to provide microorganisms with oxygen mixing in contact with wastewater so they can consume organic matter.

What happens in the secondary clarifier? And that is biological solids settle from the treated wastewater.

So when a clarifier is a big tank, uh a big basin where the wastewater flows through it and um it settles out the sludge on the bottom and then you got the supernatant or the liquid or wastewater at the top and then it gets sometimes or in some instances you know it gets separated and it goes you know to another process and everything but The sludge, the main thing about it though is a clarifier is a sedimentation basin so sludge is going to settle at the bottom of these tanks and then it will get pumped to wherever it needs to go for thickening or solids handling in another process or digestion.

What happens to settled sludge in a conventional system? And as I was saying, some is returned, or this is another thing, but some is returned as RAS or return activated sludge, and some is removed as WAS, waste activated sludge.

So some of it is returned.

So the sludge that's returned, it goes back into the beginning of the activated sludge process so microorganisms can feed on the incoming wastewater to continue to grow and to biologically break down BOD and other materials so they can treat the wastewater.

So that's what RAS is doing.

So it's continuing to return it back to the system.

And then WAS is waste activated sludge that is wasted out of the system.

So it could either go to digestion or solids handling.

And that's what happens to the settled sludge in a conventional system.

What is a major purpose of RAS? And a major purpose of return activated sludge is to return microorganisms from the secondary clarifier to the aeration basin and maintain the desired biomass concentration.

And that's what I was saying is return back to the beginning of the activated sludge process.

is to keep a good biomass concentration and it's going to be returned from the secondary clarifier.

and um go from there so but um yeah i just think you know wanted to do that and let you all know about that as i go through um these things with wastewater treatment but um we can go ahead and get started with the uh flash card session And the very first thing we're going to ask is, or I'm going to ask is, what is the activated sludge process? And the activated sludge process is a biological treatment process that uses microorganisms, oxygen, and mixing to remove organic pollutants from wastewater.

What are the main components of a conventional activated sludge system? And those components are an aeration basin, a secondary clarifier, a return activated sludge or a RAS, R-A-S, and then a waste activated sludge or a WAS, W-A-S.

Those are the main components of a conventional activated sludge system.

What is mixed liquor? And we're not talking about alcohol.

Mixed liquor and wastewater is the mixture of wastewater and activated sludge microorganisms in the aeration basin.

And then the next thing is what is MLSS? That's what is abbreviated.

So what is MLSS? And that is mixed liquor suspended solids.

And that's the concentration of suspended solids in the aeration basin.

What is MLVSS? and mlvss is mixed liquor volatile suspended solids and that's the portion of the mlss or the mixed liquor suspended solids commonly used as an estimate of biological organic solids so whenever somebody talks about the volatile you always got to think organic it's always organic when they uh say i'm going to solve you know for The mixed liquor volatile suspended solids.

They want to know how much organics is in the suspended solids.

What is conventional activated sludge or CAS? And that is a process where wastewater and RAS or return activated sludge entering aeration basin receive biological treatment and then flow to a secondary clarifier.

What is the main purpose of an aeration basin? And that is to provide microorganisms with oxygen mixing in contact with wastewater so they can consume organic matter.

What happens in the secondary clarifier? And that is biological solids settle from the treated wastewater.

So when a clarifier is a big tank, uh a big basin where the wastewater flows through it and um it settles out the sludge on the bottom and then you got the supernatant or the liquid or wastewater at the top and then it gets sometimes or in some instances you know it gets separated and it goes you know to another process and everything but The sludge, the main thing about it though is a clarifier is a sedimentation basin so sludge is going to settle at the bottom of these tanks and then it will get pumped to wherever it needs to go for thickening or solids handling in another process or digestion.

What happens to settled sludge in a conventional system? And as I was saying, some is returned, or this is another thing, but some is returned as RAS or return activated sludge, and some is removed as WAS, waste activated sludge.

So some of it is returned.

So the sludge that's returned, it goes back into the beginning of the activated sludge process so microorganisms can feed on the incoming wastewater to continue to grow and to biologically break down BOD and other materials so they can treat the wastewater.

So that's what RAS is doing.

So it's continuing to return it back to the system.

And then WAS is waste activated sludge that is wasted out of the system.

So it could either go to digestion or solids handling.

And that's what happens to the settled sludge in a conventional system.

What is a major purpose of RAS? And a major purpose of return activated sludge is to return microorganisms from the secondary clarifier to the aeration basin and maintain the desired biomass concentration.

And that's what I was saying is return back to the beginning of the activated sludge process.

is to keep a good biomass concentration and it's going to be returned from the secondary clarifier.