Bench-Scale Ozonation of Raw Industrial and Municipal Wastewater

This project involved the design, operation, and testing of a bench-scale ozonation wastewater treatment system. Untreated municipal and industrial wastewater was collected from the influent chamber to the Rocky Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Macon, Georgia. The industrial wastewater consisted of paper mill effluent from the Graphic Packaging Plant adjacent to the Rocky Creek WWTP. The Rocky Creek WWTP treats wastewater in an extended aeration activated sludge process. To accomplish this research, a 10-liter clear PVC, semi-batch, bubble column was used to disperse ozone bubbles through a porous diffuser near the bottom of the column. Three 24-hour runs were conducted on each type of wastewater. The ozone was administered at loading rates of 0.60, 4.70, and 9.92 mg O₃/min, respectively, to 6 liters of either raw municipal or industrial wastewater. The following parameters were measured frequently during each 24-hour run: pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphorus, conductivity, turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total volatile solids (TVS). Overall COD removal for the municipal and industrial wastewater averaged 82% and 84%, respectively, whereas, overall TSS removal averaged 83% and 81%, respectively. The ozonation degradation rate constant (K_D) based on TSS destruction ranged from 0.054 hr^–1 to 0.072 hr^–1 for the municipal wastewater and from 0.017 hr^–1 to 0.066 hr^–1 for the industrial wastewater.