Wastewater Treatment with Biomass Attached to Porous Geotextile Baffles
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 2
Abstract
A bench-scale study used nonwoven geotextiles as a compact biomass host media to treat wastewater from a combined sewer system. The geotextile coupons were used as baffles and suspended in an aerated reactor. Each baffle was offset in succession to form a sinuous channel with permeable boundaries. Filtering the total suspended solids (TSS) and micro-organisms formed a biomass floc in the interior of the baffles, which grew to emerge on the surface. Suspended and nonsettleable colloidal solids in the influent wastewater were captured by both filtration and adsorption from the channel flow. This bench-scale setup, named the geotextile baffle contact system, consistently provided secondary treatment to influent concentrations up to 318 mg/l of TSS and 114 mg/l of biological oxygen demand. Ammonia concentrations were reduced over 90%, and mineralization of the nitrate was also observed when the biofilm aged and thickened. Some of the influent TSS and sloughed biomass from the baffles settled to the bottom of the tank.
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Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the Turkish Higher Education Council and Drexel University. Assistance and guidance by the Philadelphia Water Department and the Geosynthetics Research Institute is also noted.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 2 • February 2006
Pages: 284 - 288
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 22, 2004
Accepted: Jun 15, 2005
Published online: Feb 1, 2006
Published in print: Feb 2006
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