Elena

Morais
1 Fall 2015

The Franklin Area

Wastewater
Treatment Facility

Table of Contents

Introduction4
Background.5
Design .6
i. Pretreatment .6

-Bar racks and bar screens7

-Aerated grit chambers8

-Flotation8

-Equalization8
ii. Primary Treatment .8
iii. Secondary Treatment 11

-The suspended growth reaction ..11

-Membrane bioreactor ....12
iv. Disinfection ..13
v. Sludge management .14

-Sludge stabilization ..14

-Dewatering .15

-Disposal..15
Summary 16
Calculations .17
Citations..18

Lists of Tables and Figures

Figure 14
Figure 27
Figure 3.10
Figure 4.10
Figure 5.10
Figure 6.11
Figure 7.12
Figure 8.13
Figure 9.13
Figure 10..14
Figure 11..15

I. Introduction

Earlier this year, floods of almost biblical proportions devastated the small city of
Franklin, New York. Although the citizens of Franklin are no strangers to flooding,
they were not prepared to face something of this magnitude. The people of this town
have deep roots and are on a mission to restore their home. Not only do they want
to rebuild, also they want to improve and be better than they ever were before.

This is where our company comes into play. After the disaster, the

people of Franklin reached out to us because of our reputation as a green and

socially responsible consulting firm. At EM environmental we have standards and
beliefs we stand and do our work by. Our mission as a company is to not only help
our clients be more environmentally

Figure 1

sustainable and decrease their impact, but

also to help a community as a whole reach
this same goal. We accomplish this by

Franklin

adhering to a few green engineering

principles, the ones we hold most dear.
Where we can, we try to make use of design
for disassembly, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), energy reduction and systems
thinking. The one that will play the biggest role in this project is systems thinking.
We plan to look at the entire system and how it fits into the community as a whole.
By doing this we hope that this plant will continually be a success for years to come
with no complaints or conflicts with this city.

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In this report, we will outline some key aspects of the water purification
process. We will also show detailed information of where Franklin fits into this
system and what designwe believewill be the best solution for this wonderful
city. There will be a public meeting on November 2 at 1:25pm. It will be held in the
town hall of the neighboring city of Newfield Hamlet (166 Main St, Newfield, NY
14867).

II. Background
i.

The location of the new facility was never really up for discussion. The
wastewater treatment plant historically has been located at 525 3rd
St., Franklin, NY 14850, and the town has never encountered any
problems with this location. Furthermore it is close enough to its
discharge location, so we dont have to worry about wasting more
energy on pumping the effluent to a different location.

ii.

The FDA has identified 129 priority pollutants; many of these are
heavy metals that come from industry. We will be testing for all such
pollutants, however we will require that all industry treat their own
wastewater before letting it become a part of the POTWs influent. The
effluent (water leaving the facility) standards declared in the 40 CFR
Part 133.102 for BOD5 and TSS states, the 30-day average effluent
concentration shall not exceed 30 mg/l, the 30-day average percent

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removal shall be at least 85 %, and the 7-day average effluent
concentration shall not exceed 45 mg/l.
TSS is the total suspended solids, which are a water quality
parameter used to assess the quality of water after it has been treated.
Biochemical oxygen demand, or BOD, is the amount of dissolved
oxygen needed by aerobic biological organisms in a body of water to
break down organic material present in a given water sample at a
certain temperature over a specific time period. These are the two
parameters that we will cover the most in this report.
The plant design volume is 92 gallons per person per day, and
we will be using the estimated population for the year 2040, so that
the plant will not have to be updated anytime soon, especially if the
population experiences a huge influx of new residents. We will not be
using the site to maximum capacity; this is simply for when it is
needed. The peak hourly flow (the amount of water needed at the
peak time of day) of wastewater is 1.6 m3/s and the average hourly
flow is 0.7 m3/s for the community of Franklin. These are the figures
we are using to calculate the size of the plant.
For energy requirements, we are supplementing traditional
electricity with the hydroelectric plant utilized for the water
treatment plant, along with our new local wind farm and solar panels,
subsidized by the New York state government.

III. Design

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i.

Pretreatment
This step is where the oily scum, floating debris and grit, which may
inhibit biological process and damage the equipment is removed.
(a) Bar racks (parallel bars or rods) and bar screens
Bar racks and bar screens trap the large solids such as bottles,
feminine products and other items that could damage the pipes
and mechanical equipment. Some sites use communicators, which
grind up these solids into the water to eliminate waste. However,
we have decided to not do this. Using life cycle assessment we
think that breaking down things like plastic and putting it back
into the water is not good for the health of the citizens or the
environment. All plastics come with consequences that we dont
completely understand yet.
(b) Aerated Grit Chambers
This type of chamber creates a helical flow, which enables the grit
to settle out and smaller organic grit to stay suspended. This step
removes grit (e.g. sand, gravel, eggshells, bone fragments, fruit
peels and seeds, and coffee grounds). These substances are
removed because of their abrasive properties.
We chose to go with an aerated grit chamber because the
added oxygen keeps the water fresh. The size of this tank was
calculated based off of the amount of influent, which was based off

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of population size and average water wasted. The calculations for
this are provided below.

Figure 2: chamber volume calculations

(c) Flotation
In this step air is added to the bottom of the tank. By doing this
fats, oils and greasesalso commonly referred to as FOGfloat to
the top of the tank and can be skimmed. In addition, workers will
be hired to collect these oils from restaurants and other
companies that produce these. After collection they will be
repurposed as biodiesel for the municipalitys vehicles. This is a
step that will discourage people from pouring FOGs into the
wastewater system, because they can cause backups and other
costly damages.
(d) Equalization
This step is called flow equalization, and it dampens on the flow of
influent, which can cause operational problems downstream. For

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this site an inline equalization was chosen, because it requires less
energy. With offline equalization, part of the flow is diverted and
pumped with the plant influent. This would require more
electricity but also the reduction of BOD would be minimal.
ii.

Primary Treatment
The purpose of this step is to remove solids though quiescent gravity
settling. This step will take 0.918 hours. For this, circular settling
tanks will be used. This step creates a liquid-solid sludge, which
removes about 60 percent of TSS, 30 percent of the BOD and 20
percent of phosphorous. The BOD and phosphorous is a part of the
TSS that is removed. A coagulant will be added to the water, like in the
water treatment plant, and the choice of alum as the coagulant is the
same. This decision was made based off of energy saved and life cycle
assessment. When a coagulant is used in this phase it reduces the
amount of energy that needs to be used during secondary treatment.
The sludge after this step is moved to further treatment to remove
possible pathogenic organisms and remove the high water content.
The sizes of these tanks have been calculated. There will be two tanks
for backup in case of repairs and other issues that might arise. The
calculations for these are provided below. Based off of the average
retention times for grit chambers, the time of three minutes was
chosen and multiplied by the peak hourly flow of 1.6 m3/s. The
volume of each tank was found to be 144 m3. This was taken a step

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further by calculating the diameters by using a width to depth ratio of
1.5:1 and a chosen depth of 4. The diameter was found to be 6ft.
ClearCove Systems received a grant from New York State Energy
Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to test their
flatline primary treatment system. If this proves to be effective, we
will use this system instead. These results should be in before the
construction of this plant, and then this design will be modified
slightly to work with what their research has shown is a better
system. What they hope to prove is that their flatline gravity process
will remove more TSS. This will mean that the water will not have to
go through the secondary aeration treatment process, which would
save massive amounts of energy, as well as capture more organic
material from the water. The organic material, in this plan and theirs,
is captured and sent to digesters to use as fuel for the plant.

Figure 3: Tank
Calculations

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Figure 4 (left) and Figure 5 (right): pictures of actual
circular primary treatment tanks

iii.

Secondary Treatment
This step uses microorganisms to decompose particles and BOD in the
water. This step will be modified if the studies are proven to be
correct. If it does, then we will not require a secondary aeration basin.
However, this section describes the step if the theory is proven to be
incorrect.
(a) The suspended-growth reactor: Activated-sludge
In this step effluent from the primary treatment is mixed with a
mass of bio-organisms (e.g. fungi, bacteria, rotifers and protozoa)
in an aeration basin. The mix that is formed is often referred to as
the mixed liquor. The TSS in this process is called mixed liquor
suspended solids (MLSS). Dissolved oxygen (DO) levels are
usually kept at 1.5-4.0 mg/L. The most common level and the level
we will be choosing is 2.0 mg/L. It can cost more to maintain

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higher levels of dissolved oxygen. Even though the oxygen
degrades the BOD, this is still a good level. The bacteria assimilate
the dissolved organic matter. The rotifers and protozoa remove
the dispersed bacteria, which dont settle. Based on the influent
into the plant we were able to find the size of the aeration basin
and length of the aeration period. We found the influent BOD5 to
be 315.31 mg/. With this knowledge of our SRT (Solids Retention
Time) we were able to find our volume of the aeration basins to be
1448386.62 L and the aeration period to be 2.69 hours. The fact
that our SRT is lower (only 5-days) can tell us a lot about our
plant. The first that this tells us is that the F/M (food to
microorganism) ratio is higher than average. This is important
because the ratio tells us a lot about what will happen to our
sludge. Aeration will require a little more energy to run, because a
plant at high F/M ratio has an extended aeration period (by the
period we calculated, it is not extended by much). The BOD
removed will be less efficient, and the cell retention time is low.
The sludge age will be low, however the sludge wastage rate may
increase, which would be good for the plants production of
energy.

Figure 6:

suspended-growth
Reactor

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(b) Membrane Bioreactors (MBR)
The best option for this project is a modified system called a
membrane bioreactor (MBR): this is combined with the
suspended-growth process. The mixed liquor in the aeration basin
is filtered through a membrane, which uses a pump of less than 50
kPa to filter the water while leaving the biosolids in the aeration
basin. This process technically requires more energy, however
since the biosolids do not have to be split into two different
streams and pumped to different areas of the facility, energy is
also saved and might break even. Other benefits of this system
include: the elimination for the need of secondary clarifiers or
filters; the system can operate at higher MLSS loadings and lower
DO levels; they have less sludge problems; they require 40-60
percent less land, and secondary treatment effluent is of better
quality when it comes to things like BOD, turbidity, TSS and
bacteria. The only drawbacks would be the high initial principle
price and the need to clean the membranes on a cyclical basis. For
all of these reasons two membranes will be installed for when
cleaning takes place or if one fails.

Figure 7

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Figure 8:
Diagram of
inline MBR in
aeration basin

iv.

Disinfection
This last step is to remove all pathogenic organisms. Ultraviolet light
will be used to disinfect the water. This method to our company is
preferred to the addition of chlorine or other chemicals. Although this
method requires more energy we have a few methods to overcome
this, which we will go into detail over later in this report. The
incoming water is aerated by the addition of gaseous oxygen and
putting it in the liquid phase. This will be accomplished by the use of
fine pore diffusers. These diffusers produce very small bubbles at the
bottom of the tank and require 50 percent less energy than course
bubble diffusers. Since they require more cleaning we will have two
tanks, however we can afford this space because of all the land saved
by using the MBR.

Figure 9

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v.

Sludge Management
(a) Sludge stabilization
This system will be use an anaerobic digestion. The solids from the
secondary treatment will go here. The plant creates about 1245.6
kg of secondary dry solids a day (the calculations for this step will
be provided at the end of the report). Microorganisms are
introduced to the digester, which produce enzymes (these
breakdown the sludge). The second thing that happens is
acidogenesis and acetogensis. In acidogenesis acid forming
bacteria change sugars, amino acids and fatty acids into weak
organic acids. Then in acetogensis, hydrogen and carbon dioxide
are formed. The final step is methaneogenesis. Specialized
bacteria take the hydrogen and weak acids from the previous two
steps and produce methane and carbon dioxide. Because of this
and the processs low energy demand, this is a step that is most
commonly chosen. The methane produced here can also be used
to help run the plant and reduce energy costs.

Figure 10

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(b) Dewatering
This step further reduces the volume of the wastes. The solids
were previously only 0.5 percent solid, but after this step they will
be 15-50 percent solids. A dedicated side stream will be applied to
the digesters. This digestant is usually rich in nitrogen and
phosphate and contains a large amount of the plants nutrient
loading. By doing this with a belt filter press mechanical
dewatering system, the plant will be able to produce a product
that can be used. It also means there will be fewer requirements
for energy, chemicals, and less sludge production after this is
completed.

(c) Disposal
Dewatering will allow the sludge that is produced to be
composted, but also giving it to local agricultural lands to be
applied as fertilizer. However, there are some steps that need to
be taken if this is the path that is chosen. There will need to be an
agreed upon plan in place to make sure that certain chemicals are
not introduced to our wastewater. So once the plan has been voted
on we can proceed on this path. The biosolids will be tested for
specific chemicals before they are used for agricultural means.

IV. Summary

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i.

Overview
In this report the idea for the municipal wastewater treatment
plant was presented. The tanks were all sized based off of the
estimated population and average and maximum wastewater
flows. There are a few things that will need to be decided on in the
next few months before the plant can be completely completed,
and some of these will have to be done by the citizens in Franklin.

ii.

Meeting
There will be a meeting November 2 at 1:25pm. It will be held in
the town hall of the neighboring city of Newfield Hamlet (166 Main
St, Newfield, NY 14867). At this meeting there will be a vote on what
needs to be done.

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V. Calculations

Top Left: calculations for sizing for primary

settling tank

Bottom left: calculations of volume of
activated-sludge aeration tank and aeration
period

Bottom right: Calculations of primary and
secondary dry solids produced
Calculations of F/M ratio

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VI. Citations
Dow, Nysdec -. "Division of Water Technical and Operational Guidance
Series." Division of Water Technical and Operational Guidance Series
(TOGS 1.3.3) SPDES PERMIT DEVELOPMENT FOR POTWS (Originator:
Mr. DiMura) (n.d.): n. pag. New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/water_pdf/togs133.pdf>.

Mihelcic, James R., Julie Beth Zimmerman, and Martin T. Auer.
Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design. 2nd
ed. N.p.: Wiley, n.d. Print.

"Wastewater Treatment | Ithaca, NY - Official Website." Wastewater
Treatment | Ithaca, NY - Official Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.cityofithaca.org/331/Wastewater-Treatment