Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.

2, 2003

Results of the Bio-SAC BNR Process Operation

POSCO E&C

Kim Hyun Ho

1. Introduction
There are the improvement of standard of living and the increase of public
awareness of environment. In Korea sewage treatment plant was first introduced in
1970's, and now it is constructed to small towns. Untill now sewage treatment plant
has used biological treatment system to remove organics and suspended solids.
But according to the improvement of living standard and the strict restriction of
effluent, secondary treatment has had a limit. Technological advances have been
achieved in the sewage treatment to remove nitrogen and phosphorus simultaneously. To
keep pace with this situation, POSCO E&C developed Bio-SAC BNR Process using
fluidized media. In this section the result of operation will be showed at Uljin
sewage treatment plant during the winter season.

1.1 Description
Bio-SAC BNR Process is as follows in figure 1. This full-scale plant using Bio-SAC
BNR Process is to remove organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus simultaneously.
This plant is consist of anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic tanks.

Anaerobic Anoxic Bio-SAC DO Depletion Clarifier

Outlet

Inlet

Internal recycle
Sludge Recycle Wasted Sludge

Figure 1. Bio-SAC BNR Process

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

1.2. Description of Plant

Table 1. Uljin Waste Water Plant
Item Total 1’st(2006) 2’nd(2016) Remarks
Capacity 9,000 5,000 4,000 M3/day
Sewer length 4.45 4.45 - km(not including lateral)
Sewer system - Combined Separated -
Dewatering Sys. Centrifuge -

1.3. History of Plant

1) Construction Period : 2000. 6 ~ 2003. 4
2) Completion : 2003. 4. 24
3) Test Running : 2002. 9 ~ 2003. 4
4) Handing Over : 2003. 5 ~

2. Result of Operation
2.1. Operation
1) MLSS
MLSS in Bio-SAC BNR Process is as follows in winter time.

Table 2. Influent BOD - MLSS

Average Average
Time
MLSS(㎎/L) Influent BOD5(㎎/L)
2002. 11. 1,951 40.8
2002. 12. 2,948 60.6
2003. 01. 3,950 58.4
2003. 02. 4,190 70.5
2003. 03. 3,447 64.8
2003. 04. 2,762 67.9
① Waste Water came first into this plant at 4th Oct, 2002. Seeding work
was done at 26th Oct, 2002.
② MLSS was controlled by volume of waste sludge, and was kept up over
3,000 ㎎/L for winter time.
③ Handling Area has combined sewage overflow system. So influent BOD(60 ~
70 ㎎/L) is lower than design concentration by 40 %.
④ No carbon source had been used as food for bacteria from November 2002
to April 2003. Any food waste and night soil had not been added.

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

⑤ Difference in MLSS was caused by operating condition. Operating Control

was based on temperature.
⑥ Bio-SAC BNR Process uses influent carbon source as food for bacteria,
and upkeep of MLSS can be controlled in spite of lower BOD concentration.

2) Result of Operation
Operating Data are as follows in Table 3.
Table 3. Operating Condition and Result
Design 02' 02' 03' 03' 03' 03'
Item unit Designed
Criteria Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Flow ㎥/d 5,000 5,149 4,266 5,965 6,031 5,191 5,823 6,082
Anaerobic
㎥ 215 ~ 429 317 317 317 317 317 317 317
Tank
Anoxic Tank ㎥ 208 ~416 380 380 380 380 380 380 380
Aerobic Tank ㎥ 312 ~ 833 638 638 638 638 638 638 638
Internal
Recycling ㎥ 127 127 127 127 127 127 127 127
Tank
Total ㎥ 1,462 1,462 1,462 1,462 1,462 1,462 1,462 1,462
Anaerobic(min) 1 ~ 2 1.5 1.8 1.3 1.3 1.5 1.3 1.3
Anoxic(hr) 1 ~ 2 1.8 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.8 1.6 1.5
HRT
Aerobic(hr) 1.5 ~ 4.0 2.8 3.6 2.6 2.5 2.8 2.6 2.5

Total 3.5 ~ 8.0 6.1 7.5 5.4 5.3 6.1 5.5 5.3

SRT d 12.8 12.8 - 71.3 74.8 29.5 41.9 16

3,000 ~
MLSS ㎎/ℓ 3,000 1,841 3,030 3,950 4,148 3,447 3,037
10,000
F/M ㎏ BOD5/㎏ MLSS ㆍ d 0.2 ~ 0.5 0.33 0.05 0.14 0.09 0.1 0.12 0.13
㎏ BOD5/
BOD5 0.5 ~ 2.0 1.1 0.1 0.23 0.24 0.25 0.26 0.25
㎥ㆍ d
Recycling
㎎/ℓ 9,000 9,000 5,214 7,243 9,319 11,916 9,212 10,015
Sluge MLSS
Recycling
% 20 ~ 100 30 ~ 100 60 38 38 37 39 30
Ratio
2,100 ~ 2,100~
MLVSS ㎎/ℓ 1,105 1,825 2,582 2,640 2,180 2,017
7,000 7,000

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

2.2 Operating Result according to Temperature

① Temperature : At seeding time, temperature was about 16℃, during
operating period temperature was as follows.
② Operation according to temperature : Plant is covered by Concrete slab,
so the lowest temperature is about 7℃. Reduction of waste sludge had
been done to maintain a little higher MLSS.
③ Temperature range: Temperature had dropped to 13 ℃ since November. 13℃
is critical degree for de-nitrification and nitrification. Temperature
changed after seeding work had been done. In the inside of tank(anaerobic,
anoxic, and aerobic) temperature change was little.
④ After secondary settling tank, temperature dropped a little.
Table 4. Temperature (unit : ℃)

구 분 02' Nov 02' Dec 03' Jan 03' Feb 03' Mar 03' Apr

Maximum 16.7 14.4 10.5 12 14.5 16.3

Minimum 12.7 10.8 8.2 8.9 9.0 13.7

Average 15.1 12.7 9.4 10.4 11.7 14.9

⑤ Temperature and Nitrogen

12.0 Temp. 10.0

T-N
9.0
10.0
8.0
7.0
8.0
6.0
Temp.(℃)

T-N(㎎/ℓ)

6.0 5.0
4.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
2.0
1.0
- 0.0
date
1

1
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-3
01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

Figure 2. effluent nitrogen - temperature(January)

Result of operation on January(in which temperature of waste water was about 10 ℃,
below 13 ℃) shows that total nitrogen concentrations of effluent were below 7 ㎎/ℓ.

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

Temp.
16.5 7
T-N
16.0
6
15.5
5
15.0
4
Temp(℃)

T-N(㎎/ℓ)
14.5

14.0 3
13.5
2
13.0
1
12.5

12.0 0
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2
date
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04
Figure 3. effluent nitrogen - temperature(April)
Temperature of waste water was from 14 ℃ to 16 ℃ on April. And total nitrogen
concentrations of effluent were below 4 ㎎/ℓ.
Result of nitrogen data on January and April show that nitrogen removal efficiency
of Bio-SAC BNR is affected by temperature.

⑥ Temperature and BOD

Temp.
12.0 9.0
BOD

8.0
10.0
7.0

8.0 6.0
BOD(㎎/ℓ)
Temp.(℃)

5.0
6.0
4.0

4.0 3.0

2.0
2.0
1.0
date
- 0.0
1

1
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-3
01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

Figure 4. effluent BOD - temperature(January)

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

Result of operation on January(in which temperature of waste water was about 10 ℃,

below 13 ℃) shows that BOD concentrations of effluent were about 6 ㎎/ℓ.

Temp.
16.5 BOD7
16.0
6
15.5
5
15.0

BOD(㎎/ℓ)
Temp.(℃)

14.5 4

14.0 3
13.5
2
13.0
1
12.5

12.0 0
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2
date
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04
Figure 5. effluent BOD vs temperature(April)

Temperature of waste water was from 14 ℃ to 16 ℃ on April. And BOD of effluent

were about 4 ㎎/ℓ. If temperature is over 16 ℃, BOD could be below 2 ㎎/ℓ.
Result of BOD data on January and April show that BOD removal efficiency of Bio-
SAC BNR is affected by temperature and in case of above 16 ℃, BOD could be below 2
㎎/ℓ.

2.3. pH
① pH variation
pH in this plant was from 6.5 to 7.5. With high DO for nitrification, pH in this
range didn't affect nitrogen removal. In the treating area, there is no factory and
plant that increases pH.
② pH Shock
When settling efficiency decrease and effluent is muddy, pH should be checked. If
pH control is inappropriate, pH could be toxic to bacteria. So pH had been checked at
regular intervals. There was no shock of pH in the period of operation.
③ Result
There was no matter resulting from pH in the period of operation.

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

2.4. DO
① Influent
In rainy days, DO was about 7 ㎎/ℓ. That is the reason that temperature of water
was low and influent contained O2 in the air. Some DO of influent is generally
removed in sewage pipe. But new sewage pipe system(4.5 km) is constructed, so the
distance of pipe is too short to remove DO.
② Bio-SAC BNR
Bio-SAC BNR has higher DO than any other process. So internal recycling tank is to
decrease DO. If DO is a little lower, there would be anaerobic state in internal
recycling tank and phosphorus would be released in the tank.
③ DO in reaction tanks
DO in aerobic tank was over 6 mg/ℓ to maintain the appropriate state of anaerobic
and anoxic. In case of Uljin plant, characteristic of influent is lower than design
criteria. So one thirds of design DO was needed. 500 ~ 900 N ㎥/hr of air had been
supplied to treat 250 ㎥/hr of waste water.

Table 5. DO in reaction tanks (Unit : mg/ℓ)

Item Anaerobic Anoxic Aerobic

02. 11 Average 0.1 0.1 2.1

02. 12 Average 0.1 0.1 2.7

03. 1 Average 0.1 0.1 1.9

03. 2 Average 0.1 0.1 1.6

03. 3 Average 0.1 0.1 1.2

03. 4 Average 0.1 0.1 6.6

③ DO and Nitrogen
Figure 6. DO vs effluent nitrogen(January)
Figure 7. DO vs effluent nitrogen(April)
In spite of variation of DO, effluent nitrogen was kept constantly.
In the view of results, operation of Bio-SAC BNR is more affected by temperature
than by DO.

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

2.5 MLSS
① Characteristic
30 ~ 50% as return sludge ratio could keep over 3,000 mg/ℓ of MLSS. If the Flow of
influent increased, waste sludge increased. When MLSS was below 2,000 mg/ℓ, COD of
effluent increased.
② Result

Table 6. MLSS and MLVSS (unit : mg/ℓ)

Item MLSS MLVSS
02. 11 Average 1,841 1,105
02. 12 Average 3,030 1,825
03. 1 Average 3,950 2,582
03. 2 Average 4,148 2,640
03. 3 Average 3,447 2,180
03. 4 Average 3,037 2,017
MLVSS/MLSS ratio was 60 ~ 70 %. It is lower than any other process. It is the
reason that there is no primary settling tank in Bio-SAC BNR process.

MLSS
T-N
6,000 7

5,000 6

5
4,000
MLSS(㎎/ℓ)

T-N(㎎/ℓ)

4
3,000
3
2,000
2

1,000 1

- 0

date
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

Figure 8. MLSS - effluent nitrogen(April)

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

MLSS
BOD
6,000 7

5,000 6

5
4,000
MLSS(㎎/ℓ)

BOD(㎎/ℓ)
4
3,000
3
2,000
2
1,000 1

- 0
date
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04
Figure 9. MLSS - effluent BOD(April)
① MLSS-nitrogen : effluent nitrogen was not affected by MLSS. But if MLSS
was over 4,000 ㎎/ℓ, effluent nitrogen increased.
② MLSS-BOD : effluent BOD was similar to effluent nitrogen. So MLSS below
4,000 ㎎/ℓ should be kept.
③ MLSS below 4,000 ㎎/ℓ in reaction tanks should be kept.

2.6 Sludge Return

① Result

Table 7. Sludge Return Rate and MLSS

Item Unit Design Standard02' Nov02' Dec03' Jan03' Feb 03' Mar 03' Apr

4,266 5,965 6,031 5,191 5,823 6,082

Influent Flow m3/day 5,000

59.8 38.5 37.9 37.5 39.4 29.7

Return Rate % 20 ~ 100

5,214 7,242 9,319 11,916 9,212 10,015

MLSS in Return ㎎/ℓ 9,000

1,841 3,030 3,950 4,148 3,447 3,037

MLSS in Tank ㎎/ℓ 3,000

1,000 ~ 5,000 2,550 2,295 2,284 1,948 2,293 1,806

Return Flow m3/day

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

② Operation
In multiplication period sludge return rate had been 60 %. After the period,
sludge return rate was similar to design criteria. It was the reason that
multiplication of attached bacteria had done almost.
Comparing with influent flow, sludge return rate was 40 %. Sludge return had been
stopped for 2 ~ 3 times. It was the reason that MLSS in reaction tanks was increased
to over 5,000 ㎎/ℓ by increase of influent flow.

2.7 F/M ratio

F/M ration is showed in tabel 8. Influent loading was lower than design criteria
and operation was done in winter time, so F/M ratio was a little lower than design
criteria(0.33).

Table 8. F/M ratio (unit : kg․BOD/kg․MLSS․day)

구 분 02' Nov 02' Dec 03' Jan 03' Feb 03' Mar 03' Apr

maximum 0.67 0.40 0.15 0.18 0.19 0.26

minimum 0.05 0.04 0.05 0.04 0.05 0.09

average 0.18 0.14 0.09 0.10 0.12 0.13

① F/M and Effluent BOD

In March and April F/M ratio decreased and effluent BOD decreased also. In the
latter half of February F/M ration had increased, but effluent BOD decreased. F/M
ratio had been about 0.1 in January and February, and was 0.13 in March and April.
But effluent BOD was constant.

0.18 F/M ratio12

0.16 BOD 10
0.14
0.12 8
BOD(㎎/ℓ)

0.10
F/M

6
0.08
0.06 4
0.04
2
0.02
- 0
1

date
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-3
01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

Figure 10. F/M ratio vs Effluent BOD(January)

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

0.20 F/M ratio 12

0.18 BOD
10
0.16
0.14
8

BOD(㎎/ℓ)
0.12
F/M ratio

0.10 6
0.08
4
0.06
0.04
2
0.02
- 0
1

7
date
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2
02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02

02
Figure 11. F/M ratio vs Effluent BOD(February)

F/M ratio
0.25 9
BOD8
0.20 7
6

BOD(㎎/ℓ)
F/M ratio

0.15
5
4
0.10
3
0.05 2
1
- 0
01

03

05

07

09

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

31

date
-

-
03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

03

Figure 12. F/M ratio vs Effluent BOD(March)

0.30 F/M 8ratio

BOD7
0.25
6
0.20
5
BOD(㎎/ℓ)
F/M ratio

0.15 4
3
0.10
2
0.05
1
- 0

date
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

Figure 13. F/M ratio vs Effluent BOD(April)

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

② F/M and Effluent Nitrogen

In January F/M ratio had been about 0.1. In April F/M ratio had been increased to
0.13. Effluent nitrogen had been constant during the period.
In April it was a little warm, F/M ratio decreased gradually, and effluent
nitrogen increased. It is the opposite to BOD trend. F/M ratio shold be controlled to
keep appropriate BOD and nitrogen.

F/M ratio
0.18 10.0
T-N
0.16 9.0
0.14 8.0
7.0
0.12
6.0
F/M ratio

T-N(㎎/ℓ)
0.10
5.0
0.08
4.0
0.06
3.0
0.04 2.0
0.02 1.0
- 0.0
date
1

1
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

-2

-2

-2

-3
01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01

01
Figure 14. F/M ratio vs Effluent Nitrogen(January)

0.30 F/M 7ratio

T-N
0.25 6
5
0.20
F/M ratio

T-N(㎎/ℓ)

4
0.15
3
0.10
2
0.05 1
- 0
1

3
-0

-0

-0

-0

-0

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-2

-2

date
04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

04

Figure 15. F/M ratio vs Effluent Nitrogen(April)

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 Journal of Water and Environment Technology, Vol.1, No.2, 2003

3. Conclusion
In this plant which was applied by Bio-SAC BNR, target of effluent is reached. In
future remodeling work of plants for nutrient removal will take place. It will be
applied by new technology. Bio-SAC BNR is such a verified process that many plant
should take this process.
Bio-SAC BNR Process which uses fluidized media keeps attached and suspended
microbes in the Bio-tank. The results of operation in the full scale plant showed
good effluent quality.
But that results was based on the water analysis in the laboratory. I need some
mathematical formula to explain the mechanism in the bio-tank and the mechanism could
have to provide criteria for operation. These are next steps for developing our
process.

4. Reference
① Report for inspection of Environmental Technology(Bio-SAC BNR
Process), Environmental Management Corporation(2001)
② 2) C. P. Leslie Grady, Jr., Glen T. Daigger, Henry C. Lim, Biological
Wastewater Treatment, Marcel Dekker Inc.(1999)

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