JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND

TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (COETEC)

BSc. in CIVIL ENGINEERING

PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING III (PHE III)

ECE 2504

ASSIGNMENT 1: HYDRAULIC MIX AND FLOW REGIMES

ENG. WANGAI

YUNUS SHOEB SEIFUDDIN

EN251-10010/2015

BURHANUDDIN MAKAI

EN251-4207/2015

SUBMITTED IN DEC 2019

Hydraulic Mix and Flow Regimes

There are various mixing Regimes used in the activated sludge Process:

1. Plug Flow
2. Complete Mixing
3. Complete stirring in series

A. Plug Flow

In fluid mechanics, plug flow is a simple model of the velocity profile of a fluid flowing in
a pipe. In plug flow, the velocity of the fluid is assumed to be constant across any cross-section
of the pipe perpendicular to the axis of the pipe.

This is also known as the conventional arrangement where the sludge flowing enters one side of
a long narrow tank and exits at the other. In summary this regime is characterized by
systematical flow of the waste water through the aeration chamber with no mixing of any
additives or elements. There is generally only lateral mixing of the effluent but no mixing along
the path of flow.

The figure below shows how substrate and oxygen demand vary along the length of the tank.
Oxygen demand is highest in the first 20 percent of the tank because of substrate oxidation.
Oxygen demand along the remainder of the tank is due to endogenous respiration. If the
concentration of substrate is high; it may lead to complete depletion of dissolved oxygen.
Oxygen depletion may be detrimental to some of the microbial population. It may also result in
fermentation or partial oxidation that results in organic acid production and a drop in pH.
 B. Complete Mixing

This process is a completely mixed stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Because the influent is
“immediately” diluted with the contents of the tank, the substrate concentration and dissolved
oxygen (DO) are uniform over the reactor volume. This is illustrated by the large-dashed line in
the figure below. While this arrangement overcomes the high initial loading and DO problems in
a plug flow system, its removal efficiency is not as high.

In a nutshell in complete mixing, the contents of aeration tank are well stirred and uniform
throughout. Thus, at steady state, the effluent from the aeration tank has the same composition as
the aeration tank contents.
 C. Staged Activated Sludge (Series) - In this system several completely mixed tanks are
placed in series Although each tank is mixed, the contents do not mix among them. Three
or more tanks in series approximate a plug-flow system. This system provides the
advantage of the plug flow system’s efficiency as well as that of the complete mix
system’s capacity to deal with high organic load and ability to maintain acceptable DO
levels.

Why are these mixing regimes important?

The type of mixing regime is very important as it affects

(1) Oxygen transfer requirements in the aeration tank

(2) Susceptibility of biomass to shock loads

(3) Local environmental conditions in the aeration tank

(4) The kinetics governing the treatment process.

 Work Cited

Peters, R. W. (2011). Water and wastewater engineering: Design principles and practice. Environmental

Progress & Sustainable Energy, 30(3), 266-267.