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Improving Design of the BNR Process in Wastewater Treatment Plants from an Operations Perspective

Sole nutrient removal from wastewater discharges has become an increasing challenge, as regulatory authorities tighten discharge standards to avoid eutrophication problems in receiving waters. Engineers have become aware that there is a need for new engineering design of standard wastewater treatment plants that should include removal of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) in an efficient and cost effective manner. This need led to the development of biological nutrient removal (BNR) process, which is a distinctive modification of the basic activated sludge process. The BNR process is controlled in bioreactor with separate zones that create different biochemical environments, which allow the system to remove a high degree of nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater. There are many uncertainties and uncontrollable factors in the BNR process, therefore achieving high reliability depends heavily on knowledgeable operators and engineers. Operators and start-up engineers can help design engineers become more knowledgeable about uniqueness in design by passing on key information that becomes available during operations. This information was collected and used to improve design's layout of BNR bioreactor to accommodate all observed operational deficiencies. The deficiencies found during operations were related to start-up conditions, climate, process related issues and equipment spacing. Start-up conditions, climate and equipment need to be considered more closely during design. Engineers can learn from the process related deficiencies found during operations to improve the process design. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004. / Date of Defense: March 31, 2004. / Nutrient Removal, BioWin / Includes bibliographical references. / Danuta Leszczynska, Professor Directing Thesis; Amy Chan Hilton, Committee Member; Andrew Dzurik, Committee Member.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_168663
ContributorsZickefoose, Brie (authoraut), Leszczynska, Danuta (professor directing thesis), Hilton, Amy Chan (committee member), Dzurik, Andrew (committee member), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution)
PublisherFlorida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish, English
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText, text
Format1 online resource, computer, application/pdf

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