Packed-Cage RBC with Combined Cultivation of Suspended and Fixed-Film Biomass

The situation in the treatment of wastewaters from small sources in Czechoslovakia has been discussed and two types of manufactured rotating biological contactors have been described. The evaluation of RBCs' operation showed the main disadvantages of the contactors with conventional discs, viz. the low 0C and low mixing effect. In a newly designed RBC, the discs or packets of discs were replaced by a cage packed with a random medium. The cage was equipped with tubular aeration and mixing elements. The long-term tests with a pilot-plant and a full-scale unit using synthetic as well as municipal wastewaters proved the ability of the packed-cage RBC to achieve a low effluent BOD with such organic loadings when the effluent from the conventional RBCs already deteriorated. Besides the BOD removal the 0C of the packed-cage RBCs was tested to verify the possibility of the combined cultivation of suspended and fixed-film biomass. On the basis of results presented here, a new package wastewater treatment plant for about 500 PE will be designed.