Removal of Soluble and Particulate Organic Material in Municipal Wastewater by a Chemical Flocculation and Biohlm Processes

Since the major part of the contaminants in municipal wastewater is associated with particles, direct particle separation is an effective way of lowering the wastewater contaminant level. An additional biological oxidation is usually required to remove the residual soluble contaminants. This paper presents the experimental data on the chemical treatment of municipal wastewater by the Jet Mixed Separator(JMS) which can be used as a unit process for physico-chemical treatment. As simultaneous flocculation and sedimentation occurred, the JMS effluent concentration of phosphorus and suspended solids was low in a hydraulic retention time of less than 1 hour. The removal efficiency of TOC associated with particles with a diameter of more than 0.1 µm was also high. The JMS effluent was treated using an upgraded Rotating Biological Contactor to remove the residual contaminants due to the surface adsorption of particulate contaminants and the biological oxidation of soluble organics and ammonia nitrogen. The performance of the combined system of JMS and RBC was very high in producing the effluent with very low concentrations of TOC, phosphorous and suspended solids in a hydraulic retention time of less than 2 hours.