Municipal wastewater treatment in Berlin with deep tanks and flotation for secondary clarification

For municipal wastewater treatment, space-saving 10m deep activated sludge tanks are an interesting alternative to conventional tanks of shallow construction. Results from pilot tests in the Berlin-Ruhleben WWTP have shown that the biological P-elimination, nutrification and denitrification processes can be implemented as in shallow tanks. However, the activated sludge did not settle satisfactorily. Flotation was implemented in the process for secondary clarification and in the meanwhile has shown to be advantageous. Tests run over a period of some years with the pilot plant have proven the feasibility of this process. Energy requirements for both systems were found to be approximately the same. A cost estimate based on a preplan revealed a 10% advantage in favour of the 10m WWTP with flotation. For these reasons, one 10m WWTP with flotation for secondary clarification and a capacity of 80,000 m³/d will be built in Berlin in the near future.