Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1969 Treatment of waste waters by pulsed adsorption beds Robert LeRoy Johnson Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons, and the Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Robert LeRoy, "Treatment of waste waters by pulsed adsorption beds " (1969). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 4116. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/4116 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 70-13,596 JOHNSON, Robert LeRoy^ 1934- TREATMENT OF WASTE WATERS BY PULSED ADSORPTION BEDS. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1969 Engineering, sanitary and municipal University Microfilms, Inc.. Ann Arbor. Michigan Copyright by ~ ROBERT LeROY JOHNSON 1970 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED TREÂTMEOT OF WASTE WATERS BY PULSED ADSORPTION BEDS by Robert LeRoy Johnson A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subject: Sanitary Engineering Approved : Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Head of Major Departmrat Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa 1969 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 General 1 Advanced Waste Treatment 6 BACKGROUND 9 General 9 Consideration of Adsorption Phenomena 11 Historical Aspects of Interfacial Area in Sewage Treatment 15 Adsorption Effects in Natural Waters 17 Surface Area Effects in Biological Treatment 20 PROCESS CONFIGURATION 22 DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS 27 SYNTHETIC WASTE WATER 36 ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES 39 General 39 Total Carbon Analysis 40 Theory 40 Instrument calibration 42 Inorganic carbonate interference 42 Silicate Interference in Carbon Analysis 45 Total, Soluble, and Suspended Organic Carbon 49 TOC-COD Correlation 52 EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS 54 OPERATION AND SAMPLING PROCEDURES 64 Exploratory Series 64 iii Page Media Selection Series 66 Sand Operational Series 68 Pilot Plant Operational Series 68 Sampling Procedure 69 Operating Problems 70 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND THEIR INTERPRETATION 73 Adsorption 73 Operation Data 79 Media Selection Runs 92 MSA-series 92 MSB-series 98 S-Series Runs 104 BOD analyses 106 Head loss 111 Power dissipation 117 Oxygen transfer 127 Effect of media depth 128 Temperature 138 Volatile solids in media 140 Phosphate and nitrogen analyses 140 Pilot Plant Operation 141 P-1 unit 141 P-2 unit 144 DISCUSSION 147 Adsorption 147 Dimensional Analysis 148 PAB Process Treatment Facility Configuration 149 Economics 150 COTJr.T.lTSTONS 155 iv RECOMMENDATIONS 159 LITERATURE CITED 161 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 165 APPENDIX A 166 Organic Carbon Data 166 APPENDIX B 189 Hydraulic Data 189 APPENDIX C 212 Miscellaneous Data 212 APPENDIX D 221 Depth Sample Data 221 V LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure I. Schematic diagram of microbial metabolism 3 Figure 2. Change of surface tension in aqueous solutions of n-caproic acid 14 Figure 3. Schematic diagram of PAB process configurations 23 Figure 4. Typical calibration curve for carbonaceous analyzer 43 Figure 5. Effect of purge duration on removal of inorganic carbonates 46 Figure 6. Silicate interference in organic carbon analysis 48 Figure 7. TOC-COD correlation of synthetic waste water 53 Figure 8. Schematic flow diagram of experimental PAB units 55 Figure 9. Schematic diagram of laboratory PAB unit 56 Figure 10. Experimental PAB units in operation 57 Figure 11. Calibration curve for rotameter used for tap water flow rate measurement 59 Figure 12. Typical calibration curve for rotameter used for air flow rate measurement 62 Figure 13. Typical startup adsorption curves for sand 74 Figure 14. Startup adsorption curves for anthracite coal 75 Figure 15. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSA-1 and MSA-5 units 80 Figure 16. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSA-2 and MSA-3 units 81 Figure 17. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSA-3A and MSA-4 units 82 Figure 18. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSB-1 and MSB-2 units 83 Figure 19. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSB-3 and MSB-4 units 84 vi Figure 20. Influent and effluent TOC variation for MSB-5 unit 85 Figure 21. Influent and effluent TOC variation for S-1 and S-2 units 86 Figure 22. Influent and effluent TOC variation for S-3 unit 87 Figure 23. Influent and effluent TOC variation for S-4 and S-5 units 88 Figure 24, Influent and effluent SOC variation for S-1 and S-2 units 89 Figure 25. Influent and effluent SOC variation for S-3 unit 90 Figure 26. Influent and effluent SOC variations for S-4 and S-5 units 91 Figure 27. Correlation of absolute TOC removal with influent TOC concentration for MSB-4 unit 101 Figure 28. TOC-SOC correlation of influent synthetic waste water 107 Figure 29. Variation of head loss with air flow rate for S-series runs 112 Figure 30. Variation of friction term (f) with modified Reynolds number 116 Figure 31. Variation of modified friction term FfC^)^] with modified Reynolds number 118 Figure 32. TOC removal efficiency correlation with power dis­ sipation term 123 Figure 33. SOC removal efficiency correlation with power dis­ sipation term 124 Figure 34, Variation of oxygen transfer coefficient with sand media diameter 130 Figure 35, Variation of SOC removal with depth for S-1 unit 132 Figure 36. Variation of SOC removal with depth for S-2 unit 133 Figure 37. Variation of SOC removal with depth for S-3 unit 134 Figure 38. Variation of SOC removal with depth for S-4 and S-5 units 135 vii LIST OF TABLES Page Change of surface tension with concentration of various organic compounds in solution 12 PAB process variables 29 Elimination of variables for dimensional analysis 30 Variables used in dimensional analysis of the PAB process 31 Characteristics of final effluent from City of Ames Water Pollution Control Plant 36 Average increase in SOC of filtrate passed through a 0.45 micron membrane 51 Typical results of E-series runs using Ames Water Pollution Control Plant final effluent 65 Media evaluated in MSA-series and MSB-series runs 67 Media sizes used in S-series runs 68 Comparison of TOC removal based on analysis of composite samples and grab samples from MSA-series runs 70 Adsorption of COD onto various media 77 Summary of results of the MSA-series runs 93 MSA-series operation using final effluent 97 Volatile solids in media from MSA-series 98 Summary of results of the MSB-series runs 100 Volatile solids in media from MSB-series 103 Summary of results of the S-series runs 105 Regression analyses of TOC data for S-series runs 108 Regression analyses of SOC data for S-series 109 viii Page Table 20. BOD results for S-series runs 110 Table 21. Summary of S-series BOD removal results 110 Table 22. Power dissipation terms (Gt) and (Xt//ïï) for laboratory runs 125 Table 23. Oxygen transfer coefficients for S-series runs 129 Table 24. SOC removal rate constants for the S-series results 136 Table 25. SOC removal as a function of sand size and flow rate at a media depth of 30 inches 138 Table 26. Sand depth required for 90 percent SOC removal and percent SOC removal at 60 inch media depth 139 Table 27. Temperature of waste water 140 Table 28. Volatile solids in media at the termination of the S-series runs 141 Table 29. Summary of P-1 unit operation 143 Table 30. Comparison of TOC, COD and BOD removal for P-1 unit operation 144 Table 31. P-2 unit sand sieve analyses 145 Table 32. Summary of P-2 unit operation using fine graded sand 146 Table 33. Ultimate organic carbon removal in S-series runs 151 Table 34. Ultimate organic carbon removal in pilot plant operation 152 ix TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS The following terms and appropriate abbreviations are used through­ out this dissertation and are included here for the convenience of the reader. Other less used terms and their symbols are defined when they appear within the text. biochemical oxygen demand (5-day, 20°C) BOD centimeter cm cents Ç chemical oxygen demand COD cubic centimeter cc cubic feet cu ft degrees Celsius (formerly degrees Centigrade) °C equation Eq. gallons per minute gpm gram gm gram per liter gm/1 length L liter 1 mass M milligram per liter mg/1 milligram mg milliliter ml millimeter mm million gallons per day MGD minute min X negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration pH number No. per / pounds per square inch psi pulsed adsorption bed PAB soluble organic carbon SOC 2 square centimeter cm square feet sq ft suspended solid organic carbon SSOC time T total organic carbon TOC volatile suspended solids VSS 1 INTRODUCTION General The water-carried wastes from municipalities are commonly called domestic sewage. Various proportions of industrial waste waters are frequently included in municipal waste waters. These waste waters have the potential to cause aesthetic, economic and physiological damage to the environment or to man. Consequently, municipal and industrial waste waters are given various degrees of treatment before being discharged into a receiving water body such as a lake or a stream. The organic material in the sewage can exert a demand for the dis­ solved oxygen in the receiving water body when the organic material is utilized by the biota in the sewage and in the receiving water.