AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF SOLIDS FLUX CURVES USING ON-LINE INSTRUMENT

Sludge settleability is a critical piece of information for the construction of solids flux curve. As such, it is of interest to quantify and monitor the sludge settleability for the purpose of troubleshooting and optimizing the activated sludge process. The use of solids flux curve, however, has not been permeated through the operation of activated sludge system. This is primarily due to the fact that the manual procedures one must follow to obtain the sludge settleability is time-consuming, cumbersome, and yet subject to error. In an effort to alleviate the difficulties associated with manual procedures, a commercially available on-line instrument (OptiQuant SVI) was modified and used to measure the sludge settleability on-line. During the testing period of 21 days at South San Francisco Water Quality Control Plant, the instrument collected 435 sludge sedimentation profiles in and opened up an opportunity to examine the relationship between sludge settleability and other parameters. This paper discusses a method for automating the sludge settleability measurement procedures using on-line instrument, which then allowed the generation of plant-specific solids flux curves.