Operating and Optimizing the Pilot Wastewater Treatment Plant

With the attention paid to wastewater treatment, the process of wastewater treatment has been developing rapidly. Activated sludge process has been widely used in wastewater treatment in recent years. The purpose of this study is to research how to start, run and optimize the pilot sewage treatment plant built for educational and research purposes in Savonia UAS. The wastewater and sludge used in the study come from local wastewater treatment plant situated in Lehtoniemi (Kuopion Vesi) in Kuopio, Finland. The object of this study is the gain the knowledge needed for operating the pilot wastewater treatment plant. Through studying and researching the pilot, we can have a certain understanding of the treatment of wastewater by activated sludge process and at the same time we are getting familiar with the equipment, automation system and basic principles and the connections of the unit operations taking place in the pilot process. The most important thing of activated sludge process is the activity of sludge, and the activity of sludge is related to the number of micro-organisms and the living environment of micro-organisms. In order to keeep the activity of activated sludge at a high level, it is necessary to keep the amount of activated sludge in the process in a certain range and at the same time control pH, temperature, oxygen and other conditions under the requirements of microbial survival. Optimal conditions for each activated treatment plant are unique, so testing and optimizing of the process is needed in all activated sludge wastewater treatment plants