Kinetic Rates and Mass Balance of COD, TKN, and TP Using SBR Treating Domestic and Industrial Wastewater
Chaowalit Warodomrungsimun PhD*, Prayoon Fongsatitkul PhD*
Affiliation : * Department of Sanitary Engineering, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand ** The Center for Environmental Health, Toxicology and Management of Chemicals (ETM), Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To assess the performance of SBR to treat three different types of wastewater from domestic, hospital,
slaughterhouse and investigate the kinetic rates of active biomass. Mass balance calculation of COD, TKN
and TP was further performed to explain the mechanisms of the biological nutrient removals processed in the
SBR system. The measured kinetic rates were in turn used to evaluate the process performances under different
types of wastewater.
Material and Method: Experimental research involving 3 similar SBR lab-scales were installed and operated
at the Sanitary Engineering Laboratory. The reactors were seeded with sludge biomass obtained from the
Sri-Phraya Domestic Wastewater Treatment Plant in Bangkok. The slaughterhouse, hospital and domestic
wastewaters were treated by SBR system for biological organic carbon (COD), nitrogen (TKN) and phosphorus
removals. Biological methods for kinetic rates evaluation were conducted in five replicated batch tests.
Results : The removal efficiencies of COD and TKN were greater than 90% for all three types of wastewater
while the biological phosphorus removal for domestic and hospital wastewaters were less than 60% and
phosphorus removal for slaughterhouse exceeded 95%. The kinetic rates of nitrification and denitrification of
hospital wastewater was lower than those the domestic and slaughterhouse wastewaters. Phosphorus release
and uptake rates of slaughterhouse wastewater were high but domestic and hospital wastewaters were very
low.
Conclusion : The result of system removal efficiency and batch test for kinetic rates confirmed that the domestic
and hospital wastewaters were in deficiency of organic carbon with respect to its ability to support successful
biological phosphorus removal.
Keywords : Domestic wastewater, Industrial wastewater, Sequencing batch reactors, Kinetic rate, Biological nutrient removal
