Time-Based Treatment Is A Game Changer For Activated Sludge, Granular Sludge, And Densified Sludge

For decades, continuous-flow, multi-stage biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge has been the go-to technology for secondary treatment. While effective, this process often requires significant infrastructure, considerable amounts of energy, and a large footprint to manage varying influent conditions. At the same time, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across North America have been struggling in the face of evolving wastewater composition, increasing population, and rising energy costs.

As these challenges mount, WWTPs are turning to new types of suspended growths. Densified sludge and granular sludge have been proven as intensification technologies to enhance treatment including nutrient removal, with the benefit of smaller footprint and power savings. For these technologies, control of the treatment environment is important; this can be efficiently achieved by using time-based batch processing. Even better, time-based batch processing allows WWTPs to gain the benefits of new suspended growth technologies in a much smaller footprint. For wastewater utilities looking to expand or retrofit existing facilities, or build new greenfield plants, it is worth understanding different types of suspended growth and how they work with time-based batch processing.