Treatment and Pretreatment Requirements for Industrial Wastewaters in Municipal Activated Sludge Plants

Industrial wastewaters may have a significant impact on municipal activated sludge plants. Depending on the degradability of the wastewater, the overall reaction coefficient, K, may be increased or decreased. Readily degradable wastewaters will render the process more susceptible to filamentous bulking. Increasing the soluble BOD fraction will increase the temperature effect. Sludge dewaterability may be decreased with readily degradable soluble wastewaters or increased with pulp and paper mill wastewaters containing pulp and fibre. Volatile organics which do not biodegrade require source treatment. Effluent toxicity should be controlled by industrial pretreatment where possible. In some cases, PAC will eliminate toxicity in the activated sludge process.