Comprehensive fate model for metals in municipal wastewater treatment
- Khudenko Engineering, Inc., Atlanta, GA (United States)
This paper is a pioneering attempt to describe the fate of metal at wastewater-treatment plants. Considering the present environmental regulations, the data and the quantitative model presented in the paper are timely and cannot be underestimated. Moreover, these data were collected at three full-scale municipal wastewater-treatment plants and, therefore, reflect the real operating conditions. The experimental data and the model were subjected to a rigorous statistical evaluation. The authors have proposed that the metals are partitioned between the liquid and the solid phases. The liquid contains the soluble metal fraction and the solid phase incorporates the absorbed and precipitated fractions. For the sake of practicality, a simplified model was used. Two empirical factors are included in the model: (1) the sorption partitioning coefficient K{sub P}; and (2) the solubility limit C{sub Sol}, which is found by using a fitting parameter k. These empirical factors are related to a particular matrix, or a particular condition of wastewater during treatment: (1) primary treatment; and (2) aeration. Selection of two matrices is justified by the difference in the solids that adsorb metals and in organic ligands that complex the metal ions in the primary and the secondary treatment steps. Statistical evaluations have validated the accuracy of the model for some data sets, but did not confirm the goodness of fit in many other cases.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 201150
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Environmental Engineering, Vol. 122, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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