Summary of the Oak Ridge ANFLOW pilot plant project

Technical Report · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:6465615

Genung, R K; Hancher, C W; Million, D L; Pitt, Jr, W W

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed an energy-conserving wastewater treatment system based on an anaerobic, upflow (ANFLOW) bioreactor that uses films of bacteria fixed to inert, stationary packing material. The treatment process is based on passing wastewaters upward through the bioreactor for continuous treatment by gravitational settling, biophysical filtration, and biological decomposition. A 2-year pilot plant project using a bioreactor designed to treat 19 m/sup 3//d (5000 gpd) has been conducted with raw wastewater on a municipal site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Data obtained for the performance of the bioreactor during this project have been analyzed. From these analyses, it was estimated that hydraulic loading rates of 0.008 m/sup 3//m/sup 2/.min (0.2 gpm/ft/sup 2/) and hydraulic residence times of 10 h could be used in designing such bioreactors for the secondary treatment of municipal wastewaters. Conceptual designs for total treatment systems processing up to 3800 m/sup 3//d (1.0 million gpd) of wastewater were developed based on the performance of the pilot plant bioreactor. These systems were compared with activated-sludge treatment systems also operating under secondary treatment requirements and were found to consume as little as 30% of the energy required by the activated-sludge systems. Methane produced by anaerobic fermentation processes occurring during the biological decomposition of carbonaceous wastes also represented a significant and recoverable energy production term as wastewater flow rates approached 3800 m/sup 3//d. ORNL is presently engaged in developing a 190-m/sup 3//d (50,000-gpd) wastewater treatment system based on the conceptual designs developed by ORNL and AWARE. This project will be conducted jointly with the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, at the site of the Loves Creek Treatment Plant.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6465615
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-7582; ON: DE81026344
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320604* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Municipal Waste Management-- (1980-)
ALKANES
ANAEROBIC DIGESTION
BIOCONVERSION
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
COMPRESSORS
CONSTRUCTION
DESIGN
DIGESTION
FILTRATION
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MARKET
MATERIALS
METHANE
MUNICIPAL WASTES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PILOT PLANTS
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
PUMPS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SITE PREPARATION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTE PROCESSING PLANTS
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER TREATMENT PLANTS