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POLISHING THE EFFLUENT FROM AN ANAEROBIC BIOLOGICAL PERCHLORATE TREATMENT PROCESS
Citation:
DUGAN, N., T. F. SPETH, D. WILLIAMS, M. MEYER, Y. SONG, AND D. H. METZ. POLISHING THE EFFLUENT FROM AN ANAEROBIC BIOLOGICAL PERCHLORATE TREATMENT PROCESS. Presented at University of Cincinnati Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Research Seminar, Cincinnati, OH, October 20, 2006.
Description:
Anaerobic biological processes effectively reduce perchlorate to chloride. However, the effluent can be biologically unstable, high in particulates and high in disinfection by-product precursor compounds. Such an effluent would be unsuitable for transmission into a drinking water distribution system. As a result, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is conducting a pilot-scale study to investigate the ability of downstream aerobic biofilters to: (1) produce biologically stable effluent, (2) remove disinfection by-product formation potential, (3) produce low particulate (< 0.1 NTU) effluent, and (4) achieve long (48 to 72 hour) filter run times. The achievement of these goals is being evaluated as a function of seasonal temperature variations (2 to 30°C), aerobic filter operating conditions and aerobic filter chemical pretreatment. The system consists of a fixed bed anaerobic contactor, reaeration and biologically active dual-media (anthracite/sand) filters. The anaerobic contactor has been in operation for 230 days. The downstream biofilters have been online and acclimating for eight weeks. This study is on-going, and is the first to generate effluent polishing data for an anaerobic perchlorate biotreatment process that is detailed enough for use by design engineers.