Role of activated carbon in the biological treatment of organic waste | |
| Author | Yong, Foh Fui |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no. 841 |
| Subject(s) | Sewage disposal Sewage--Purification--Biological treatment |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering of the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | The present attempts have been made to shed more light on the recent bio-physical activated sludge treatment process, utilizing a mixture of granular activated carbon and microorganisms in the reactor. The research was aimed at studying the actual role of activated carbon in it, the reality of the claimed advantages, and the usefulness during adverse conditions. From the point of view of oxygen uptake and substrate removal rate, it is concluded that the improvement of treatment efficiency in carbon added systems is mainly due to the physical adsorptive capa city of carbon, instead of the postulated enhancement of biological growth on the enriched surface. Concerning the adverse condition, in batch study, it was found that activated carbon can be used to overcome the qualitative shock loading of phenol and potassium cyanide. Similarly, the results obtained from continuous flow process indicated that it could level the treatment efficiency during both quantitative and qualitative shock loadings. It is, therefore, concluded that the bio-physical process is applicable to the treatment problems created by temporary overload and accidental spill of toxicants into the treatment reactors. Other observations include: (1) Carbon showed the ability to function as foam depressor and colour reducer. (2) Slightly improvement of sludge settling was observed immediately after the addition of virgin carbon, but gradually diminished and it did not help much in preventing bulking. Finally, the feasibility of using a local material, burnt rice husk was evaluated. It showed that it may have potential to be used, but its adsorptive capacity· is 8 times less than Darco activated carbon. In addition, to the bio-physical process study, the in-situ biological regeneration of pollutants saturated carbon was evaluated. The results gave affirmative answer. |
| Year | 1975 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | Student Research Before 1980 |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Thesis (Year <=1979) |
| Chairperson(s) | Yang, Yi Ping |
| Examination Committee(s) | Nguyen Cong Thanh ; Samorn Muttamara |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | British Government |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1975 |