Secondary treatment

Secondary treatment is a treatment process for wastewater (or sewage) to achieve a certain degree of effluent quality by using a sewage treatment plant with physical phase separation to remove settleable solids and a biological process to remove dissolved and suspended organic compounds. After this kind of treatment, the wastewater may be called as secondary-treated wastewater. Secondary treatment is a treatment process for wastewater (or sewage) to achieve a certain degree of effluent quality by using a sewage treatment plant with physical phase separation to remove settleable solids and a biological process to remove dissolved and suspended organic compounds. After this kind of treatment, the wastewater may be called as secondary-treated wastewater. Secondary treatment is the portion of a sewage treatment sequence removing dissolved and colloidal compounds measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Secondary treatment is traditionally applied to the liquid portion of sewage after primary treatment has removed settleable solids and floating material. Secondary treatment is usually performed by indigenous, aquatic microorganisms in a managed aerobic habitat. Bacteria and protozoa consume biodegradable soluble organic contaminants (e.g. sugars, fats, and organic short-chain carbon molecules from human waste, food waste, soaps and detergent) while reproducing to form cells of biological solids. Biological oxidation processes are sensitive to temperature and, between 0 °C and 40 °C, the rate of biological reactions increase with temperature. Most surface aerated vessels operate at between 4 °C and 32 °C. Primary treatment of sewage by quiescent settling allows separation of floating material and heavy solids from liquid waste. The remaining liquid usually contains less than half of the original solids content and approximately two-thirds of the BOD in the form of colloids and dissolved organic compounds. Where nearby water bodies can rapidly dilute this liquid waste, primary treated sewage may be discharged so natural biological decomposition oxidizes remaining waste. The city of San Diego used Pacific Ocean dilution of primary treated effluent into the 21st century. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defined secondary treatment based on the performance observed at late 20th-century bioreactors treating typical United States municipal sewage. Secondary treated sewage is expected to produce effluent with a monthly average of less than 30 mg/l BOD and less than 30 mg/l suspended solids. Weekly averages may be up to 50 percent higher. A sewage treatment plant providing both primary and secondary treatment is expected to remove at least 85 percent of the BOD and suspended solids from domestic sewage. The EPA regulations describe stabilization ponds as providing treatment equivalent to secondary treatment removing 65 percent of the BOD and suspended solids from incoming sewage and discharging approximately 50 percent higher effluent concentrations than modern bioreactors. The regulations also recognize the difficulty of meeting the specified removal percentages from combined sewers, dilute industrial wastewater, or Infiltration/Inflow. Where natural waterways are too small to rapidly oxidize primary treated sewage, the liquid may be used to irrigate sewage farms until suburban property values encourage secondary treatment methods requiring less acreage. Glacial sand deposits allowed some northeastern United States cities to use intermittent sand filtration until more compact secondary treatment bioreactors became available. Biological nutrient removal is regarded by some sanitary engineers as secondary treatment and by others as tertiary treatment. The differentiation may also differ from one country to another. The purpose of tertiary treatment (also called 'advanced treatment') is to provide a final treatment stage to further improve the effluent quality before it is discharged to the receiving environment (sea, river, lake, wet lands, ground, etc.). Tertiary treatment may include biological nutrient removal (alternatively, this can be classified as secondary treatment), disinfection and removal of micropollutants, such as environmental persistent pharmaceutical pollutants. Process upsets are temporary decreases in treatment plant performance caused by significant population change within the secondary treatment ecosystem. Conditions likely to create upsets include for example toxic chemicals and unusually high or low concentrations of organic waste BOD providing food for the bioreactor ecosystem.