United States
                     Environmental Protection
                     Agency
   Risk Reduction
   Engineering Laboratory
   Cincinnati, OH 45268
                     Research and Development
   EPA/600/S2-90/015  July 1990
4>EPA          Project  Summary
                     Technology  Assessment  of the
                     Biological Aerated  Filter
                     Arthur J. Condren
                      The innovative and alternative technol-
                     ogy provisions of the Clean Water Act
                     of 1977 (PL 95-219)  provide  financial
                     incentives to communities for using
                     wastewater treatment alternatives that
                     reduce costs or  energy consumption
                     when compared with those for conven-
                     tional systems. Some of these technol-
                     ogies have only recently been developed
                     and are not  in widespread use in this
                     country. To increase awareness of the
                     potential benefits of such alternatives and
                     to encourage their implementation where
                     applicable, several assessments of prom-
                     ising new treatment technologies have
                     been conducted.
                      The technology assessment summar-
                     ized here describes a recently developed
                     biological wastewater treatment concept
                     called the biological aerated filter (BAF)/
                     Biocarbone process* and addresses
                     performance and operational character-
                     istics, design approaches used by the
                     two vendors of the process, and potential
                     applications of that process. Recommen-
                     dations are  provided where further
                     definition  of process  performance
                     response to environmental conditions is
                     believed warranted. Similarities  and
                     differences  of the  BAF/Biocarbone
                     process are briefly compared with those
                     of conventional activated sludge  sys-
                     tems. An alternative design  method
                     proposed by the author based on oper-
                     ating and performance data from several
                     French Biocarbone  systems  is also
                     presented.
                      This Project Summary was developed
                    by EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering
                    Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce
                    *Mention of trade names or commercial products
                    does not constitute endorsement or recommendation
                    for use.
 key findings of the research project that
 is fully documented in a separate report
 of  the same  title (see Project Report
 ordering information at back).

 Introduction

  The BAF is a trademarked wastewater
 treatment process marketed in the United
 States and most of Canada by  Eimco
 Process Equipment Company (Eimco) of
 Salt Lake City, UT. Original research and
 development of the technology belongs
 to  the French company Omnium de
 Traitements et de Valorisation (OTV) that
 directly or indirectly markets their equi-
 valent Biocarbone process elsewhere, but
 primarily in Europe. A number of process
 patents, dating back to 1978, have been
 granted  both  in  Europe and North
 America.


 Process Description

  The BAF/Biocarbone process consists
 of a granular media bed, usually of vitrified
 clay particles with  a specific gravity of
 approximately  1.6,  through which  pre-
 treated wastewater (minimum acceptable
 pretreatment is primary clarification) is
 passed in a downward gravity flow pattern
 similar to  either a downflow water filter
 or a downflow tertiary  wastewater filter.
 The media bed is supported  by an
 uriderdrain plate that incorporates plastic
 nozzles for collecting the treated waste-
 water and for distributing backwash water
and air. The process air supplied to the
 media (via a distribution  header assembly
located 8 to 10 in. [20  to 25 cm] above
the  underdrain plate) results in aerobic
biological  growth on  the media.  The
filtering action of the media obviates the
need for a separate final  clarification step.

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This process, therefore,  provides  both
biological stabilization of organic matter
and suspended solids removal in a single
vessel.  As a  consequence, the space
requirements of this technology can be
substantially less than for more conven-
tional secondary treatment systems.
  Accumulated solids stored in the media
and  excess biological growth sheared
from the  media are  backwashed and
removed from the bed on a predetermined
schedule, typically once a day, or on the
basis of headless buildup. The backwash
solids  can be separately thickened  or
returned  to  the plant  headworks for
cothickening with the primary sludge.
  When  treating  primary effluent,  the
BAF/Biocarbone  process  can  be
designed to achieve carbonaceous BOD
removal  only [or carbonaceous BOD     Pollutant Removal
removal  and nitrification  by selecting
appropriate loading rates. The process
can  also  be  designed to achieve ad-
vanced secondary treatment removals of
BOD and suspended  solids  as well as
nitrification wittj either primary or secon-
dary effluent feed.
  Plan and section views of a typical BAF/
Biocarbone unit are presented in Figure
1. A typical process flow diagram for a
complete BAF/Biocarbone treatment train
is shown in Figure 2.
              Background Performance Data
                OTV, through years of conducting pilot-
              and full-scale Biocarbone plant evalua-
              tions, has developed reliable correlations
              between applied pollutant and/or hydrau-
              lic loading rates and effluent quality or
              percent pollutant removal.
                One of these generalized correlations
              extracted from  an OTV  brochure is
              depicted  in  Figure 3  for two types of
              media, activated  carbon  and biodamine
              (vitrified  clay particles). Influent waste-


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                                                                               Underdrain/'Backwash Nozzles

                                                                               Process Air Distribution Piping

                                                                               Media Bed Surface

                                                                               Effluent/Backwash Piping

                                                                               Air Scour Header

                                                                               Backwash Water Syphon

                                                                               Process Air Header

                                                                               Effluent Plenum

                                                                               Influent
                                   Side View
 Flgura 1. Plan and side views of a BAF/Biocarbone module.

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                                          Backwash Water
*Generally would only be needed in industrial wastewater
 treatment applications with strong influent concentrations.
                                                                   Dilution Water
                                                                     (Optional)*
 Figure 2. Typical BAF/Biocarbone system process flow diagram.
water  characteristics  from which the
correlations were developed include:
       Parameter
Range, mg/L
        BOD5
        COD
        TSS
        TKN
        NH4-N
   50-150
  100-300
   50-150
   15-30
   10-25
  Effluent quality from a Biocarbone unit,
based on the above influent character-
istics, is graphically depicted in Figure 4.
  Pilot plant studies by OTV indicated that
ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) removal is
governed, in part, by the organic loading
to the Biocarbone unit.  As indicated in
Figure  5, an organic loading  of greater
than approximately 0.19 to 0.22 Ib COD/
ft3/day (3.0 to 3.5 kg/m3/day) produces
incipient inhibition of NH4-N oxidation,
and the inhibition becomes substantially
more pronounced once the organic
loading exceeds 0.25 to 0.28 Ib COD/ft3/
day (4.0  to 4.5  kg/m3/day). The above
loading  condition is of  concern  mainly
when primary effluent must be nitrified in
conjunction with removing carbonaceous
BOD. Nitrification of secondary effluent,
on the other hand, is governed mainly by
the TKN loading  to  a  Biocarbone unit.
Between nitrogen loadings of 0.010 and
0.037 Ib TKN/ft3/day (0.16 and 0.59 kg/
m3/day), NH4-N removal decreases at a
relatively linear rate, from about 90% to
84%. Loadings above about 0.037 Ib TKN/
ft3/day (0.59  kg/m3/day) result in sub-
stantially reduced NH4-N removal rates.
  Pilot plant studies also provided  data
on  the temperature dependence  of
NH4-N oxidation. Based on NH4-N oxida-
tion in secondary effluent, OTV reported
removal  rates  to  approximate  the
following:
Temperature
0ฐF 0ฐC
54
64
75
12
18
24
NHj-N Removal Rate
Ib/ft3/day
0.024
0.031
0.037
kg/ms/day
0.39
0.50
0.60
                    Media Characteristics

                      The original media OTV used in their
                    Biocarbone  process was granular acti-
                    vated carbon.  This material  had the
                    desirable characteristics  of a porous
                    surface with a high surface-to-volume
                    ratio for enhancing biomass attachment
                    and a low specific gravity to allow for ease
                    of air scouring  and backwashing, but it
                    was  found too expensive. Subsequently,
                    two new media were developed, both kiln-
                    fired  clay particles. Biodamine  is  an
                    angular shaped media that is subject to
                    a slight degree of abrasion during  media
                    placement and backwashing operations.
Biodagene is a spherical shaped media
that is less subject to abrasion. Both have
a bulk dry  density of about 50  Ib/ft3
(800 kg/m3). Eimco has developed an
angular media that appears to be a kiln-
fired shale. This media also  has a  bulk
dry density of approximately 50 Ib/ft3 (800
kg/m3).
  Media  gradation is  one of the  more
important variables responsible for the
performance  of  the  BAF/Biocarbone
process.  Gradation  not only  affects
effluent BOD and TSS concentrations but
also governs the rate of headless buildup
and the associated time interval between
backwashings. An OTV approximation of
effluent quality as a function of media
gradation is as follows:
                                           Media Gradation
                                             in.        mm
                   Effluent Quality, mg/L
                     BOD5    TSS
0.079-0.157
0.118-0.236
0.157-0.325
2-4
3-6
4-8
10
20
30
10
20
30
                                           Media in the smaller size ranges require
                                         more frequent backwashing than larger
                                         media sizes subjected to the same loading
                                         rate. In general, media in the 0.079 to 0.157
                                         in. (2 to 4 mm) range should be considered
                                         where  stringent effluent residuals  are
                                         required, lower loading rates are econom-
                                         ically feasible, and wastewaters contain

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                0.5
                             Hydraulic Loading Rate, gpm/ft2  \
                                  1.0                 1.5
                                                                           2.0
  Q
  O
  O
    75
    70  -
                                                    1.0lb/fP/day = 16.0 kg/ms/day
                                                    1.0 gpm/ft2 = 2.44 m3/mz/hr
              Media Depth:   5.25 ft(1.6 m)
              Media Size:    0.079-0.197 in.(2-5 mm)
              Influent BODS:  < 150 mg/L
             0.2      0.3       0.4      0.5      0.6       O.p      0.8

                              Organic Loading Rate, Ib COD/ft3/day
                                                                        0.9
  Flgura 3. COD removal as functions of influent COD loading rate and influent hydraulic
           loading rate fpr (wo different media.
    50
ง 30
a
1
ง  20

I
   10
            tO/b/ftVctey= 16.0 kg/m3/day
          COD
                                                  Media Type: Biodamine
                                                  Media D0pth: 5.25 ft(1.6m)
                                                  Media Sfee: 0.079-0.197 in.(2-5 mm)
                                                  Influent BOD5:< 150 mg/L
       -  BODS
            0.2
                     0.3
                            0.4       0.5       0.6       rj.7
                                                         I

                            Organic Loading Rate, Ib COD/ft3/day

Figure 4. Effluent quality as a function of influent COD loading rate.
                                                                  0.8
                                                                           0.9
a high soluble BOD fraction. Wastewaters
with a high TSS concentration may not
be compatible with a media gradation of
0.079 to 0.157 in. (2 to 4 mm) because
of the short run time between backwash-
ings that could  be incurred. Selecting
BAF/Biocarbone media gradation for a
given system influent loading may involve
a tradeoff decision of attaining advanced
secondary effluent quality with frequent
backwashing (e.g., several times per day)
versus attaining just secondary effluent
quality  with relatively infrequent back-
washing (e.g., once a day).
   Media gradation also defines capacity
of  a  bed to store accumulated  solids,
which include  a combination of sus-
pended solids  captured in the filtration
process plus biomass produced from the
assimilation and oxidation of carbonace-
ous and nitrogenous matter. An approx-
imation of solids storage capacity, as a
function of media gradation, developed
from OTV pilot plant studies and con-
firmed at full-scale operational facilities
is as follows:

  Media Gradation  Solids Storage Capacity
                                                                                         in.
                                                                                                  mm
                                                                                                         Ib/ft3
                                                                                                                    kg/m3
0.079-0.157
0.118-0.236
0.157-0.315
2-4
3-6
4-8
0.06-0.09
0.14-0.17
0.19-0.22
1.0-1.5
2.2-2.7
3.0-3.5
  In a BAF demonstration study at Salt
Lake City, UT, sponsored by  the U.S.
Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA),
media with a size range of approximately
0.098 to 0.256 in. (2.5 to  6.5 mm) were
used.  Data indicated  that  the solids
storage capacity of these media averaged
about 0.16 Ib/ft3 (2.6 kg/m3).

Solids Production

  The solids production rate in the BAF/
Biocarbone process  is a function of,
among  other  factors,  the quantities  of
soluble  BOD,  nonbiodegradable TSS,
NH4-N,  and TKN removed. OTV initially
used the  historic solids  production
approximation of 0.7 to 0.8 Ib solids/lb
total BOD5 removed (kg/kg). A larger data
base acquired from both  pilot-  and full-
scale facilities yielded  the following two
modifications  by OTV  to their  historic
solids production value:

Solids Production Rate =

       	0.4 Ib (kg)	
       Ib (kg) soluble BOD5 removed

    ,  	1.0lb(kg)	
      Ib (kg) insoluble BOD5 removed (1)

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      90
      85
      80
   ง
   o  75

   I
      70
      65
      60
                  0.01
                          Nitrogen Loading Rate, Ib TKN/ft3/day

                                0.02            0.03
                                                               0.04
             A ) Combined
                Carbonaceous BOD5
                Removal and
                Nitrification
                of Primary Effluent
                Nitrification of
                Secondary Effluent
                Media Type:  Biodamine
                Media Depth: 5.25 ft (1.6 m)
                Media Size:  0.079-0.197 in.
                           (2-5 mm)

                1.0lb/ft3/day = 16.0 kg/m3/day
                 0.1
                               0.2            0.3

                          Organic Loading Rate, Ib COD/ft3/day

Figure 5. NH4-N removal as functions of influent COD and TKN loading rates.
                                                              0.4
Solids Production Rate =
              0.4 Ib (kg)
      Ib (kg) soluble BOD5 removed
               0.65 Ib (kg)
Ib (kg) TSS removed
                                   (2)
                                         Either of the above predicted models may
                                         be used to approximate the  net solids
                                         production rate according to OTV.

                                         Backwashing

                                           The BAF/Biocarbone system must be
                                         backwashed,  normally once  a day, to
ensure a specific volumetric throughput
rate of wastewater. From numerous pilot
plant studies, OTV established a need for
up to seven consecutive sets of air scours
and backwashes to clean the media bed.
The  seven consecutive  sets constitute
one backwash sequence. Air scour and
backwash water rates and total  volumes
used at several full-scale French facilities
are summarized below:
                                                                                            Parameter
                                                                                                               Range of
                                                                                                                Values
                                                                                  Air Scour
                                                                                    Rate, ft3 (m3) air/ft3 (m3)
                                                                                    media/min                   0.43-0.52
                                                                                    Total Volume, ft3 (m3) air/ft3
                                                                                    (m3) media                   5.14-6.25

                                                                                  Backwash Water
                                                                                    Rate, ft3 (m3) water/ft3 (m3)
                                                                                    media/min                   0.33-0.35
                                                                                    Total Volume, ft3 (m3) water/ft3
                                                                                    (m3) media                     2.50
                                                                                 The EPA BAF demonstration project used
                                                                                 essentially these  same  air  scour and
                                                                                 backwash water rates and volumes as do
                                                                                 facilities that Eimco has recently installed.
Performance of Existing Facilities

North American Facilities

  A 0.25-mgd (946-m3/day) Eimco facility
has been installed at Lake Wildwood, GA.
Primary effluent is being treated with the
goal of achieving  a nitrified secondary
effluent containing  6 to 8 mg/L NH4-N.
This facility is operating  at, or slightly
above, design flow. Another Eimco oper-
ational facility is located at Wallace, NO.
Design flow is 0.60 mgd (2,271  m3/day),
and the system is polishing the effluent
from an  existing  trickling filter plant  to
effect additional BOD and TSS removals
as well as to achieve an NH4-N concen-
tration of  2 mg/L. Eimco's 0.60-mgd
(2,271 -m3/day) facility at Madison, FL, is
polishing effluent from an  existing acti-
vated sludge system to provide  supple-
mental BOD  and  TSS removals  and
nitrification to effluent residuals of less
than 5 mg/L NH4-N. At the present time,
limited performance data have  been
reported for these facilities. A 0.75-mgd
(2,839-m3/day) facility  is being con-
structed at St. George, SC, and a 2.2-mgd
(8,327-m3/day) facility is  also under
construction at Oneonta, AL. These latter
two facilities will  be used to polish and
nitrify lagoon effluent.

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   The aforementioned EPA demonstra-
 tion project at Salt Lake City, UT, operated
 from January 1983 to February 1985, also
 used an Eimco system. The system was
 operated to demonstrate the applicability
 of this European technology to treat U.S.
 strength wastewaters and  to formulate
 any needed  design  or operational mod-
 ifications to ensure a specific effluent
 quality. One of the system's two cells was
 operated to amass information on carbo-
 naceous BOD removal with nitrification;
 the other cell was operated to generate
 information on  carbonaceous BOD re-
 moval with  nitrification.  Data on the
 performance  of this pilot plant are
 reported in detail in  the June 1988 issue
 of the ASCE Journal of Environmental
 Engineering  ("Biological  Aerated  Filter
 Evaluation" by H.D. Stensel et al.).

 French Facilities

   OTV has designed, constructed, and
 operated a number  of Biocarbone facil-
 ities throughout France.
   The location of  these  operational
 facilities, the type of wastewater  being
 treated,  and their  design  population
 equivalents are summarized in Table 1.
   In addition to the  above, a four-celled
 323-ftz  (30-m2) pilot  plant  has been
 operated by OTV at  the Colombes treat-
 ment plant to  optimize system  design
 criteria and operating conditions forfuture
 reference  when the City of Paris  is
 required to install wastewater nitrification
 facilities.
   On-site visits  were made to four of the
 French facilities: Soissons,  Grasse, Val-
 bonne,  and  Colombes. The Colombes
 pilot plant was nitrifying activated sludge
 treatment plant effluent at the time of the
 visit. Available  operating and  perfor-
 mance data  for Soissons, Grasse, and
 Colombes  are summarized in Tables 2
 and 3,  respectively. Detailed operating
 and performance data were not available
 for Valbonne.
   The system at Soissons was the first
 full-scale facility built by OTV. A circular
 design with  10 truncated, pie-shaped
 units was selected, with the center of the
 structure functioning as the clear well for
 storing the treated wastewater used for
 backwashing the units.
  The Grasse Biocarbone system, which
 began operation in April 1983, is similar
 in appearance to the circular Soissons
facility. Wastewater being  treated at this
facility during the 1984 site visits was
primarily  from perfumeries located in the
City. As  more  of the  City's  collection
 system is installed, the contribution of
 domestic wastewater is  expected to
 increase from ithe 35% to 40% level noted
 at the time of the site visit.
   The Colombes pilot system during the
 1984 site visits was  composed of four
 independent  ;81-ft2  (7.5-m2)  cells. As
 previously mentioned, this  system was
 being operated as an experimental facility
 to amass design and operational  infor-
 mation for future City  of Paris secondary
 effluent nitrification facilities.
  The Valbonne system was designed to
 achieve nitrification and partial denitrifi-
 cation along  with  carbonaceous  BOD5
removal. Three units are operated in an
aerobic state to nitrify,  and one unit is
operated in an anoxic state to denitrify.
  The Valbonne facility  was placed  in
operation in October 1982. Between that
time and the site visits  in 1984, on the
average, only one to two  effluent samples
per month  had been analyzed for ran-
domly selected pollutant parameters. The
available data, though limited, indicated
the facility had consistently achieved high
removals of BOD5, TSS,  and NH4-N with
effluent residuals in the ranges of 5  to
10 mg/L for BOD5 and  TSS and 1 to 5
mg/LforNH4-N.
 Table 1. Basic Information on Existing Biocarbone Facilities
Location '
Le Havre
Valbonne
Hochfelden
Soissons '.
Grasse '
Le Touquet
Sanary-Bandol
Luneville '_
Type of Wastewater
Secondary Effluent
Municipal
Industrial (Brewery)
Municipal-lndustiral (Slaughterhouse)
Municipal-Industrial (Perfumery)
Municipal
Municipal
Municipal
Design Population
Equivalent
5,000
16,000
25,000
40,000
52,000
53,000
35,000
33,000
 Table 2. Operating Data for Soissons, Grasse, and Colombes
           Parameter
                                                   Facility Location
                                      Soissons
                                                      Grasse
                                                                    Colombes
Operating Period                       11/82-6/84      1/84-5/84        7 months

Avg. Inf. Flow   >
  mgd        |                          0.97            1.00             —
  mVctey      j                         3,460          3,790            —

Avg. Hydraulic Loading
  gpm/ft2                                0.28            0.48             0.75
  m3/m2/day   \                          0.69            1.17             1.84

Avg. BOD5 Loading
  Ib/ft3/day    |                          0.11            —              —
  kg/rtf/day   I                          7.74            —              —

Avg. COD Loading
  Ib/ft3/day    \                          0.20            0.47             —
  kg/rrfl/day   i                          3.22            7.57             —

Avg. NH4-N Loading
  Ib/ft3/day    \                          0.02            —              —
  kg/ma/day   [                          0.32            —              —
              i
Avg. Empty Bed Contact
  Time(min)    |                          756            —              —

Wastewater Temperature, "F (ฐC)
  Avg.         '•                        57(13.7)          —            58(14.7)
  Range       •                     46-69(8-20.5)        —         53-65(11.5-8.5)

Backwash Waterflow (% of Inf. Flow)
  Avg.                                   33.2            22.2             —
  Range                               17.5-63.3       19.3-27.4           —

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Table 3. Performance Data for Soissons, Grasse, and Colombes
Parameter
Avg. BODS (mg/L)
Influent
Primary Effluent
Final Effluent
Avg. COD (mg/L)
Influent
Primary Effluent
Final Effluent
Avg. TSS (mg/L)
Influent
Primary Effluent
Final Effluent
Avg. NH4-N (mg/L)
Influent
Primary Effluent
Final Effluent

Soissons

298
161
10

616
299
61

281
111
10

36
30
12/8$
Facility Location
Grasse

— '
— -
—

7,243+
825
777

382+
85
25

—
—
—

Colombes

29*
—
4

—
—
—

35*
—
6

25.7*
—
7.7
                                              system feed  was  secondary  effluent.
                                              Effluent BOD5 and TSS concentrations
                                              from the pilot plant facility were independ-
                                              ent of influent wastewater quality as well
                                              as independent of EBCT.  Ammonium
                                              nitrogen removal was best described by
                                              the mathematical expression:
                                                                                 Effluent NH4-N,rng/L =
                                                                                           Influent NH4-N. mg/L
                                                                                              0.060 (EBCT)
                                                                                (6)
*System influent is secondary effluent.
+lncludes backwash water pollutant load.
^Average  of 12 mg/L for all  wastewater temperatures; average of 8  mg/L for wastewater
temperatures above 54ฐ F (12ฐ C).
Design Approaches

  Based on  findings  from their  own
research and development, the OTV and
Eimco  staffs developed generalized
approaches  to  facility design. These
extensive design protocols are presented
in the full report.
  After  exarnining  OTV's and Eimco's
design approaches and analyzing avail-
able full-scale system performance data,
the  author formulated an  alternative
design approach. A review  of certain of
OTV's and  Eimco's system performance
functions, which were primarily based on
pollutant mass  loadings, coupled with
performance data from  the Soissons and
Colombes  full-scale facilities  indicated
complementary  mathematical equations
that potentially allowed for prediction of
actual effluent quality.
  At  Soissons,  where  the  feed to the
Biocarbone system was primary effluent,
the following mathematical  relationships
were developed for predicting effluent
BOD5, TSS, and NH4-N:
Effluent BOD5, mg/L =
          Influent BODS, mg/L
             0.13 (EBCT)
Effluent TSS, mg/L =
          Influent TSS, mg/L
             0.09 (EBCT)
(3)
(4)
      Effluent NH4-N, mg/L =               (5)

      Influent NH4-N, mg/L (Effluent BOD5, mg/L)0-5
               0.064 (EBCT)

      where EBCT is the empty bed contact time
      in minutes.
        A similar set of analyses was under-
      taken  on  the  performance  of the
      Colombes pilot plant facility, where the
  Predicted values have been compared
with actual values for effluent BOD5 at
Soissons (Table 4). Similar tables for the
other effluent pollutant concentrations are
given in the full report.


Technology Application

  North American and French systems
performance data indicate that the BAF/
Biocarbone process is capable of yielding
an  effluent  of secondary treatment  or
advanced secondary treatment quality. As
evidenced by performance of the EPA
demonstration facility at Salt Lake City, UT,
an effluent containing approximately 25
to 30 mg/L  each of BOD5 and TSS can
be achieved at an EBCT of about 45 min
when treating a  dilute, primary clarified
domestic wastewater. Data from  the
Soissons, France, facility indicated that a
stronger primary clarified municipal
wastewater  can  be treated to yield an
effluent containing less than 10 mg/L
each of BOD5> TSS, and NH4-N at an EBCT
      Table 4. Predicted versus Actual Effluent BOD5 Concentrations for the Soissons Facility
Month
11
12/82
1/83
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12/83
1/84
2
3
4
5
6
Wastewater
Temp., ฐC
12.8
10.0
10.0
8.0
10.7
11.0
13.8
17.5
19.5
20.5
17.7
16.0
14.5
12.2
10.0
11.0
11.5
13.0
15.8
18.0
EBCT,
min
93
79
86
104
98
79
104
149
184
195
177
223
213
222
173
189
217
232
155
148
Influent
BOD5, mg/L
195
182
162
136
184
186
169
147
139
137
135
175
256
185
141
180
140
57
147
150
Effluent
BOD5, mg/L
30
17
12
12
13
12
10
. 8
8
6
7
7
9
7
8
6
7
6
6
6
Predicted
Effluent
BODS, mg/L
16
18
14
10
14
18
13
8
6
5
6
6
9
6
6
7
5
2
7
8

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 of approximately 140 min. The process
 can also be used for polishing secondary
 effluent, as evidenced by the Colombes,
 France, facility data that produced an
 effluent containing an average of 4 mg/
 L BODS and 6 mg/L TSS and achieved
 an  average NH4-N removal  of 18  mg/L
 at an EBCT of about 60 min.
  To illustrate the application of the BAF/
 Blocarbone  process,  two  example
           designs are developed in the full report
           to upgrade an existing 1.0-mgd (3,785-
           m3/day) primary clarification system to (1)
           a secondary treatment system at similar
           capacity and (2) an advanced secondary
           treatment system of similar capacity using
           the BAF/Biocarbone process. In the first
           case, the goal !is to achieve effluent BOD5
           and  TSS concentrations of 30 mg/L or
           less. Nitrification is not a process require-
 Arthur J. Condren Is with James M. Montgomery, Consulting Engineers, Inc
     Pasadena, CA 91109-7009.                        \
 Richard C. Brenner is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
 The complete report, entitled "Technology Assessment of, the Biological Aerated
     Filter," (Order No. PB90-188 806/AS; Cost: $23.00, subject to change) will be
     available only from:                              I
        National Technical Information Service          ',
        5285 Port Royal Road                         I
        Springfield, VA 22161
        Telephone: 703-487-4650                      \
 The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:            |
        Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory          >
        U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
        Cincinnati, OH 45268                          I
 ment In the second case,  effluent goals
 are 4 mg/L  for BOD5, 6 mg/L for TSS,
 and  less than  7  mg/L  for  NH4-N.
 Estimates of capital costs and  average
 daily power  requirements  are  developed
 for these two example designs.
   The  full  report  was submitted  in
 fulfillment of Contract No. 68-03-1821 by
 James M.  Montgomery,  Consulting
 Engineers, Inc., under the sponsorhip of
•the U. S.  Environmental Protection
 Agency.
                                                                                *U.S. Government Printing Office: 1990-748-012/20045
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information              [
Cincinnati OH 45268     !
               BULK RATE
         POSTAGE  & FEES PAID
                   EPA
             PERMIT No. G-35
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/600/S2-90/015

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