Wastewater lagoon solids, phosphorus, and algae removal using discfiltration

Abstract

Abstract The microsieving discfilter technology was investigated at the pilot scale. The pilot was configured to treat the effluent from a municipal wastewater multi-lagoon facility consisting of two facultative lagoons and a third seasonally aerated lagoon that is aerated to mitigate hydrogen sulfide release. The 10 μm filter, operated without chemical enhancement, demonstrates 60.1 ± 22.6% removal of the lagoon effluent total suspended solids (TSS) during periods of operation without aeration of the third lagoon. Aeration of the third lagoon of the multi-lagoon system prior to discharge renders the 10 μm filter cloth ineffective with respect to solids removal. The 5 μm filter cloth performs effective nonchemically enhanced removal of solids even during aeration of the lagoon, removing 68.2 ± 9.85% of effluent TSS. The greater performance of the 5 μm filter was achieved at the expense of a lower maximum conveyance capacity than the 10 μm filter. The 10 and 5 μm filters decrease the effluent total phosphorus (TP) concentrations by 0.14 and 0.13 mg-P/L, respectively. Algae, characterized as Chlorophyll α, shows removal from influent concentrations of 10.25 ± 4.19 μg/L to concentrations of 4.61 ± 1.28 μg/L for the 10 μm filter, and 4.10 ± 0.65 μg/L for the 5 μm filter.