Corporate Volunteering: EBS Last Summer I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity. I assisted in building a home in St. Tammany Parish, La. I had never worked with Habitat for Humanity before, but I immediately felt welcomed. I chose to work with Habitat for Humanity due to their belief that every person deserves a decent place [...]

Methanol is a chemical common to industrial settings. It is found as a constituent of gasoline, and is used as a feed-stock for a variety of chemicals such as acetic acid and chloromethane. Methanol is also a common household chemical used as a solvent in windshield washer solutions and paint strippers. Methanol can be degraded [...]

TSS testing measures the total concentration of suspended (non-soluble) solids in the aeration stabilization basin (ASB) or in effluents. The total suspended solids (TSS) data is critical in determining the operational behavior of a waste treatment system. It is usually a permitted test and solids must be kept at a minimum. In order to test [...]

Phosphorus, as soluble orthophosphate, is a critical nutrient in all biological processes, including activated sludge treatment. It is utilized by bacteria in making energy (ATP molecules) and in creating phospholipid bilayers, their cell structure. This procedure is to determine the ortho-phosphate content of wastewater samples from various points in the system. Orthophosphate (oPO4) Is determined [...]

Nitrogen, as ammonia, is a critical nutrient in biological wastewater treatment. It is utilized by bacteria to make proteins, including enzymes needed to break down food or BOD as well as in making energy. In activated sludge, the two primary symptoms of nutrient deficiency are excessive filaments and excessive polysaccharide or slime. Nutrient deficiency may [...]

The purpose of a microscopic evaluation is to determine the biological health of a wastewater treatment system. The results can be used to help predict Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), TOC, and TSS results or to determine whether or not to supplement the system with nutrients or bacteria after an environmental upset. [...]

The pH of the environment has a profound effect on the rate of microbial growth. pH affects the function of metabolic enzymes. Acidic conditions (low pH) or basic conditions (high pH) alter the structure of the enzyme and stop growth. Most microorganisms do well within a pH range of 6.5 to 8.5. However, some enzyme [...]

Most wastewater treatment plants collect data and then more data, but what do you do with it?   Some data is related to permitting or every day operation, but some information is collected and stored in data bases never to be seen.   Whether your system is an Aeration Stabilization Basin (ASB) or an Activated [...]

Under the current economic climate, many mills are experiencing more frequent and/or longer production outages. But the wastewater treatment system is a living “organism,” requiring a constant food source to remain viable. During extended down times, the mill sends little or no “food” to the microbiological population (bugs) resulting in a gradual depletion of the [...]

In order to evaluate the performance and capacity of an aeration basin, it is critical to evaluate all of the eight key growth pressures – food loading, pH, toxicity, aeration, retention time, nutrients, biomass, and temperature. While retention time is something which mills often feel they have no control over, loss of retention time or [...]