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Utilizing Bioaugmentation to Degrade Black Liquor Spills
In the Kraft paper-making process white liquor, which is NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and Na2S (sodium sulfide), is used to “cook” wood chips in a piece of equipment known as the digester. In the digester, the wood chips are “cooked” using high temperature and pressure in…
Flow Cytometry in Wastewater Treatment
Flow cytometry is a laser-based technology that rapidly analyzes a single cell or particle of interest using fluorescent nucleic acid stains. This powerful tool has been used in the medical field for decades to help advance the understanding of immunology, virology,…
pH Testing in Wastewater Treatment
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…
The Importance of Primary Clarification
The importance of Primary Clarification and how it can impact Effluent BOD.
Filamentous Bacteria Identification
Useful Tool or Red Herring? Filamentous bulking is a major problem for operators of municipal and industrial activated sludge systems. For the past forty years, renowned scientists, such as Dick Eickelboom, David Jenkins, Glenn Daigger, and Michael Richard have…
Pros and Cons of Aerated Stabilization Basins and Activated Sludge Systems
In North America, there are predominantly two systems used to biologically treat industrial wastewater: the aerated stabilization basin (ASB or aerated lagoon) and the activated sludge system. These two systems have far more similarities than differences. Both…
Featured Articles
Improving the Performance of Activated Sludge Systems — An Operator’s Perspective
It is generally accepted that aerobic biological treatment systems are robust and stable to the extent that eight key growth pressures are controlled: Organic Loading Dissolved Oxygen Temperature pH Nutrients Retention Time Inhibitory or toxic compounds Biomass…
Keys to Success Before, During, and After an Outage
Scheduled vs Unplanned OutagesThere are two types of outages, scheduled and unplanned. Scheduled outages are annual affairs at roughly the same time each year and are used to conduct maintenance or other work that cannot be performed while the plant is in full…
Is Your Chemical Program Impacting Your Wastewater Biology?
Assessing Chemical Impacts on Wastewater Microbiology Wastewater managers and operators want confidence that their facility’s chemical program will not negatively impact their biological treatment system. Whether you are a chemical supplier or product end user, EBS…
Types of Organic Compounds In Industrial Wastewater
Testing for different categories of compounds in wastewater—such as readily biodegradable, slowly biodegradable, recalcitrant, and toxic compounds is crucial for several reasons related to environmental protection, wastewater treatment efficiency, and public health….
Odor and H2S Control
EBS recently assisted a paper mill with odor issues associated with their aerated stabilization basin (ASB) wastewater treatment system. The formation of reduced sulfur compounds (hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide) occurred in a large unaerated…
Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) Used to Conduct Hydrographic Surveys
EBS uses an Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) to conduct Hydrographic Surveys in different bodies of water from clean to wastewater. The USV is equipped with a single beam echo sounder optimized for shallow water hydrographic surveying and a dual-frequency transducer….