The Pollution Control Financing Authority of Warren County (PCFAWC or Authority), New Jersey, operates a solid waste landfill. Leachate collected in the landfill cell underdrain system drains to a lined basin, from which it had historically been pumped via an adjoining wastewater collection system to a 1,890 m 3 /d (0.5 mgd) regional Publicly Owned Treatment Plant (POTW). Significant increases in leachate flow volumes and ammonia loads required the PCFAWC to evaluate alternative leachate disposal options. Pretreatment of the leachate in a Membrane Bioreactor process (MBR) was ultimately selected after the evaluation of alternatives and the completion of pilot tests. The MBR plant has been successfully operating for two years, meeting its design requirements. Initial problems with the MBR reactor foaming and elevated effluent color were overcome. The plant achieves full nitrification and significant denitrification while requiring minimal cleaning of the ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. Elevated process temperatures experienced are demonstrated to be a result of the high energy mechanical equipment (high pressure pumps) and heat of the biological reactions.
An UV disinfection system located at an activated sludge plant treating wastewater from a research pharmaceutical facility was performing unsatisfactorily. The plant had to rely on chlorine addition to meet its fecal coliform limit. Initially, interference from ferric chloride, which is used for phosphorus removal, was suspected. Ferric chloride was replaced with alum, but no improvement in UV effectiveness was noted. A review of the plant performance data indicated a direct correlation between effluent COD concentration, UV transmittance and UV effectiveness. A subsequent plant process evaluation revealed an inadequate operation of the activated sludge system. The plant was reseeded and the operation was optimized resulting in improved COD removal and UV performance. However, even optimized biological treatment did not improve effluent UV transmittance beyond the 40 to 50% range, considerably less than the 65% level, which is typical for treated municipal effluent. The poor UV transmittance and substandard UV effectiveness was attributed to UV-adsorbing organics which were incompletely degraded in the activated sludge process.
The Pollution Control Financing Authority of Warren County (PCFAWC or Authority) New Jersey operates a solid waste landfill. Leachate collected in the landfill cell underdrain system drains to a lined basin, from which it had historically been pumped via an adjoining wastewater collection system to a 0.5 MGD regional Publicly Owned Treatment Plant (POTW). Significant increases in leachate flow volumes and ammonia loads resulted in the suspension of pumping to the POTW, requiring the PCFAWC to evaluate alternative leachate disposal options. Bench scale treatability analyses followed by a process evaluations, which considered potential future regulatory requirements, resulted in the selection of on-site leachate pretreatment using the membrane bioreactor process (MBR). The MBR plant has been successfully operating for several months, meeting its design requirements. Full nitrification and significant denitrification is being achieved while requiring minimal cleaning of the ultrafiltration membranes.
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