The objective of this paper is to compare the following four methods of measuring oxygen transfer in wastewater treatment plants under process conditions: the offgas, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), reaeration, and in situ oxygen uptake rate (OUR) methods. Comparative tests were performed under controlled conditions in a pilot column and in six full‐scale oxidation ditches equipped with fine‐bubble diffusers and slow‐speed mixers.
The offgas and H2O2 methods give similar results (differences between the oxygen‐transfer coefficients under field conditions [kLaf] from each method lower than 10%). The reaeration procedure gives more random results (differences from −5 to −43% compared with values obtained using the offgas method). The in situ OUR method, in the presence of a horizontal flow of mixed liquor, leads to an estimate of kLaf to within 15% of the offgas value.

Because the aeration system in an activated sludge plant typically represents a large part of the total energy requirements, designers and operators need accurate oxygen transfer information to make the aeration system as energy efficient as possible. This paper presents clean water tests performed at 38 wastewater treatment plants. The Specific Aeration Efficiency results (SAE, kgO2/kWh) are reported for: (1) large open channels (volume higher than 1000 m3), (2) small open channels, (3) total floor coverage cylindrical tanks, and (4) cylindrical tanks with a grid arrangement. Some practical guidelines can be drawn, some of them being: (1) high SAE can be achieved at small aeration tanks (< 1000 m3), applying cylindrical tanks with a total floor coverage arrangement of diffusers, volumetric blowers, and moderate air flow rates per diffuser area; (2) the high investment cost of this configuration can be justified with respect to a grid layout characterized by spiral liquid circulation which affects the oxygen transfer; (3) small open channels can meet sufficient SAE values but fail to meet in this range of tank volumes those of total floor coverage cylindrical tanks.

On the basis of full-scale data from 58 clean water tests performed in 26 activated sludge tanks equipped with fine bubble diffusers and of a theoretical approach, it can be stated that fine bubble aeration systems with total floor coverage arrangement provide higher kLa values and the lowest spiral liquid circulation. An efficiency criterion for oxygen transfer (NT) was defined on the basis of the dimensional analysis. The transfer number NT allows us to take account of the impact of vertical liquid circulation movements on oxygen transfer. The values of NT calculated from the results of full scale nonsteady-state clean water tests vary from 5.3 x 10(-5) to 9.1 x 10(-5) and are directly dependent upon the arrangement of air diffusers. It has been shown that the highest transfer numbers corresponded to the total floor coverage arrangement and the average calculated NT values is 7.7 x 10(-5), independently of the diffuser density and of the gas velocity, over the ranges studied. The lowest transfer numbers are obtained when the diffusers are located in separate grids, and the transfer number is reduced with increasing air flow rate.