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Optical Fiber Technology for Monitoring and Preventing Biomass Washout from Bioreactors: a Case Study with a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR)

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Abstract

A novel plastic optical fiber (POF) sensor was investigated to monitor total suspended solids (TSS) concentration continuously, offering insights into wastewater treatment bioreactors without disturbing them. First, off-line experiments with both anaerobic and aerobic sludge (in concentrations ranging between 0.1 and 8.6 g TSS L−1) were used to establish the exponential relationship of the sensor’s transmitted optical power with TSS concentrations. Attenuation coefficients differed clearly with the type of sludge (1.227–1.274 and 0.456–0.679 for anaerobic and aerobic biomass, respectively) and, in the case of the aerobic sludge, with its coloring. The POF sensor was further used for online monitoring of sludge settling profiles inside a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) that was being operated under a “feast-famine” regime. The turbidity profiles agreed very well with the Boltzmann equation. The Boltzmann dx parameter revealed clear differences in the steepness of the settling gradients, which could be explained by the changes in the applied organic loading rates (OLR). OLR in the range of 1.34–1.53 g COD L−1 day−1 resulted in steeper settling gradients than OLR in the range of 2.13–3.12 g COD L−1 day−1 (dx: 0.42–0.50 vs. 0.90–1.36). Thus, the POF sensor not only revealed elevated potential for prediction of biomass concentration but also for becoming an integral part of real-time automation systems in order to diminish repeated sampling and off-line analysis to control the withdrawal phase based on seasonal sludge settling profiles.

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Abbreviations

A :

NTOP for a TSS concentration of 0 g L−1

A 1 :

Initial value for NTOP in the Boltzmann equation

A 2 :

Final value for NTOP in the Boltzmann equation

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

dx :

Time constant in the Boltzmann equation

EPS:

Extracellular polymeric substances

HRT:

Hydraulic retention time

NTOP:

Normalized transmitted optical power

OLR:

Organic loading rate

PHA:

Polyhydroxyalkanoates

POF:

Plastic optical fiber

R 0 :

Attenuation coefficient per unit length times the optical path length

SBR:

Sequencing batch reactor

SRT:

Sludge retention time

SS:

Suspended solids

TSS:

Total suspended solids

VFA:

Volatile fatty acids

VSS:

Volatile suspended solids

x 0 :

Time at the center of the Boltzmann curve

x :

Time

y 0 :

Noise threshold set in 5 %

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to express their gratitude towards Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for funding the research project under the contract number PTDC/AMB-AAC/111316/2009. They also want to gratefully acknowledge the funding of the project TRANSFIBRA (project nr 23148) by FEDER, through the Agência de Inovação S.A. in the framework of the QREN SI I&DT program. They also wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable contribution in improving this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CESAM, Center for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Environment and Planning, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Flávio C. Silva, Martinho A. S. Martins, Isabel Capela & J. Jacob Keizer

  2. Instituto de Telecomunicações, site in Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Lúcia Bilro & Rogério N. Nogueira

Authors
  1. Flávio C. Silva
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  2. Martinho A. S. Martins
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  3. Lúcia Bilro
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  4. Rogério N. Nogueira
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  5. Isabel Capela
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  6. J. Jacob Keizer
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Correspondence to Flávio C. Silva.

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Silva, F.C., Martins, M.A.S., Bilro, L. et al. Optical Fiber Technology for Monitoring and Preventing Biomass Washout from Bioreactors: a Case Study with a Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR). Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 176 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2448-9

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