Bioengineering

Bioaugmentation

Bacterial Products

Produits Biologiques

Beneficial Reuse

Table of Contents

New Training CD's

New Training Manuals

Benchmarks

Industry

FYI

Consulting

Training

Additional links

Miscellaneous

Audits

Troubleshooting Tips

Microscopic Analyses

Case Histories

Additional Troubleshooting Topics

Duckweed

Algae

Lift Stations

Wastewater Microbiology

Microscopic Analyses

Photomicrographs

Filamentous Identification

Biological Products

Wastewater Treatment Seminar

Sign up now for our Monthly Newsletter

Request for our new Brochures

Call now to set up a Wastewater Biomass Analyses or Filamentous Identification of your plant!

Finally new Release

Filamentous Identification

"the Easy Way"

New training program

Are your bugs really dead? What exactly are you looking at to determine that your system is dead? Is there a ton of white crisp foam? If you look under the microscope are all the higher life forms dead? Is the floc blown apart and clear, diffuse and weak structures?

In actuality, you may not have a dead system, but you might just have gotten hit with a very high BOD loading and your system is in a young, high growth phase. 98% of the biological degradation in your system is done by the bacteria, not the higher life forms. This is a common misconception in waste treatment plants.

 The higher life forms, or the little critters that are moving around that you see under the microscope are, in reality, just "indicators" of how well your system is and what conditions are going on in your system.

Higher Life Forms as "Indicator Organisms" -- The higher life forms are often called collectively indicator organisms. This is because they can serve as indicators and early warning of undesirable conditions that have not yet impacted the bacterial population. Bacteria are extremely hardy and resilient creatures. They can survive and even thrive at a variety of temperatures, pH’s and dissolved oxygen conditions. They are also fairly resistant to toxic compounds in that they may be inhibited, but still "alive" and capable of quick recovery. The indicator organisms are the last to show up and the first to leave. The type and abundance of protozoa are certainly an indicator of general health and stability of the system. However, higher life form "counts" alone may not be indicative of the bacterial population performance in terms of BOD degradation. For example, a slug of high pH may wipe out the higher life forms for a couple of days, but barely impact the bacteria at all. Also, most protozoa are strict aerobes and will not thrive if the dissolved oxygen levels are depressed. That being said, a significant shift in the protozoan population or the loss of higher life forms for an extended period of time should be considered cause for concern and be investigated.

The situation listed above could be an example of one of two situations, either a high BOD loading, or a large hit of surfactants. A quick and dirty test to determine which of the two it is would be to take a small sample of the water. Place it in a small jar. Shake it up. If it foams like dishwater does in your sink, you probably just got hit with a high load of surfactants and that is what is causing the foaming on your aeration basin. If it does not, another way to verify what is going on is to perform a DO uptake test.

This will verify if your bugs are in a high growth phase just due to a large amount of food or BOD loading

Weak dispersed floc that can cause high TSS problems

Fill BOD bottle with the aerated sample. Put DO probe in bottle making sure to eliminate any air bubbles. Start the magnetic stirrer.

Allow the DO readings to stabilize and record the initial reading as DOi. Take the DO reading every minute for ten minutes. The final reading will be DOf.

There are a number of things that can happen. Usually there will be an increase in TSS or BOD in the final effluent if your system holding time is too short and unable to handle the surge. It depends upon your system and the flexibility you have to make process changes.

What can I do about it? If you have activated sludge, you can play with the WAS rates or RAS rates. Your plant will recover eventually in time. The key question is, do you have enough time?

Biological Product Description
Environmental Leverage products are biological products specifically formulated to be effective in enhancing waste water biology.

Through extensive research activities, the products have been developed to involve numerous strains of bacteria, which have been selected for their ability to perform under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and to biodegrade organic material comprised of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and select hydrocarbons.

To assure rapid establishment in the biomass, the bacteria are produced and blended with select biological nutrients and stimulants. The products are produced under ISO 9002 certified quality conditions.

Effect
Environmental Leverage products, with their aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms-establishes and maintains a biomass which by providing greater resistance to the effects of organic inhibitors present in waste waters, are able to perform more effectively than the naturally occurring biomass. Environmental Leverage products ensure that the natural mechanism for the selection of the biomass population is presented with a range of selected microorganisms. These aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria have been taken from their natural environment and then adapted to give optimum performance.

For additional information on Biological products: that can be used to help overcome upset conditions or other problem issues or even just to help the plant recover faster.