Fundamentals of Biological Wastewater Treatment

Industrial processes, in particular in chemical and pharmaceutical production, almost always result in waste or side products that require further treatment. Both environmentally benign and least–cost processes are needed, while also allowing the best possible recycling of material. Apart from chemical and mechanical treatment, microbe–based biological methods have become a prime choice for efficient and sustainable wastewater processing.
This concise introduction to the fundamentals of biological treatment of wastewater describes how to model and integrate biological steps into industrial processes. It first covers the chemical, physical and biological basics before taking the reader on to applications, technologies, equipment and process specifics, with modeling methods a prominent feature throughout the text.
From the contents:
∗ Introduction
∗ Wastewater Characteristics
∗ Microbial Metabolism
∗ Determination of Stoichiometric Equations for Catabolism and Anabolism
∗ Measurements of Mass Transfer and Respiration Rates
∗ Kinetics
∗ Aerobic Treatment of Wastewater Loaded with Dissolved Organics
∗ Nitrogen Removal
∗ Biological Phosphorus Removal
∗ Biological Wastewater Treatment with Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal
∗ Anaerobic Treatment of Wastewater Loaded with Dissolved Organics
∗ Membrane Technology in Biological Wastewater Treatment
∗ Assessment and Selection of Aeration Systems
∗ Simple Models for Biofilm Reactors
∗ Modeling Activated Sludge Processes
∗ Processing of Water, Recovering of Materials and Treatment of Wastewater Integrated into the Production Process

Introduction
Wastewater Characteristics
Microbial Metabolism
Determination of Stoichiometric Equations for Catabolism and Anabolism
Measurements of Mass Transfer and Respiration Rates
Kinetics
Aerobic Treatment of Wastewater Loaded with Dissolved Organics
Nitrogen Removal
Biological Phosphorus Removal
Biological Wastewater Treatment with Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal
Anaerobic Treatment of Wastewater Loaded with Dissolved Organics
Membrane Technology in Biological Wastewater Treatment
Assessment and Selection of Aeration Systems
Simple Models for Biofilm Reactors
Modelling Activated Sludge Processes
Processing of Water, Recovering of Materials and Treatment of Wastewater Integrated into the Production Process

Udo Wiesmann was Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) from 1971 – 2003. He changed his field of work from of the topic of Fuel Technology (1961–1968) to Reaction Engineering (1968 – 1972) and then to Environmental Engineering (1972–2005). His research centered on Biological Wastewater Treatment. His special interest was in kinetic studies of bacteria growth and substrate removal from wastewater and reaction engineering investigations. He has published some 130 scientific papers and presented lectures in six different fields of environmental engineering. Professor Wiesmann was speaker of the German Cooperative Research Program SFB 196 "Biological Treatment of Industrial Wastewater" during 1991–1996 and served in work groups on environmental technology and committees of technical and scientific journals on several associations.

In Su Choi has been a research assistant at the Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Technical University of Berlin (Germany) since 2000. He obtained his B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Seoul (Korea) and his Dipl.–Ing. degree from the Technical University of Berlin. He first studied the mass transfer controlled ozonation of highly concentrated azo dyes and was employed in a Korean–German project to investigate the advantages of solid carriers for bacteria in bioreactors for nitrification. In 2005 he completed his Dr.–Ing. degree on the topic of Aerobic Degradation of Surfactant and Nitrification in a Membrane Bioreactor with CO2 and O2 Gas Analysis at the Technical University of Berlin. His research is currently focused on water and wastewater treatment by both chemical and biological means.

Eva–Maria Dombrowski is Professor for Biochemical and Chemical Engineering at the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin (TFH, University of Applied Science), Germany. She studied Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and obtained her PhD researching the sedimentation of activated sludge. She spent eight years as a staff scientist at the State Environmental Agency in Berlin in the field of treatment of inorganic compounds of exhaust gas and the water emission situation before being named professor for Biochemical and Chemical Engineering in 1996.
Professor Dombrowski′s research is focused on the biological treatment of wastewater and solid waste. Since 2001 she has been chairman of the Hypatia Program, a post–graduate–program for women at the TFH Berlin.

" a straightforward, well–written and technically sound discussion of wastewater treatment." ( Journal of Hazardous Materials, July 19, 2007)