Determination of the Volume of Flow Equalization Basin in Wastewater Treatment System

Abstract

The function of a wastewater treatment plant is to improve the quality of wastewater by removing suspended organic and inorganic solids and other materials before discharging it into a waterway. In treating wastewater, the rate at which the wastewater arrives at the treatment process might vary dramatically during the day, so it is convenient to equalize the flow before feeding it to the various treatment steps. Flow equalization is a process of controlling flow velocity and flow composition. It is necessary in many municipal an industrial treatment processes to dampen severe variation inflow and water quality. Providing consistent flow and loading to a biological process is important to maintain optimal treatment. Equalization basins are designed to provide consistent influent flow to downstream processes by retaining high flow fluctuations. Due to the additional retention time, aeration and mixing is required to prevent the raw wastewater from becoming septic and to maintain solids in suspension.  Generally flow equalization is provided for dampening of flow rate variations so that a constant or nearly constant flow rate is achieved.

Keywords: Equalization, Dampen, BOD, Inline Flow, aeration