Online course
16. Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment
The course entails the definition and environmental benefits of anaerobic wastewater treatment processes, microbiology of anaerobic conversions (e.g. hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, methanogenesis), prediction of methane production, impacts of alternative electron acceptors, working with COD balances, immobilization and sludge granulation, etc. You will also get insight into various anaerobic reactor systems, and in particular upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, and anaerobic process kinetics. Anaerobic treatment of domestic and municipal sewage and black water in new sanitation systems is also part of the course. Finally, you will test and expand your knowledge by studying examples and exercises and you will enjoy a variety of international case studies specially prepared for this course.
Course information
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Objectives
After completion of the course you should be able to:
- Familiarize with the anaerobic treatment of domestic and municipal sewage and with black water in new sanitation systems:
- Describe the environmental benefits of anaerobic wastewater treatment processes,;
- Understand the basic principles of the microbiology of anaerobic conversions (e.g. hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, methanogenesis);
- Predict the methane production;
- Understand the impacts of alternative electron acceptors;
- Work with COD balances;
- Comprehend the immobilization and sludge granulation processes;
- Describe various anaerobic reactor systems, and in particular upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors, and anaerobic process kinetics;
- Test and expand your knowledge by studying examples and exercises.
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Syllabus
This course covers the following topics:
- General Background on Anaerobic Digestion Technology for Domestic Sewage Treatment
- Anaerobic Digestion Applications for Domestic Sewage Treatment
- Design and Operation of UASB Reactors for Sewage Treatment
- Current Challenges and Recent Developments
- Post-treatment of Anaerobic Effluents
- Case Studies – Experience with Full-scale UASB Reactors and Virtual Tours
- Case Study – Design Example
- Outlook with Emphasis on Developing Countries
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Organization
Courses in this series consist of video lectures, presentation slides, reading materials, exercises, and assignments with solutions. In principle, each video presentation has its complementary presentation slides. All videos are available for viewing in the section “Video-recorded presentations”. The materials are packaged in three (.zip) files, namely, the “Videos”, the “Presentations”, and the “Documents”. Files may be of considerable size, so you need to ensure that your computer has sufficient bandwidth and capacity for downloading. This course is based on the book “Anaerobic Rectaors for Sewage Treatment: Design. Construction, and Operation” (Chernicharo
and Bressani-Ribeiro, 2019). Recommended additional reading is chapter in the book “Biological Wastewater Treatment: Principles, Modeling, and Design” 2nd edition (Chen et al., 2020), and the corresponding chapter in the complementary book “Biological Wastewater Treatment: Examples and Exercises” (Lopez-Vazquez et al., 2023). All three books are open-access and available in the section “Documents (.zip) on this webpage. For those interested in related experimental methods, it is advised to consult relevant methods in the book “Experimental Methods in Wastewater Treatment” (Van Loosdrecht et al., 2016). The complete book and video-recorded experimentation are available on this website as a separate course (https://studybwwt.online/courses/18-experimental-methods-in-wastewater-treatment/). -
Delivery Method
This course is currently designed for a SELF-STUDY mode. It is FREE, and does not include guidance, support, exams, assessment, and certification. It is possible that shortly, the series (or its parts) will be adopted by institutions that may deliver the guided version, including certification. As soon as this is the case, it will be advertised on this website.
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Open Access
The content is available for free unlimited access and use, consistent with Global Sanitation Graduate School’s commitment to ensuring open access to information and knowledge. Please note that the video materials fall under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), presentations under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), readers (OA books of IWA Publishing) under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), and other readers under the license specified by the publisher. Although care has been taken to ensure the integrity and quality of these materials and information, no responsibility is assumed by the author(s), Global Sanitation Graduate School, or IHE Delft Institute for Water Education for any damage to property or persons as a result of the use of these materials and/or the information contained herein.