Introduction to the Treatment of Urban Sewage
Details
This course will focus on basic technologies for the treatment of urban sewage. Unit processes involved in the treatment chain will be described as well as the physical, chemical and biological processes involved. There will be an emphasis on water quality
and the functionality of each unit process within the treatment chain. After the course one should be able to recognise the process units, describe their function and make simple design calculations on urban sewage treatment plants.
The course consists of 6 modules:
- Sewage treatment plant overview. In this module you will learn what major pollutants are present in the sewage and why we need to treat sewage prior to discharge to surface waters. The functional units will be briefly discussed
- Primary treatment. In this module you learn how coarse material, sand & grit are removed from the sewage and how to design primary clarification tanks
- Biological treatment. In this module you learn the basics of the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous cycle and how biological processes are used to treat the main pollutants of concern.
- Activated sludge process. In this module you learn the design principles of conventional activated sludge processes including the secondary clarifiers and aeration demand of aeration tanks.
- Nitrogen and phosphorus removal. In this module you learn the principles of biological nitrogen removal as well as phosphorus removal by biological and/or chemical means.
- Sludge treatment. In this module you will the design principles of sludge thickeners, digesters and dewatering facilities for the concentration and stabilisation of excess sewage sludge. Potentials for energy recovery via the produced biogas will be discussed as well as the direct anaerobic treatment of urban sewage in UASB reactors when climate conditions allow.
The course consists of knowledge clips, movies, exercises, discussion and homework assignments. The course will be finished by an examination. The best students (based on results and activity in the forum discussions) will be invited to follow an online course of the MSc-track Water management of the faculty of Civil Engineering at the TU Delft.
Last year this course was given as part of Introduction to water treatment. This year we offer two separate courses: "Introduction to drinking water treatment" and "Introduction to the Treatment of Urban Sewage".
Together with the course "Introduction to Water and Climate" they form the Water XSeries Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, TU Delft.
LICENSE
The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.
FAQs
What is the estimated effort for course?
About 8 hours each week.
How much does it cost to take the course?
Nothing! The course is free.
Will the text of the lectures be available?
Yes. All of our lectures will have transcripts synced to the videos.
Do I need to watch the lectures live?
No. You can watch the lectures at your leisure.
Will certificates be awarded?
Yes. Online learners who achieve a passing grade in a course can earn a certificate of achievement. These certificates will indicate you have successfully completed the course, but will not include a specific grade. Certificates will be issued by edX under the name of DelftX, designating the institution from which the course originated.
Can I contact the Instructor or Teaching Assistants?
Yes, but not directly. The discussion forums are the appropriate venue for questions about the course. The instructors will monitor the discussion forums and try to respond to the most important questions; in many cases response from other students and peers will be adequate and faster.
Is this course related to campus courses of Delft University of Technology?
Yes. This course corresponds to parts of the campus course CTB3365 – Introduction to water treatment, a BSc course of the Faculty Civil Engineering and Geosciences.
Outline
- Recognize the process units in urban wastewater treatment technologies
- Describe the function of these process units
- Describe the physical, chemical and biological processes involved
- Make simple design calculations on wastewater treatment plants
Speaker/s
Merle de Kreuk is a wastewater Assistant Professor at the Sanitary Engineering department of the Delft University of Technology. Her research focus is on (municipal and industrial) wastewater treatment systems and anaerobic processes, aiming to link the world of Biotechnology to the Civil Engineering, as well as fundamental research to industrial applications. Her main research topics are hydrolysis processes in anaerobic treatment and granule formation and deterioration. Merle’s PhD and Post-Doc research involved the development of aerobic granular sludge technology and up scaling the technology from a three litre lab scale reactor to the full scale Nereda® process®. The first application of aerobic granular sludge technology in the Netherlands was opened in May 2012, and currently many more installations are being built, due to its compactness, low energy use and good effluent characteristics. Her previous work experience also involved the position of water treatment technology innovator at Water authority Hollandse Delta on projects such as the Energy Factory in which 14 water authorities cooperated to develop an energy producing sewage treatment plant.
Related Courses
