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Concept
Secondary treatment
Summary
Secondary treatment (mostly biological wastewater treatment) is the removal of biodegradable organic matter (in solution or suspension) from sewage or similar kinds of wastewater. The aim is to achieve a certain degree of effluent quality in a sewage treatment plant suitable for the intended disposal or reuse option. A "primary treatment" step often precedes secondary treatment, whereby physical phase separation is used to remove settleable solids. During secondary treatment, biological processes are used to remove dissolved and suspended organic matter measured as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). These processes are performed by microorganisms in a managed aerobic or anaerobic process depending on the treatment technology. Bacteria and protozoa consume biodegradable soluble organic contaminants (e.g. sugars, fats, and organic short-chain carbon molecules from human waste, food waste, soaps and detergent) while reproducing to form cells of biological solids. Secondary treatment is widely used in sewage treatment and is also applicable to many agricultural and industrial wastewaters.
Secondary treatment systems are classified as fixed-film or suspended-growth systems, and as aerobic versus anaerobic. Fixed-film or attached growth systems include trickling filters, constructed wetlands, bio-towers, and rotating biological contactors, where the biomass grows on media and the sewage passes over its surface. The fixed-film principle has further developed into moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) and Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) processes. Suspended-growth systems include activated sludge, which is an aerobic treatment system, based on the maintenance and recirculation of a complex biomass composed of micro-organisms (bacteria and protozoa) able to absorb and adsorb the organic matter carried in the wastewater. Constructed wetlands are also being used. An example for an anaerobic secondary treatment system is the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor.
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