Effect of food:microorganism ratio in activated sludge foam control

Foaming is a common operational problem in activated sludge processes that often adversely affects the quality of the treated effluent. Overgrowth of the filamentous Nocardia spp. in the microbial ecosystem was previously identified as the cause of foaming. In the present study, the specific growth rate of Nocardia amarae was found to be much higher than that of nonfilamentous bacteria under food:microorganism (F:M) ratios lower than 0.5 mg of biological oxygen demand (BOD)/(mg of mixed liquor suspended solids [MLSS].d). This indicated that filamentous overgrowth may occur in normal activated sludge processes that are continually operated under the usual F:M range of 0.2-0.6 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS.d). A novel two-component feast-fast operation (FFO) that capitalized on the sensitivity of filamentous bacteria to F:M ratio was designed to prevent and control foaming problems. The F:M ratio in the "feasting" aeration unit was 0.8 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS.d) whereas that in the "fasting" aeration unit was 0.2 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS.d). The FFO resulted in an overall process F:M ratio that still remained within the normal range, while avoiding prolonged exposure of the activated sludge ecosystem to an F:M ratio below 0.5 mg of BOD/(mg of MLSS.d). The FFO suppressed the overgrowth of filamentous bacteria without adversely affecting the organic treatment efficiency of the modified process.