Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Sewage collection systems have been built and operated mainly as sanitation and hydraulic infrastructure, i.e. to prevent flooding and to move wastewater out of cities in order to receive appropriate treatment. As such, the management focus has been mostly on hydraulic performance and the prevention of particle settling/odor development in pipes. Current research in collection systems extends beyond sewage conveyance into the biochemical reactions occurring in sewers with the possibility of reducing H2S production while simultaneously modifying the influent wastewater chemistry to reach new treatment goals, such as highereffluent quality and reduced operational costs of the wastewater treatment plant. Thus, the optimization of physico-chemical and bio-chemical processes occurring in a collection system will help in achieving optimal management and control of wastewater effluent quality (especially in terms of phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations) and sludge production. Given the diversity of site-specific conditions encounterable in various geographies, it is paramount to develop/validate tools such as advanced computational models to rapidly identify plant-specific optimum conditions and ""design"" an ideal influent using in-sewer treatment chemistries.This proposal aims to test new chemistries as in-sewer treatment strategies as well as developing/validating advanced modeling tools aimed to identify the optimal operational strategies to intensify and control the bio-chemical and physico-chemical processes occurring in the sewer collection system. The type of chemicals (hydrogen peroxide, ferric chloride, and nitrate), the dosing location, and the dosage rate as well as their effect on the biochemical reactions in the bulk and the biofilm with focus on H2S control, VFA production, and nutrient removal (P and N).