EXTENDED AERATION SYSTEM
Biomicrobe The Extended Aeration is the most common variation of the Activated Sludge Process. It is a biological treatment process, which is able to produce high quality effluent for a reasonable operating and maintenance costs.
In the process, large quantities of air are bubbled through wastewaters that contain dissolved organic substances in open aeration tanks. Oxygen is required by bacteria and other types of microorganisms present in the system to live, grow, and multiply in order to consume the dissolved organic "food", or pollutants in the waste. After several hours in a large holding tank, the water is separated from the sludge of bacteria and discharged from the system. Most of the activated sludge is returned to the treatment process, while-the purified effluent is disposed of by one of several accepted methods. The purified effluent is considered secondarily treated. Before disposal, further treatment stages may be applied to the secondary effluent in order to reduce even more its organic load and suspended solids content.
APPLICATION EXTENDED AERATION SYSTEM
Advantages - Benefits of the Technology
The Extended Aeration is the most popular biological treatment process for larger installations or small package plants being used today. The reason for this is their ability to produce a high quality effluent for the price. Other advantages of the Extended Aeration process are its stability, the ease of installation and operation of systems, the low construction operating and maintenance costs, the low sludge yield and the odorless operation.
Applications
The Extended Aeration process is widely used by large cities and communities where large volumes of wastewater must be highly treated economically. Extended Aeration plants are good choices too for isolated facilities, such as hospitals or hotels, housing developments and even individual residences.
