International Specialized Course: Operation & Control of activated sludge processes by microscopic analysis

The activated sludge process is the most commonly used biological wastewater treatment process. Activated sludge can biodegrade many organic pollutants, oxidize and remove reduced nitrogen compounds and promote the enhanced removal of phosphate from municipal and industrial wastewaters. Recent process modifications include biological nutrient removal (BNR), sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) and membrane bioreactors (MBRs).

Solid backgrounds in process engineering and microbiology are required for the diagnosis, control and resolution of common activated sludge process problems such as deterioration of settling properties, foam formation and loss of specialized organisms.

This Course, which is the 19th in this series offered by Environmental Study Center «Luigi Bazzucchi», will consist of presentations on activated sludge process modifications including BNRs, SBRs and MBRs and on the microbiology of these and other activated sludge process variations.  The course will consist of two distinct sessions:

• I - Base Module:  one and half day of lectures on process basic principles and main strategies to overcome dysfunctions.
• II - Specialized Module: three days of laboratory on microscopic evaluation of activated sludge for process control including a demonstration of  FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis.