The MBBR (moving bed biofilm reactor) process is an attached growth process that uses plastic carriers to provide a surface on which biofilm grows.
The MBBR (moving bed biofilm reactor) process is an attached growth process that uses plastic carriers to provide a surface on which biofilm grows. The plastic carriers are kept suspended in the aeration tank by an aerator for an aerobic process or by mechanical mixing for an anoxic or anaerobic process. The plastic carriers are kept in the system by a sieve at the outlet of the tank. The MBBR process doesn’t require sludge recycling, because the biomass remains in the system attached to the plastic carriers. The required reactor size for an MBBR process is typically significantly smaller than that for an activated sludge process treating the same wastewater flow, or for other common attached growth processes like the RBC or trickling filter. It can be used for BOD removal, biological nitrification, biological denitrification, and biological phosphorus removal.
This course provides discussion of and detailed examples of process design calculations for a single-stage BOD removal MBBR system, a two-stage BOD removal MBBR system, a single-stage tertiary nitrification MBBR system, a two-stage BOD removal/Nitrification MBBR system a post-anoxic denitrification MBBR system and a pre-anoxic denitrification MBBR system.
**At the conclusion of this course, the student will:**
- Know the differences between attached growth and suspended growth biological wastewater treatment processes
- Be familiar with the components of and the general configuration of an MBBR wastewater treatment process
- Be able to calculate the loading rate of a wastewater constituent to an MBBR process (in lb/day and g/day) for a specified wastewater flow rate and constituent concentration
- Be able to calculate the required carrier surface area for an MBBR wastewater treatment process for a specified SALR and loading rate.
- Be able to calculate the required MBBR tank volume for specified carrier surface area, carrier-specific surface area and carrier fill %
- Be able to calculate the liquid volume in an MBBR tank for known tank volume, carrier volume and carrier % void space
- Be able to calculate the BOD, NH3-N, or NO3-N removal rate for known values of the surface area removal rate (SARR) and design carrier surface area
- Be able to calculate an estimated effluent BOD, NH3-N or NO3-N concentration based on known values of the appropriate loading rate, estimated removal rate, and design wastewater flow rate
- Be able to make process design calculations for a post-anoxic denitrification MBBR process, including required tank sizes, estimated effluent concentrations, alkalinity requirement and carbon source requirement
- Be able to make process design calculations for a pre-anoxic denitrification MBBR process, including required tank sizes, estimated effluent concentrations, and alkalinity requirements
**Intended Audience:**
This course is intended for civil engineers, environmental engineers, and chemical engineers. After completing this course you will be familiar with the general components and configuration of an MBBR wastewater treatment process and be able to make typical process design calculations for an MBBR process.
**Publication Source:**
Based on original courseware, written by Harlan Bengtson, PhD, PE
Dr. Harlan Bengtson is an online PDH course provider of continuing education courses for professional engineers. Dr. Bengtson is a graduate of Iowa State University with B.S. and M.S. degrees and of the University of Colorado with a PhD. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Missouri. Dr. Bengtson has spent 30 years in engineering education in teaching and administrative positions, including six years as Dean of Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Dr. Harlan H. Bengtson, PE 33 Grainey Drive Glen Carbon, IL 62034 Phone: (618) 406-6892 E-mail: hnkbengtson@yahoo.com PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Dr. Bengtson is a graduate of Iowa State University with B.S. and M.S. degrees and of the University of Colorado with a PhD. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Missouri. He has spent 30 years in engineering education in teaching and administrative positions, including six years as Dean of Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His areas of expertise are environmental engineering, hydrology and hydraulics, engineering science and renewable energy systems. He has done regular consulting work while holding the academic positions. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Bengtson worked for Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing as a Product Development Engineer and for E. I. duPont deNemours as a Process Development Engineer. Dr. Bengtson has authored numerous publications, presentations and technical reports. He is currently active as a freelance technical writer, author of continuing education courses for Professional Engineers, and is the founder of www.engineeringexceltemplates.com and www.EngineeringExcelSpreadsheets.com, sites with the objective of providing inexpensive, easy to use Excel spreadsheets for a variety of engineering calculations.
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