Feasibility Study for Management of Waste Activated Sludge, Manitoba, Canada

A Canadian food processor located in Manitoba required a feasibility study to identify the most cost effective technology to manage waste activated sludge (WAS) at one of their facilities located in Manitoba, Canada. The waste activated sludge was previously discharged into one anaerobic lagoon used for wastewater pretreatment. The discharge was reducing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the reactor which caused process upsets in the anaerobic lagoon and the sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). The work included preparing preliminary costs (capital and operating) for thickening WAS and treatment of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) including anaerobic treatment, ATAD, and aerobic digestion. The preliminary evaluation provided the client with sufficient information to select a process using gravity belt thickeners, and anaerobic digestion of TWAS.