Design of a Deinking Waste-
Treatment Plant
A. J. Palladino, Engineer
National  Council  for  Stream  Improvement
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Subsequent to successful laboratory and pilot-plant development by
the National Council for Stream Improvement for the secondary treat¬
ment of waste waters from the deinking of old paper, the Kalamazoo
River Improvement Company, a non-profit organization consisting of
six deinking mills in the Kalamazoo area, was formed. This company
has as its aim the construction, at the Michigan Paper Company, Plain-
well, Michigan, of the first treatment plant for demonstration of the
process on a full scale. Design of the plant based upon the data com¬
piled in the pilot-plant operation was undertaken by the National
Council for Stream Improvement. The essential pilot plant operating
data are presented in Table 1. Although the plant is to be constructed
primarily for demonstration purposes, it was necessary also to design
as much as possible for future expansion and use. The demonstration
period was fixed at one year by the terms of the agreement. After
this period the efficacy of full-scale operation was to be determined. It
was necessary, therefore, that the plant be of sufficient capacity so
that problems peculiar to full-scale operation would become evident;
however, full consideration also had to be given to economical design
in order to limit expenditure to a degree commensurate with the
primary purpose of demonstration. Reconciling these factors made for
a somewhat unusual design.
Essential Features of the Treatment Plant
The treatment plant units are essentially those inherent to the
activated sludge process for sewage treatment: i.e., primary settling
tank, aeration tank, secondary settling tank, secondary sludge-concen¬
trating tank, and primary and secondary sludge lagoons.
The decision was made to limit the flow to the primary units to
0.5 mgd and to secondary units to 0.167 to 0.25 mgd (depending upon
the aeration period).   For economy of construction it was decided to
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