Design and Performance of Physical-Chemical
And Activated Sludge Treatment For
An Edible Oil Plant
CARL E. ADAMS, JR., President
ROBERT M. STEIN, Project Manager
Associated Water and Air Resources Engineers
Nashville, Tennessee 37204
JOEL J. JOSEPH, Environmental Engineer
THOMAS WALSH, Environmental Manager
Glidden-Durkee Corporation
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
INTRODUCTION
In order to obtain the most economical system to provide a high quality effluent, an
effective wastewater management program should be divided into several steps. First, it is
necessary to thoroughly characterize the courses of wastewater and the contaminants in the
wastewater. Second, the applicable state and federal regulatory criteria should be examined
in order to determine the levels of treatment required. An evaluation of end-of-pipe
treatment alternatives and in-plant modifications should be conducted. A preliminary
economic analysis should be conducted to determine the optimum treatment program.
Once this analysis is complete, unless there is sufficient data available on this or similar
wastewaters, either an intensive treatability study or a treatability confirmation study
should be performed to evaluate effective methods of wastewater treatment. Once the
process has been determined, it is important to develop an engineering design which will
provide the most practical and economical treatment method. Finally, it is imperative to
provide capabilities for correct operation of the treatment system.
This paper will review the wastewater management program at the Glidden-Durkee
Industrial Foods plant in Joliet, Illinois. This is a vegetable oils processing and refining
plant.
BACKGROUND
Prior to upgrading the wastewater management program, the treatment facility
consisted of a total pressurization dissolved air flotation pretreatment system, a 15-day
aerated lagoon and two 5-day detention time settling lagoons. Considerable problems were
experienced in the operation of the facility due to floating material on the aerated lagoon
and the occasional development of anaerobic odors on the treatment facilities.
Initially, a wastewater characterization program was conducted to evaluate the
performance of the wastewater treatment system. Figure 1 presents the statistical variation
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