23    PREDICTING AIR EMISSIONS COMPLIANCE
USING ACTIVATED SLUDGE AS A CONTROL DEVICE
Michael K. Oppelt, Environmental Engineer
Phyllis C. Frank, Department Manager, Air Quality
C. Keith Ganze, Department Manager, Industrial Wastes
Parsons Engineering Science, Inc.
Houston Texas 77001
John H. Koon, Vice President
Parsons Engineering Science, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia 30337
Leonard Levine, Operations Coordinator
Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority
Houston, Texas 77001
Jim Kowalik, Manager, Bayport Facility
Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority
Bayport, Texas 77522
INTRODUCTION
Several state and federal regulations require control of volatilized hazardous compounds from
otherwise atmospheric emissions upstream of activated sludge systems. While several models estimate the fate of compounds across wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), they have not considered the introduction of compounds from gaseous stream into an activated sludge system. This
chapter discusses modifications made to one of these WWTP models, Toxchem+, to estimate a
removal efficiency of emissions routed to an activated sludge process of a wastewater treatment
facility. This method was developed in order to minimize costs for a control device for compliance with regulations at the GCA Bayport Facility in Houston, Texas.
BACKGROUND
The Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority (GCA) is a publicly owned treatment works
(POTW) that owns and operates several biological treatment facilities as well as other waste
management facilities. These facilities serve local industrial and municipal customers, primarily
on a regional basis. As part of the 1995 GCA Bayport Facility expansion. Parsons Engineering
Science, Inc. (Parsons ES) was retained to design the upgrade of the activated sludge treatment
facility to assist GCA in servicing the Bayport Industrial Complex, located in Houston, Texas.
The Bayport Industrial Complex is an area containing numerous chemical manufacturing plants,
most of whom discharge to GCA. This upgrade increased the organic loading capacity of the
Bayport Facility to 110,000 lb/day BOD and 76,500 lb/day TOC. The Bayport Facility is currently permitted to discharge 15.8 MGD.
Regulations Affecting the GCA Bayport Facility
Federal and state air regulations were investigated to determine applicability to the GCA Bay-
port Facility. Authorization for construction of the wastewater treatment facility was obtained
from a standard exemption in accordance with Texas Administrative Code, Title 30, Section 116.
Total VOC emissions after construction were estimated to be less than 25 tons per year (tpy).
51st Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings. 1996, Ann Arbor Press, Inc.. Chelsea. Michigan 48118.
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