Activated sludge system with staggered partition basin

Claim 1

An aeration basin for aerating mixed liquor in an activated sludge system comprising: (a) wall means forming an elongated, rectangular basin having side walls, an inlet and an outlet end; the length to width ratio of said basin being within the range of 1.8 to 4.0; (b) means for supplying wastewater and recycled sludge to the inlet end of said basin to form mixed liquor therein; (c) a plurality of rotary aerator means located at spaced locations along the length of said basin between said inlet and outlet ends for aerating said mixed liquor flowing throughout the elongated length of said basin from said inlet end to said outlet end; (d) a plurality of staggered partition means extending laterally from alternate side walls for a distance in the order of one half the width of said basin, said staggered partition means extending throughout the depth of the mixed liquor and transverse to said lengthwise flow of mixed liquor and being positioned between said aerator means to form a plurality of liquid passes through which said mixed liquor flows in sequence, said liquid passes having length to width ratios within the range of 0.60 to 1.00 and forming a generally serpentine flow path through the basin, said staggered partition means being of a lateral extent and shape such as to provide open and nonrestricted liquid flow paths for backmixing between adjacent liquid passes, said non-restricted flow paths having cross-sectional areas within the range of 40% to 60% of the wetted cross-sectional area of said basin; and (e) said basin having a wetted cross-sectional area of such predetermined size, and said rotary aerator means having predetermined values of diameter (D) and RPM (N), such that the aerator mixing factor (N × D/U) is maintained within the range of 20 to 450, whereby said aeration basin achieves a substantially greater number of effective liquid stages.