Supervisor Flashcards
(31 cards)
What are the NPDES permits at your plant?
At crooked creek we have 2 permits. We have a combined permit and a regular permit for our effluent. Our comb. permit for flow is 36mgd monthly and 45mgd weekly. Our cbod permit monthly is 396kg/d and 495 weekly. Our ammonia permit is 97 monthly and 121 weekly. Phosphorus permit is 51 monthly and 64 weekly. TSS permit is 683 monthly and 853 weekly. Fecal is 25 /100ml monthly and 50 /100ml. Our effluent permit for crooked creek is 16mgd monthly and 20mgd weekly. Our PH is 6-9 and our DO is a minimum of 6.
Describe what the activated sludge process is?
It is a type of biological treatment process that uses microorganisms to degrade and remove nutrients from the waste water such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
What is nitrification?
Nitrification is a biological process that oxidizes ammonia into nitrite by a group of bacterium called nitrosomonas. From nitrites another group of nitrifying bacterium called nitrobacters convert the nitrites to nitrates. And nitrates is your byproduct in the nitrification process.
What is denitrification?
Well after nitrification there are still nitrates in the system so we recycle them into the anoxic zone. The denitrifiers that are present need food and oxygen to survive. Since there is no DO present in the anoxic zone these denitrifiers look for alternative sources of food such as your nitrates. They will strip the oxygen from your nitrate which will leave you with nitrogen gas.
Why is alkalinity important to nitrification?
Nitrification is an acidic process and if your system does not have adequate alkalinity the acid produced could kill your nitrifying bacteria which would result in process hiccups and loss of nitrification.
What is PH?
PH is a measurement of how acidic or basic your water is.
What is alkalinity?
Alkalinity is a measurement of waste waters ability to neutralize acids or resist changes that cause acidity while maintaining a stable PH.
What does PH being logarithmic mean?
It essentially means that the difference of 1ph unit is a difference of 10 times. So an example would be a ph of 5 is 10x more acidic than the PH of 6.
Why is PH important?
Microorganisms thrive at different PH levels so maintaining the right PH range is crucial for nitrification.
How do you remove Phosphorus chemically?
Adding metal salts to react with soluble phosphate such as alum or ferric.
How do you physically remove phosphorus?
You remove P physically by tertiary treatments such as membrane and sand filtration.
How do you biologically remove phosphorus?
Once your phosphorus accumulating organisms are introduced to an anaerobic zone they will release their bound phosphorus and once they are returned back into an aerobic environment they will take in phosphorous that they released.
What is SRT?
Stands for solid retention time and it’s the time that microorganisms stay in the system to be able to reproduce.
What is MCRT?
It stands for mean cell residence time and it’s the amount of time in days that solids or bacteria is kept in the activated sludge process.
What is the main difference between SRT and MCRT?
The MCRT equation includes the solids in the secondary clarifiers and SRT does not.
How does Phosphorus leave the plant?
By being wasted out
If you have high ammonia leaving your secondaries what could you do?
There is nothing you can do since we don’t have emergency storage tanks.
Do you have any experience with anaerobic digestion? If so how do u make sure it’s operating correctly?
I have very little experience with anaerobic digestion but definitely would like to learn more. To make sure a digester is operating properly I would monitor methane production, digester temperature, and make sure your ph and alkalinity are in range.
What is the relationship between Operations and Maintenance?
Well the relationship is very critical on the plants efficiency. Operations is responsible for diagnosing any issues with mandatory equipment and maintenance is responsible for ensuring any issues with equipment is handled.
If you have high turbidity in your filters what can you do?
I would backwash more frequently and inspect the media to see if there is any damage or is potentially clogged.
What is CMMS?
CMMS is Maximo
If you have an underperforming employee what can you do?
I would talk to this employee one on one and ask if there is anything going on in their life especially if they have been with me for a while. If it is a new employee I would address the problem with them and try to guide them in the right direction and if they keep underperforming than I will bring it to management.
Have you had any conflict with an employee?
No I have not had any conflicts. But if I was to in the future I would attempt to resolve the issue but if we could not agree I would take some space from this person and reflect on what they said and maybe try to come to an agreement.
What do you do to assure communication in your work group?
Well I would be talking with the night shift supervisor to give them a rundown of what happened during the day and see if they had any problems on nights. I will be involved with daily lab numbers and process control. Also we have radios, log books and emails we send out for communication.
