SBR technology is a method of wastewater treatment in which all phases of the treatment process occur sequentially within the same tank. Hence, the main benefits of the SBR system are less civil structures, inter-connecting pipe work, and process equipment and the consequent savings in capital and operating costs. Conventional activated sludge systems require separate tanks for the unit processes of biological reactions (aeration of mixed liquor) and solids-liquid separation (clarification) and also require process mixed liquor solids (return activated sludge) to be returned from the final clarification stage to the aeration tanks. All SBR’s operate on a time-based process cycle to achieve the process conditions necessary for carbonaceous oxidation, nitrification, de-nitrification and biological phosphorus removal. In addition, solids-liquid separation, treated effluent removal, and solids wasting are also incorporated to complete the process cycle.
Completion of these phases constitutes a cycle, which is then repeated.
SBR technology has the advantage of being much more flexible than conventional activated sludge processes in terms of matching reaction times to the concentration and degree of treatment required for a particular waste water. The SBR process allows for the following adjustments to be made in addition to those (such as sludge age and operating mixed liquor solids concentration) that can be made in an equivalent Conventional process
Hence changes in wastewater characteristics over time may be readily accommodated in the SBR process
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