Baytown Briefs (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, August 16, 1968 Page: 3 of 4
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Baytown Briefs • August 16, 1968
3
3113
SUNLIGHT
CO2 (Carbon dioxide)
Q
(Oxygen)
(Water)
How Lagooning System Works
Friendly Bacteria Clean Up Our Wastes
ANAEROBIC
2
DISCOUNTS - -
- - Continued From Page 1
E385232
PA.
I
74
In a properly-functioning lagoon, illustrated here, bacteria known as
aerobes and anaerobes work in partnership to destroy pollutants.
. . . your direct line
to management
ANAEROBIC LAYER
(No dissolved oxygen)
AEROBIC LAYER
(Contains dissolved oxygen)
me
—
L______
oxygen still further. A chain of
events has now been set off which
can result in the complete de-
struction of all aerobes in the
system.
Anaerobes then move into the
upper layer of the lagoons. There
arc two ways of getting the an-
SHipchanNe-
these conditions, the methane and
hydrogen sulfide produced by the
anaerobes escape from the la-
goons in smelly form.
The aerobes must have oxygen
to live. Their supply of oxygen
comes primarily from algae,
which give off dissolved oxygen
by using energy from sunlight to
break up carbon dioxide.
Trouble develops when an over-
load of organic pollutants enters
the lagoons. As aerobes work
harder to consume the pollutants,
they require more oxygen than is
present and they begin to die.
This causes the water to be-
come turbid, which in turn re-
duces the sunlight penetrating the
surface of the lagoons to sustain
the algae. Next, the algae begin
to die, reducing the available
LaPorte tunnel, there was a
terrific odor which just about
knocked me out. When I
came out here to work and
asked about it, someone said
there was something wrong
with the lagooning system. I
would like to know what is
wrong with it? Boy! If that
smell is from the lagooning
system, something should be
done about it.
A. The lagoons gave off odors
As illustrated by this drawing, when
a lagoon is upset, there is no aero-
bic layer to prevent escape of
methane and hydrogen sulfide to
the atmosphere.
. ping.
If you had rather not send it
back to the factory, our only
other suggestion is to try a local
appliance repair shop.
Q. The other night as I was
going through the Baytown-
CH4 H2S
(Methane) (Hydrogen Sulfide)
t t
ANAEROBES
t
WASTE MATTER
ANAEROBES
1
WASTE MATTER
we could send these safety
award electric can openers to
get them repaired and in
* working order again. Be-
tween work duties here at
night we were discussing the
poor operation of these can
openers. Seems that the
motor runs fairly well but
they won’t open a can. Won-
der if you could refer us to
the proper address to get
these things worked over. We
always try for the safety rec-
ord and appreciate receiv-
ing the awards, but on some-
thing like this that breaks
down that fast we would like
to find out what we can do
about it.
A. The Shetland can opener
was given in September of 1965.
The warranty on them has prob-
ably expired by now, but here is
the address if you would like to
send one back for repair: Shet-
land Company, Inc., Can Opener
Dept.; Shetland Industrial Park,
Salem, Mass. The Shetland Com-
• pany asks that you include a self-
addressed envelope and $1.50 for
handling, insurance, and ship-
Houston Police Association. For
each ticket ordered through the
credit union for these perfor-
mances and sold in connection
with the police association, the
Houston Policemen’s Burial and
Pension Fund will receive 75
cents.
Adult tickets will be $3, $2.50,
and $2 on these days and will be
the regular $4, $3.50, and $3
tickets for other performances.
Discount prices for youth will be
$2, $1.75, and $1. These will be
An aerial shot of the lagooning system is shown above.
aerobes back to their assigned
place in the lower part of the la-
goon.
One is to cut off their source of
food—pollutants. The other is to
get oxygen back into the system,
since anaerobes can only live
where there is no oxygen. Our
people can get the lagoons back
in proper working order by us-
ing these two factors—adding
oxygen and reducing pollutants
to the lagoon.
When recovery starts, objec-
tionable odors begin to subside.
After two or three days, the odors
are no longer noticeable unless
you are very close to the lagoons.
Even so, it takes a couple of
weeks longer for the system to
fully recover.
How the lagoons work has to
be called a miracle of nature.
However, nature alone cannot
keep our system of waste clean-up
functioning properly. The proper
balance between our helpful bac-
teria in the lagoons depends upon
our ability not to overload the
system. This is where an aware-
ness of pollution problems and a
concerted effort to reduce pollu-
tion at the source can be the de-
ciding factors in how effective
our lagooning system really is.
Humble Club Dance Set
For Saturday, August 24
The Humble Club’s end-of-
summer dance will be held Satur-
day, August 24, at Sylvan Beach
from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Music will be provided by
Buddy Brock and his orchestra.
Tickets per couple are $3 for
members, and $5 for guests.
regular $3, $2.50, and $2 youth
tickets for other performances.
Those interested in purchasing
the discount tickets may contact
the Humble Credit Union, P. O.
Box 3181, or Telephone 427-
1728. Forms are also available
in the credit union lobby and
drive-in window.
Reservations arc now being ac-
cepted. Bobby Sutphin, educa-
tion coordinator at the credit
union, said orders should be
placed as soon as possible.
for a day or so recently when
they became overloaded. We are
doing something about it through
a two-part program which will
1) provide greater capacity in
the lagoons by adding more aera-
tion facilities ahead of the first
lagoon, and 2) promote greater
control of pollutants at units in
the plants. Meanwhile, how the
system works and what happens
when it is overloaded is ex-
plained in the accompanying ar-
ticle.
. . there was a terrific odor
. . . someone said there was some-
thing wrong with the lagooning
system . .
These excerpts from a 3113
call pretty well sum up the situ-
ation which existed for two or
three days at our lagooning sys-
tem. The answer in 3113 tells
why, but not how—which, per-
haps, may be of interest to our
readers.
To understand why the lagoons
can give off an undesirable odor
if they are not functioning prop-
erly, you first have to know what
happens when friendly micro-
organisms clean up our effluent.
The illustration above repre-
sents a side view of our lagoons.
All shallow ponds and bays have
similar aerobic and anaerobic
layers. Our aerated lagoon does
not have the anaerobic layer due
to the mixing action that forces
dissolved oxygen down into the
bottom portion.
The top layer, which extends
downward a foot and a half, con-
tains an inestimable number of
bugs known scientifically as aer-
obes. The bottom layer has about
the same number of anaerobes.
Both kinds of bugs are faithful
in their determination to eat up
undesirable wastes in our effluent.
For everything to go right,
however, the bugs have to per-
form as a team. The anaerobes,
a fermenting bacteria, eat the
plants’ waste matter in the waler
and in the process break heavy
hydrocarbons into lighter hydro-
32725825 •
EHWY. 146
285-22
Me
2' d-
* ■■
-
THREE -9
OXIDATION LAGOONS
Q. Will you please fix the
East Gate parking lot? It
rides like a rub board and
there are holes there in
which you can almost fall out
of sight. You can't get in and
out of the entrance at this
gate. We would sure appre-
ciate your fixing it.
A. The holes have been filled
and the lot has been graded.
Q. In all these area shop
buildings the men who work
around them are supposed to
clean them up and keep
them cleaned up. Why not
put a broom and mop in all
these office buildings and let
the ones who work in them
keep them clean—just see
how clean they could keep
. them. In this way, they could
do away with all the janitor
business.
A. Good housekeeping requires
* the cooperation of all employees.
Ever)’ employee should exert ef-
fort to keeping his work place
•clean as part of his normal rou-
tine. Janitorial service is supplied
where it is justified.
Q. Can’t something be
done about the gasoline-drip-
ping engines on the north
side of the cooling tower at
the Butyl Plant—on the west
end? There is so much oil on
the slab down there a man
could break his neck just
walking around if he isn’t
real familiar with it.
A. The area has been in-
spected, and work is now under-
way to eliminate oil leaks on
these engines as much as pos-
sible.
♦ Q. I was wondering where
son (Sulfates)
ALGAE .—02 AEROBES H2O
carbons such as methane, acetic
acid, and sulfides (anaerobes do
the same thing out in the marsh,
hence the sulfurious or “marsh
gas” odor familiar to duck hunt-
ers).
In our ponds, this action frees
methane, which rises upward.
Meanwhile, an anaerobe called
a desulfovibrio attacks sulfates in
the waste, uses the oxygen from
sulfates for his own body energy
and adds hydrogen to make hy-
drogen sulfide (H2S)—an ex-
tremely smelly substance. The
H2S also rises toward the surface
of the lagoon.
Top Bugs Take Over
At this point, the other half of
the learn takes over. Aerobes in
the upper layer work on the
methane and hydrogen sulfide
coming up from the bottom layer.
The aerobes combine oxygen
from algae and the methane from
the anaerobes and give off water
and carbon dioxide which goes
to the atmosphere. Carbon di-
oxide is odorless and not harm-
ful.
The aerobes also use oxygen
and work on the hydrogen sulfide
to produce sulfates in the water.
One of these sulfates is sodium
sulfate, an inert sail. None of the
sulfales have disagreeable prop-
erlies in the concentrations found
in our lagoons.
There may be short-lived and
infrequent conditions under
which the aerobes will not per-
form as described above. Under
CH4 HzS
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Lee, O. B. Baytown Briefs (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, August 16, 1968, newspaper, August 16, 1968; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433485/m1/3/: accessed July 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.