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to activate

to activate

4.6
To add air to sewage so small living things can break down waste
  • verb
  • /ˈæktɪˌveɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : aerar
  • The district treats an average of 100 gpm of domestic sewage in a conventional activated-sludge WWTP.
  • activated sludge
  • activated sludge process
  • activated sludge treatment

Examples

  • The meters were tested in digested sludge and thickened waste activated sludge applications.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Again, all of this stuff is extremely dry, so nothing will activate the microorganisms just yet.

  • The single variable is the addition on one side of waste-activated sludge from the public treatment plant.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Based on that scheme, a new method of wastewater purification and activated sludge treatment was developed.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The application of this method provides dewatering of the activated sludge without the use of any flocculating agents.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Classic theory has been successful for technologies that employ fast-growing bacteria, such as activated sludge, for almost a century.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Biological processes grow them in activated sludge in fixed-film reactors or aerobic digesters.

    Academic text (1998)
  • The quantity of circulating activated sludge is compensated by activated sludge carried over from the primary settling tanks.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Silty loam and silty-clay loam were quite effective in phenol reduction with activated sludge addition.

    Academic text (1993)
  • To improve sewage treatment efficiency, we must activate the microorganisms in the tank by adding oxygen.

Synonyms

to aerate
vsto activate
5 4.5

To put air into something, for example soil or liquid

is specific to sewage treatment to promote organisms that decompose organic matter

Antonyms

To make something stop working

How Aerated

to oxygenate
  • Specialized
7 5.8
to activate
  • Specialized
4.6
to aerate
5 4.5

Surface Forms

activate infinitive
activated past
activated past participle
activating present participle
activates third person singular

Morphology

activate = active (semi-transparent) = active + ate

The sewage-treatment sense (encouraging biological activity by aeration) is a domain-specific application of 'make active' and thus only partly predictable.

Etymology

Activate comes from the root act, meaning 'do' or 'be active', the same root as active. To activate sewage means to make the microbes and processes more active so they can break down the waste.