What is the formula for calculating detention time?

The formula for calculating detention time is derived from the relationship between volume and flow rate. Specifically, detention time indicates how long a specific volume of liquid remains in a treatment facility or tank before being processed or discharged.

To find the detention time, you take the volume of the tank or system and divide it by the flow rate entering the tank. This calculation provides the time in which water or wastewater stays in a given space, which is crucial for processes like sedimentation, biological treatment, or disinfection, ensuring that proper treatment occurs during that period.

This fundamental relationship facilitates understanding the efficiency of various treatment processes in sewage management and helps in designing treatment systems that optimize performance based on expected flow rates and necessary retention times for treatment efficacy. In contrast, the other options either do not relate directly to detention time calculations or represent different physical relationships that do not apply in this context.