A Material Transformation Model for Biological Stabilization Ponds

Abstract

Biological stabilization ponds have been accepted as an effective and economical means of waste water treatment and have been applied for many years throughout the world. This is one kind of semi-natural ecosystem in which various material transformation processes take place. Among these processes, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus transformations are the most important ones. From an ecological point of view, material transformation and cycling processes are crucial for keeping the system stable.1 Some researchers2–10 have discovered the importance of material transformation in biological stabilization ponds. However, systematic and quantitative studies of nutrient transformation processes by applying the principles of ecology are few and insufficient. The objective of this chapter is to establish a good model of material transformation in biological stabilization pond systems based upon principles of ecology. This model shall completely describe the transformation processes of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in a pond system. In an application of the model, it was successfully used in making material transformation graphics for visual and quantitative analysis of material transformation processes in biological stabilization pond systems. As a result, a better and more comprehensive understanding of pond mechanisms can be achieved. This model is also very reliable for pond design and operational control. Furthermore, these study procedures are uniquely complete in terms of systematization of the designs for the experiments, as well as model calibration and verification.