BioWin® modeling of anaerobic sludge blanket treatment of domestic wastewater

Abstract

Anaerobic bioreactors treating wastewater have lower operating costs and waste sludge generation and produce more energy-rich methane than traditional aerobic systems. The ability to simulate performance of anaerobic mainstream treatment allows for comparison to the existing aerobic treatment paradigm. Required modifications were determined for a computer simulation tool, BioWin, to predict wastewater treatment performance of a multi-compartment anaerobic baffled reactor system. The model was calibrated using one month of data and validated using two years of data pooled into three temperature regimes. The validation results were within 10 % of actual, measured values recorded from a multi-year study of a pilot-scale anaerobic bioreactor treating domestic wastewater. Sensitivity analysis showed the simulation was most sensitive to changes to the influent wastewater characteristics and acetogen and methanogen kinetic parameters. Thus, using BioWin, anaerobic domestic wastewater treatment can be integrated into wastewater facility design scenarios.