Conceptualizing the Sewage Collection System for Integrated Sewer-WWTP Modelling and Optimization

Abstract

In this paper, a new conceptual modelling approach and calibration method is proposed for integrating sewage collection system and wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) operations. The method consists of simplifying a complex sewer network into a computationally efficient (conceptual) model able to capture the sewer dynamics, both in terms of flow rate and water quality, entering the wastewater treatment plant. Biochemical process modelling was carried out on this conceptual model and compared with a whole-network biochemical model which covered all pipes of a sewer system. The conceptual biochemical model can achieve similar results as the whole-network model in terms of water qualities, but provides fast simulation speed and easy calibration. Those advantages mean that the conceptual biochemical model of a collection system can be used in an integrated model with which sewer and WWTP can be simulated simultaneously for long-term evaluation of optimization scenarios.