Abstract
Mathematical models and simulation are considered a powerful tool in engineering practice. Those tools are becoming increasingly used for the improvement of wastewater treatment plants design because the conceptual design is complex and ill-defined. In this paper, three alternatives: 1) complete mix activated sludge without nitrogen removal (CAS); 2) complete mix activated sludge with nitrogen removal (CAS-N) and; 3) membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes were designed into two steps: first concept design to calculate the size of process units, then second implement modeling and simulation to improve the accuracy of the conceptual design. In brief, the treatment process design has been verified by using the activated sludge model No. 1 (ASM1) in GPS-X (v.7) simulation software. This application helps not only in sizing the treatment units but also in understanding the plant’s capacity. In the same time, it can assist in studying the future expansion works required for increased hydraulic and organic loadings. For this purpose, Tikrit WWTP was selected as a case study. The used model was validated by comparing the designed values of the plant and the modeling data. The verification of the obtained results from both hand calculations and the results of the program showed a good agreement. A significant difference in the volume of secondary treatment was obtained from design calculations, where the CAS without denitrification system was 9244 m3 (aerobic and secondary tanks), CAS with denitrification system was 11,324 m3 (anoxic, aerobic and secondary tanks) and for MBR system was 7468 m3 (anoxic, aerobic and immersed membrane tanks). From the obtained results point of view, it can be concluded that mathematical models can be considered as worthy tools to complement the established wastewater treatment plant design procedures.
Highlights
The activated sludge process (ASP) is the most widely used wastewater treatment technology
Three alternatives: 1) complete mix activated sludge without nitrogen removal (CAS); 2) complete mix activated sludge with nitrogen removal (CAS-N) and; 3) membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes were designed into two steps: first concept design to calculate the size of process units, second implement modeling and simulation to improve the accuracy of the conceptual design
The main objective of this paper is to present and demonstrate a systematic approach to design three alternatives of biological wastewater treatment systems, namely conventional activated sludge (CAS1), conventional activated sludge with removal nitrogen (CAS-N) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) for Tikrit, Iraq WWTP as a case study
Summary
The activated sludge process (ASP) is the most widely used wastewater treatment technology. This is because of its high flexibility which allows the designer to adopt it to any kind of wastewater, it is the most cost effective, and it is capable of producing high effluent quality that meets the increasingly stringent effluent standards. Since the beginning of the 20th century, modifications at the design and operational conditions of the conventional ASP have been developed to meet increasingly stringent performance demands [4]. In this sense, a large number of variations of the conventional ASP have been designed to improve system performance by modifying the reactor layout, influent pattern, aeration system, and operational conditions. Some of the more widely used modified activated sludge processes include completely mixed activated sludge (CMAS), extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS), step-feed activated sludge, oxidation ditch, sequencing batch reactor (SBR), membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes, etc. [5]
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