Dynamic simulation of sludge blanket movements in a full-scale rectangular sedimentation basin

Abstract

Bromma sewage treatment plant in Stockholm is the second largest plant in Stockholm and will in the near future have requirements for nitrogen removal. This means that a higher sludge age must be used in the aeration basin. This may be accomplished by an increase of the sludge concentration up to values until the limiting solids flux is exceeded. Measurement of the sludge blanket level is a possibility for better control of the sedimentation basin. Different measurements were performed to evaluate the main factors influencing the level. Dynamic simulation studies were performed at Bromma sewage treatment plant in Stockholm of the sludge blanket level and the return sludge concentration in a full-scale sedimentation basin. The simulations were performed with the help of a Danish simulation package, EFOR (1992), in which both reactions in the aeration basin (mainly based on the IAWPRC model) and separation processes in the sedimentation basin (both clarification and thickening) can be studied. The thickening model is based on the solids flux theory and the Vesilind formula (1979). Different methods were compared for determination and use of characteristic parameters in the Vesilind formula.