Model‐Based Design of Sequencing Batch Reactor for Removal of Biodegradable Organics and Nitrogen

Abstract

The process design of sequencing batch reactors (SBR) based on mathematical modeling is complex because of the unsteady nature of the process and the large number of kinetic and stoichiometric parameters involved. This paper proposes a model-based design methodology that uses a mathematical model with fewer parameters for removal of organic and nitrogen substrates in the SBR. The resulting mathematical model has been calibrated and validated before its use in model-based design. The data for model calibration and validation were obtained from the operation of a full-scale 836 m 3 /h (5.3 mgd) SBR system at the City of Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A calibration methodology also was presented to determine unknown kinetic and stoichiometric parameters using an optimization technique called simulated annealing. Model-based design reduced the total volume of the reactor by approximately 11% from the existing design. It also eliminated 0.92 hours of cycle time and 1.07 hours of aeration time per cycle, which would result in a total energy savings of $11,640 per year for the 836 m 3 /h (5.3 mgd) SBR system. Water Environ. Res., 82, 462 (2010).

An approach to mechanistic event recognition applied on monitoring organic matter depletion in SBRs

“…The extended ASM3 is unidentifiable with the state of information that can be obtained from a running SBR and describes many states, which can be neglected for its operation . This is a lead that we can reduce the extended ASM3 to a more tractable form and use it as a recognition model to detect deviation from the optimal operation regime.…”

ASM3 extended for two‐step nitrification–denitrification: a model reduction for sequencing batch reactors

“…5 Being a model developed for a broad range of conditions, the extended ASM3 describes many states, which can be neglected for the specific case of SBR process. 13,14 Sequencing batch reactor Small and medium size WWT plants are strongly affected by changing concentrations of contaminants in the wastewater. 15 When properly designed and operated, an SBR also offers a process with important advantages over continuous processes, not only because of its efficiency and economical aspects, 16 -18 but also because of its small footprint.…”

Modeling, Instrumentation, Automation, and Optimization of Wastewater Treatment Facilities

“…A data reconciliation approach was proposed Rieger et al (2010a) in order to identify systematic measurement errors with intensive measurement campaigns after all mass balances applied to the historical data are closed or after data faults have been detected, isolated, and identified. Velmurugan et al (2010) developed a reducedorder model for the design of organic and nitrogen substrates in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Daigger et al (2010) demonstrated that the performance of very low effluent nutrient level MBR processes can be characterized by activated sludge model number 2d (ASM2d) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) chemical phosphorus removal model and provided design guidelines to achieve effluent nutrient concentrations as low as 0.05 mg/L total phosphorus and 3 mg/L total nitrogen.…”