Model of Aeration Tank for Activated Sludge Process

Background and Objective: A model for the activated sludge aeration reactor is developed to study the effect of operating conditions on biodegradable organic pollutants treatment. Methods: The model was developed and fitted using an experimental study conducted for wastewater collected from meat processing industrial units in Egypt. Inlet biomass and substrate concentrations are the operating parameters considered in our study. Results: After treatment; biomass outlet concentration was reduced substantially. After reaching steady-state operation, outlet biomass concentration was not affected by the inlet biomass concentration, while outlet substrate concentration showed great dependency on the inlet substrate concentration. The model agrees well with the experimental data collected from an industrial activated sludge treatment unit. Conclusion: By varying process parameters, the model can be used effectively to predict and optimize the system behavior under different operating conditions. Varying the substrate concentration may lead to optimizing the process conditions for the system under study.