Global Journal of Researches in Engineering

Chemical Engineering
Volume 13 Issue 1 Version 1.0 Year 2013
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal
Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: 2249-4596 & Print ISSN: 0975-5861

Modelling of Activated Sludge Process

By Anvita Sharma & Himanshu Choksi
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Abstract - In this report, I have used commercial matlab software for activated sludge process.
Have included various types of activation process, and then done simulation of a simple
fermenter and activated sludge processer used in activated sludge process included the future
developments in activated sludge process.
GJRE-C Classification : JEL Code: 090409

Modelling of Activated Sludge Process

Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of :

© 2013. Anvita Sharma & Himanshu Choksi. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non
commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces
Anvita Sharma α & Himanshu Choksi σ

Abstract - In this report, I have used commercial matlab
software for activated sludge process. Have included various
types of activation process, and then done simulation of a
simple fermenter and activated sludge processer used in
activated sludge process included the future developments in
activated sludge process.
b) Modeling and Simulation[19]
• Modeling
o To realistically simulates a true plant
o To evaluate controllers and control strategies

Year 2013
• IAWQ's Activated Sludge Model No. 1
I. Introduction o Most widely used model
a) Activated Sludge [18] o Developed by Henze et al. (1987)

A
ctivated sludge process is a highly efficient o Used to model each zone of bioreactor.
system for the aerobic biological treatment of 11
• The bioreactor model describes
industrial or municipal wastes. The process
o Removal of organic matter

D ) Volume XIII Issue vI Version I

depends on the use of a high concentration of
microorganisms in the form of floc, which is kept in o Nitrification
suspension by agitation. Agitation is provided either by o Denitrification.
mechanical means or by aeration.
In this process, a portion of the separated II. Simplified System
sludge along with the native population of living a) Constants
microorganisms is added to the incoming effluent as • mu_m=0.48;
inoculums. This added sludge is often referred to as • k_m=1.2;
activated sludge and carries out the actual oxidation. • p_m=50;
Thus, a constant microbial population is maintained in • k_i=22;
the activated sludge tank. • alpha =2.2;
The activated sludge tank is simple in design. It
• bita =0.2;
is an oblong deep tank, provided with an inlet at the top

Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( C

• y_x_s=0.4;
of one end and an outlet at the bottom of the other end.
• x_s= 7.3059;
Aeration is provided either by an air diffuser located at
• s_ss=5.1340;
the bottom of the tank or by agitators at the surface of
• p_ss=25.0081;
waters along both sides of the tank.
• d_ss=0.20; % DILUTION RATE
• sf_ss=30; % SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATION

b) Related Equations
• d = d_ss+ 0.016*u(1) ;
% actual input dilution rate at given instance
• s = sf_ss + 2.3*u(2) ;
% Actual substrate concentration at given instance
• mu_m1=mu_m;%+u(3);
% maximum specific growth rate at given instance
• num=(1-(x(3)/p_m))*x(2);
• den=k_m+x(2)+((x(2)^2)/k_i);
• mu=mu_m1*(num)/den;
c) Differential Equations
• (dx1/dt) = -d*x (1) +mu*x (1);
Author α σ : School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum • (dx2/dt) = d*(s-x(2))-mu*x(1)/y_x_s
University, Gandhinagar.
• (dx3/dt) = -d*x(3)+(alpha*mu + bita)*x(1) ;

© 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US)

 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces

III. Results of The Fermenter System • SO,sat is the saturated dissolved oxygen
concentration.
8

7
Parameters [19]
6 • SNH(t) soluble ammonium nitrogen
5 • SNO(t) soluble nitrate nitrogen
y easured

4
• SND(t) soluble biodegradable organic nitrogen
m

2
• SO(t) dissolved oxygen
1 • SS(t) soluble substrate
• XB,A(t) autotrophic biomass
Year 2013

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
i

• XB,H(t) heterotrophic biomass

• XND(t) particulate biodegradable organic nitrogen
25

• XS(t) slowly biodegradable substrate

20
12 • XI (t) particulate matter & products
15
D ) Volume XIII Issuev vI Version I

y2 easured
m

10

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
i

a) After Performing Identification

c) Default Inlet Concentration[19]

Measured and simulated model output
20
Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( C

15 STATE mg/l
SS 60
XI 50
10
XS 100
XB,H 25
5 XB,A 0
SO 0
0
SNO 1
SNH 25
SND 2
-5
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
XND 6
Time

IV. Results of Simulation

b) Study Related to the Actual Activated Sludge
System[19] a) Without using Do-Controller
Exceptions 220

200
• SI (inert soluble organic matter) and SALK (total
alkalinity) are not included.
180

160
• The inert (XI,IAWQ) and particulate (XP,IAWQ) matter
Soluble ammonium N2

140
are combined into one variable
120

Hence XI = XI,IAWQ + XP,IAWQ. 100

• (SO) dissolved oxygen describes the oxygen 80

transfer. 60

• KLa is the oxygen transfer function 40

20
• u is the airflow rate 0 500
iterations
1000 1500

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 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces

0.014 1

0.8
0.012
0.6

0.01 0.4

Autotropic biomass
Soluble nitrate N2

0.2
0.008

0
0.006
-0.2

0.004 -0.4

-0.6
0.002
-0.8

Year 2013
0 -1
0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500
iterations iteration

1.4 30

1.2
25 13
1

D ) Volume XIII Issue vI Version I

20
Soluble organic N2

hetrotropic biomass
0.8

15
0.6

10
0.4

0.2 5

0 0
0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500
iterations iteration

0.012 70

60
0.01

Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( C

50
0.008
particulate organic N2
dissolved oxygen

40
0.006

30

0.004
20

0.002
10

0 0
0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500
iterations iteration

450 1100

400 1000

350 900
slowly biodegradable substrate

800
300
soluble substrate

700
250
600
200
500
150
400
100
300

50 200

0 100
0 500 1000 1500 0 500 1000 1500
iterations iteration

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 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces

-4
x 10
450 16

400 14

350
Particulate matter and products

12

dissolved oxygen
300
10
250
8
200

6
150

100 4
Year 2013

50 2
0 500 1000 1500 0 50 100 150
iteration iterations

b) When using A P Controller to Do-Concentration 45

14 34 40

33
D ) Volume XIII Issuev vI Version I

35
32

soluble substrate
30
Soluble ammonium N2

31

30 25

29
20

28
15
27

10
26 0 50 100 150
iterations
25
0 50 100 150
iterations 1

0.8
0.014
0.6
Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( C

0.012
0.4
Autotropic biomass

0.2
0.01

0
Soluble nitrate N2

0.008
-0.2

0.006 -0.4

-0.6
0.004
-0.8

0.002 -1
0 50 100 150
iterations
0
0 50 100 150
iterations 30

28
1.6

26
1.4
24
hetrotropic biomass

1.2
22
Soluble organic N2

1 20

18
0.8
16
0.6
14

0.4 12
0 50 100 150
iterations
0.2
0 50 100 150
iterations

© 2013 Global Journals Inc. (US)

 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces

10.5
4. The developed control strategies show that an
increased automation can lead to energy savings
10
and reduced consumption of chemicals.
9.5 5. The simulation model has been a very useful tool
for evaluation of all the different controllers and
particulate organic N2

8.5
control strategies.
6. Much time and work have been saved by first
8
doing simulations prior to practical tests in the pilot
7.5
plant.
7

6.5
References Références Referencias

Year 2013
6 1. Adaptive control of nitrate level in an activated sludge
0 50 100 150
iterations process. Exman, P. Samuelsson and B. Carlsson;
water Science and Technology vol 47 No 11 pp 137-
140
144; IWA Publishing 2003
135 2. Benchmarking combined biological phosphorous
15
130
and nitrogen removal waste water treatment
slowly biodegradable substrate

processes.: krist v. Gernaey, sten. B. Jorgensen.

D ) Volume XIII Issue vI Version I

125
Control Engineering Practice 12 (2004) 357-373
120 3. Benchmarking procedure for full scale activated
sludge plants: a. Abusam, K. J. Keesaman, H.
115
Spanjers, G. Van straten. Control Engineering
110 Practice 12(2004)315-322.
105
4. Biotechnology Advances Volume 19, Issue 2, 1 April
2001, Pages 97-107
100
0 50 100 150 5. Control of an alternating aerobic-anoxic activated
skudge system- part 2: optimization using a linerized
iterations

80 model by Hyunook Kim, T.J. Mcavoy, J.S. Anderson,

O.J.Hao Control Engineering Practice 8 (2000)
75 279-289

Global Journal of Researches in Engineering ( C

6. Control and Estimation Strategies Applied to
Particulate matter and products

70 Activated Sludge Processes; Carl-Fredrik Lindberg;

65
60
55
50
0 50
V .
1. The pilot plant has been a very fruitful tool in
studying various aspects of the activated sludge
process, ranging from innovative operating modes
microbiological studies to advanced control and
estimation schemes.
2. New methods have been easy and inexpensive to
test. It is, however, important to observe that the
operation of a pilot plant with an extensive
instrumentation is quite demanding in terms of
maintenance.
3. The results from the pilot plant studies have given
important guidelines for full scale plant design and
operation.
1997
7. Chemically reduced excess sludge production in the
activated sludge process Chemos-phere, Volume 50,
Issue 1, January 2003, Pages 1-7 YuLiu
8. Dynamic kinetic model of the activated sludge
process; L.M.Chase; FMC Corporation, Central
Engineering Laboratories, Santa Clara, California
100 150
iterations 95052
9. Full-scale operation of a novel activated sludge
Conclusion process without excess sludge production
Water Science and Technology, Volume 34, Issues 3-
4, 1996, Pages 395-404 H. Yasui, K. Nakamura, S.
Sakuma, M. Iwasaki, Y. Sakai
10. Milestones in the Development of the Activated-
Sludge Process Over the Past y, Eighty Years
(Abridged)P. F. Cooper, BTech, MSc, CEng,
MIChemE (Fellow)*, A. L. Downing, FEng, DSc, MA,
BSc, FIChemE, FIBiol (Hon Fellow)**
11. Minimization of excess sludge production by
increase of oxygen concentration in activated sludge
flocs; experimental and theoretical approach Water
Research, Volume 34, Issue 1, 1 January 2000,
Pages 139-146 B. Abbassi, S. Dullstein, N. Räbiger

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 Modelling of Activated Sludge Proces

12. Modeling and Control of Oxygen Transfer in High

Purity Oxygen Activated Sludge Process; J. Envir.
Engrg. Volume 129, Issue 5, pp. 402-411 (May 2003)
13. ‘Single and combined effects of nickel (Ni (II)) and
cobalt (Co (II)) ions on activated sludge and on other
aerobic microorganisms: A review’ by Petros Gikas in
journal of hazardous material 159 (2008)187-203.
14. Strategy for minimization of excess sludge
production from the activated sludge process; Yu Liu
and Joo-Hwa Tay; Environmental Engineering
Research Center, School of Civil and Structural
Year 2013

Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50

Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
15. Metcalf and Eddy. Waste water Engineering. Tata
Mc. Graw Hill. 4th edition
16 16. 2nd Generation Autothermal Thermophilic Aerobic
Digestion: Conceptual Issues and Process
Advancements – by Kevin L. Staton and James E.
D ) Volume XIII Issuev vI Version I

Alleman Richard L. Pressley and Jim Eloff.

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