Simulation of dynamic behaviour of a biological wastewater treatment plant in south east Queensland, Australia using Bio-Win software

Abstract

Wastewater treatment is the process of removing pollutants from liquid waste using physical, chemical and biological methods by converting it into an acceptable final effluent before discharging into a water body or reuse, and to safely dispose of solids generated during the treatment process. Limited parameters in Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) are usually measured due to the significant cost and time involved with them. The mathematical modelling is increasingly becoming a well-established technique among researchers as well as practicing engineers to study the behaviour of wastewater treatment process as it provides more accurate predictions within the limited time frame at a reduced cost. Therefore, this technique can be used to study the engineering design of modern water resource recovery facilities that experience in increasing demands on control of effluent quality. The research work presented here is focused on studying the dynamic (time dependent) behaviours of the wastewater treatment plant in south east Queensland, Australia using the mathematical modelling technique implemented using Bio-Win software. The model developed has been calibrated and validated based on the measured data from the WWTP. The main benefit of this research work is that the developed and validated model can be used to study the non-measured important parameters of the WWTP.