Evaluation of an ASM1 model calibration procedure on a municipal–industrial wastewater treatment plant

Abstract

The purpose of the calibrated model determines how to approach a model calibration, e.g. which information is needed and to which level of detail the model should be calibrated. A systematic model calibration procedure was therefore defined and evaluated for a municipal–industrial wastewater treatment plant. In the case that was studied it was important to have a detailed description of the process dynamics, since the model was to be used as the basis for optimisation scenarios in a later phase. Therefore, a complete model calibration procedure was applied including: (1) a description of the hydraulics in the system via a tracer test, (2) an intensive measuring campaign and (3) supporting lab-scale experiments to obtain and confirm kinetic parameters for the model. In this paper the model calibration procedure for this case study is described step by step, and the importance of the different steps is discussed. The calibrated model was evaluated via a sensitivity analysis on the influence of model parameters and influent component concentrations on the model output. The sensitivity analysis confirmed that the model output was sensitive to the parameters that were modified from the default parameter values. The calibrated model was finally reduced from a 24 tanks-in-series configuration to a 12 tanks-in-series configuration, resulting in a 50% reduction of the simulation time.

A practical protocol for calibration of nutrient removal wastewater treatment models

“…It should be applied prior to numerical parameter optimization (Brun et al 2002;Petersen et al 2002).…”

“…With the objective of aiding modellers during such complex calibration studies, different systematic calibration protocols have been proposed in recent years: the STOWA protocol (Hulsbeek et al 2002), BIOMATH (Petersen et al 2002;Vanrolleghem et al 2003), the WERF (Water Environment Research Foundation) protocol (Melcer et al 2003) and HSG (Hochschulgruppe) (Langergraber et al 2004). …”

Calibration and validation of an activated sludge model for a pilot-scale anoxic/anaerobic/aerobic/post-anoxic process

“…Facing diverse organisms and complicated conversion processes in a BNR system, activated sludge mathematical models have proved powerful and valuable tools (Petersen et al, 2002;. In recent years, many mathematical models based on the activated sludge model (ASM) family (ASM1, ASM2, ASM2d, and ASM3) have been evaluated and optimized for BNR processes such as anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (AAO) (Pai, 2007;Liwarska-Bizukojc et al, 2011), Johannesburg (JHB) (Makinia et al, 2006), modified University of Cape Town (MUCT) (Czerwionka et al, 2012), sequencing batch reactor (SBR) (Ni et al, 2009), and membrane bioreactor (MBR) (Fenu et al, 2010).…”

Tratamiento biológico de aguas residuales: Principios, modelación y diseño

“…Es necesario un enfoque paso a paso para poder avanzar desde la definición del propósito del modelo hasta el punto en que el modelo está listo para simular la PTAR. En este proceso se pueden distinguir los siguientes pasos (Coen et al, 1996;Petersen et al, 2002;Hulsbeek et al, 2002):…”