Evaluation of Selected Computational Methods of Solving Simultaneous Equations in Environmental Science for the Treatment of Textile Wastewater

Abstract

In this paper, a general model in environmental engineering that relates alum concentration, pH and other chemical treatment factors to the efficiency of chemical treatment techniques was obtained from the literature as a way to evaluate the performance of selected methods of solving simultaneous equations in environmental engineering. Data on textile wastewater treatment (synthetic and typical) were obtained and utilized. Coefficients of model equations were determined using Matrix, Least Square, Gaussian elimination and Microsoft Excel Solver. These final model equations with the determined coefficients were used to compute the performance of the treatment processes and evaluated using standard statistical methods (Total error, mean error, root error, absolute, Model of Selection Criterion (MSC) Model of Selection Criterion (MSC) and mean error). The study revealed that coefficients were between -0.003 for pH to 1.034 for the ratio of coagulant to the concentration of the phosphate. It was revealed that there are significant differences between the coefficients at a 95% confidence level (F15, 45. = 27.761; p = 8.39 x 10 -18, which is less than 0.05). The tables also revealed that there was no significant difference between the methods at a 95% confidence level (F3, 45. = 1.746; p = 0.171, which is greater than 0.05). It was concluded that the order of accuracy of these methods is MES method greater than (>) Matrix > Least square > elimination based on MSC and errors. There is a need to utilize and evaluate other related Excel functions.