PILOT-PLANT PERFORMANCE AND MODEL CALIBRATION OF A SEQUENCING BATCH AIRLIFT REACTOR

A sequencing batch wastewater treatment process was studied in a 200 L air-lift reactor (ALR), using a synthetic wastewater, A modification of the SBR process was introduced to exploit the ALR's geometric struc ture using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)mode of feeding, T he mean COD removal efficiency of the process was extremely high, A st udy was made of the change in the filtered COD concentration in the re actor as a function of time during a cycle. A partial reduction in the COD was observed after the UASB Fill stage, Further removal of the re sidual COD was achieved within a very short time once air was supplied to the system. These phenomena required the inclusion of a biosorptio n-storage concept in the mathematical description of the system, in or der to predict more precisely the COD transformations. The mathematica l model parameters were evaluated experimentally and then calibrated w ith the aid of an optimization technique, Experimental results includi ng GOD, MLVSS, DO and OUR changes showed good agreement with model pre dictions. Copyright (C) 1996 IAWQ.