Plant-wide assessment of alternative activated sludge configurations for biological nutrient removal under uncertain influent characteristics.

This study presents an extensive plant-wide model-based assessment of four alternative activated sludge (AS) configurations for biological nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal under uncertain influent loads and characteristics. Zeekoegat wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in South Africa was chosen as case study due to its flexible design that enables operation in four different AS configurations: 3-stage Bardenpho (A2O), University of Cape Town (UCT), UCT modified (UCTM), and Johannesburg (JHB). A metamodeling based global sensitivity analysis was performed on a steady-state plant-wide simulation model using Activated Sludge Model No. 2d with the latest extension of physico-chemical processes describing the plant-wide P transformations. The simulation results showed that the predictions of effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD), N and P using the proposed approach fall within the interquartile range of measured data. The study also revealed that process configuration can affect: 1) how influent uncertainty is reflected in model predictions for effluent quality and cost related performances, and 2) the parameter rankings based on variance decomposition, particularly for effluent phosphate, sludge disposal and methane production. The results identified UCT and UCTM as more robust configurations for P removal (less propagated uncertainty and less sensitivity to N load) in the expense of incomplete denitrification. Moreover, based on the results of Monte-Carlo based scenario analysis, the balanced SRT for N and P removal is more sensitive to influent load variation/uncertainty for the A2O and JHB configurations. This gives a more operational flexibility to UCT and UCTM, where a narrow SRT range can ensure both N and P removal.

Assessment of sludge management strategies in wastewater treatment systems using a plant-wide approach.

The objective of this paper is to use plant-wide modeling to assess the net impacts of varying sludge management strategies. Special emphasis is placed on effluent quality, operational cost and potential resource recovery (energy, nutrients). The study is particularly focused on a centralized bio-solids beneficiation facility (BBF), which enables larger, more capital intensive sludge management strategies. Potential barriers include the ability to process reject streams from multiple donor plants in the host plant. Cape Flats (CF) wastewater treatment works (WWTW) (Cape Town, South Africa) was used as a relevant test case since it is currently assessing to process sludge cake from three nearby facilities (Athlone, Mitchells Plain and Wildevoelvlei). A plant-wide model based on the Benchmark Simulation Model no 2 (BSM2) extended with phosphorus transformations was adapted to the CF design / operational conditions. Flow diagram and model parameters were adjusted to reproduce the influent, effluent and process characteristics. Historical data between January 2014 and December 2019 was used to compare full-scale measurements and predictions. Next, different process intensification / mitigation technologies were evaluated using multiple criteria. Simulation values for COD, TSS, VSS/TSS ratio, TN, TP, NH4+/NH3, HxPO43-x, NOx alkalinity and pH fall within the interquartile ranges of measured data. The effects of the 2017 severe drought on influent variations and biological phosphorus removal are successfully reproduced for the entire period with dynamic simulations. Indeed, 80% of all dynamically simulated values are included within the plant measurement uncertainty ranges. Sludge management analysis reveals that flow diagrams with thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment (THP) result in a better energy balance in spite of having higher heat demands. The flow diagram with THP is able to i) increase biodegradability/solubility, ii) handle higher sludge loads, iii) change methanogenic microbial population and iv) generate lower solids volumes to dispose by improving sludge dewaterability. The study also reveals the importance of including struvite precipitation and harvesting (SPH) technology, and the effect that pH in the AD and the use of chemicals (NaOH, MgO) may have on phosphorus recovery. Model-based results indicate that the current aerobic volume in the water line (if properly aerated) would be able to handle the returns from the sludge line and the contribution of a granular partial nitritation/Anammox (PN/ANX) reactor on the overall nitrogen removal would be marginal. However autotrophic N denitrification generates a much lower sludge production and therefore increases AD treatment capacity. The study shows for the very first time in Africa how the use of a (calibrated) plant-wide model could assist water utilities to decide between competing plant layouts when upgrading a WWTW.

Quantitative geochemical modelling using leaching tests: application for coal ashes produced by two South African thermal processes.

The present work focuses on the reactivity of coal fly ash in aqueous solutions studied through geochemical modelling. The studied coal fly ashes originate from South African industrial sites. The adopted methodology is based on mineralogical analysis, laboratory leaching tests and geochemical modelling. A quantitative modelling approach is developed here in order to determine the quantities of different solid phases composing the coal fly ash. It employs a geochemical code (PHREEQC) and a numerical optimisation tool developed under MATLAB, by the intermediate of a coupling program. The experimental conditions are those of the laboratory leaching test, i.e. liquid/solid ratio of 10 L/kg and 48 h contact time. The simulation results compared with the experimental data demonstrate the feasibility of such approach, which is the scope of the present work. The perspective of the quantitative geochemical modelling is the waste reactivity prediction in different leaching conditions and time frames. This work is part of a largest research project initiated by Sasol and Eskom companies, the largest South African coal consumers, aiming to address the issue of waste management of coal combustion residues and the environmental impact assessment of coal ash disposal on land.