title: Modeling for the optimal biodegradation of toxic wastewater in a discontinuous reactor.
abstract: The degradation of toxic compounds in Sequencing Batch Reactors (SBRs) poses inhibition problems. Time Optimal Control (TOC) methods may be used to avoid such inhibition thus exploiting the maximum capabilities of this class of reactors. Biomass and substrate online measurements, however, are usually unavailable for wastewater applications, so TOC must use only related variables as dissolved oxygen and volume. Although the standard mathematical model to describe the reaction phase of SBRs is good enough for explaining its general behavior in uncontrolled batch mode, better details are needed to model its dynamics when the reactor operates near the maximum degradation rate zone, as when TOC is used. In this paper two improvements to the model are suggested: to include the sensor delay effects and to modify the classical Haldane curve in a piecewise manner. These modifications offer a good solution for a reasonable complexification tradeoff. Additionally, a new way to look at the Haldane K-parameters (micro(o),K(I),K(S)) is described, the S-parameters (micro*,S*,S(m)). These parameters do have a clear physical meaning and, unlike the K-parameters, allow for the statistical treatment to find a single model to fit data from multiple experiments.
authors.affiliation: Automatización, Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Edificio 12, Circuito Escolar, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510, Mexico DF, Mexico.
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Betancur
authors.forename: Iván
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Moreno-Andrade
authors.forename: Jaime A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buitrón
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dochain
mesh_terms: D001420:Bacteria, Aerobic / Q000502:physiology*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D011786:Quality Control; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000378:metabolism*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical