title: A kinetic model of municipal sludge degradation during non-catalytic wet oxidation.
abstract: Wet oxidation is a successful process for the treatment of municipal sludge. In addition, the resulting effluent from wet oxidation is a useful carbon source for subsequent biological nutrient removal processes in wastewater treatment. Owing to limitations with current kinetic models, this study produced a kinetic model which predicts the concentrations of key intermediate components during wet oxidation. The model was regressed from lab-scale experiments and then subsequently validated using data from a wet oxidation pilot plant. The model was shown to be accurate in predicting the concentrations of each component, and produced good results when applied to a plant 500 times larger in size. A statistical study was undertaken to investigate the validity of the regressed model parameters. Finally the usefulness of the model was demonstrated by suggesting optimum operating conditions such that volatile fatty acids were maximised.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, AUT University, 21 St Pauls St, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Arrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Prince-Pike
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, AUT University, 21 St Pauls St, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: david.wilson@aut.ac.nz.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, 20 Symonds St, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Saeid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baroutian
authors.affiliation: Scion, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala St, Rotorua, New Zealand.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.affiliation: Scion, Te Papa Tipu Innovation Park, 49 Sala St, Rotorua, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gapes
mesh_terms: D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D005232:Fatty Acids, Volatile; D012722:Sewage
keywords: Kinetic modelling; Municipal sludge; Wastewater; Wet oxidation