title: Dynamic modelling of solids in a full-scale activated sludge plant preceded by CEPT as a preliminary step for micropollutant removal modelling.
abstract: The presence of micropollutants in the environment has triggered research on quantifying and predicting their fate in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Since the removal of micropollutants is highly related to conventional pollutant removal and affected by hydraulics, aeration, biomass composition and solids concentration, the fate of these conventional pollutants and characteristics must be well predicted before tackling models to predict the fate of micropollutants. In light of this, the current paper presents the dynamic modelling of conventional pollutants undergoing activated sludge treatment using a limited set of additional daily composite data besides the routine data collected at a WWTP over one year. Results showed that as a basis for modelling, the removal of micropollutants, the Bürger-Diehl settler model was found to capture the actual effluent total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations more efficiently than the Takács model by explicitly modelling the overflow boundary. Results also demonstrated that particular attention must be given to characterizing incoming TSS to obtain a representative solids balance in the presence of a chemically enhanced primary treatment, which is key to predict the fate of micropollutants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St., Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada. zeina.baalbaki@mail.mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Zeina
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Baalbaki
authors.affiliation: modelEAU, Département de génie civil et de génie des eaux, Université Laval, 1065 Avenue de la médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Torfs
authors.affiliation: modelEAU, Département de génie civil et de génie des eaux, Université Laval, 1065 Avenue de la médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maere
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, 3610 University St., Montreal, QC, H3A 0C5, Canada.
authors.forename: Viviane
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yargeau
authors.affiliation: modelEAU, Département de génie civil et de génie des eaux, Université Laval, 1065 Avenue de la médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Vanrolleghem
mesh_terms: D008956:Models, Chemical; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Activated sludge modelling; Contaminants of emerging concern; Conventional pollutants; Influent characterization; Solids balance