In this summer project report, we learnt about simple mathematical models for the activated sludge process. Initially we studied a simple, two-equation model, for a one-reactor system. We then examined a two-reactor model. The two-reactor configuration provides some improvement, depending on the micropollutants involved, on the one-reactor micropollutant model in terms of its ability to remove micropollutants from wastewaters, but this improvement is insignificant in practice. We reach this conclusion by testing the models with typical parameter values for four common micropollutants of varying states of biodegradability.
Keywords: activated sludge process; wastewater.