Invited Speaker

Prof. Sarra Kitanou

Prof. Sarra Kitanou

Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Process Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco;
National School of Chemical Engineering, Ibn Tofail University, Morocco
Speech Title: Response Surface Methodology to investigate the effects of operational parameters on wastewater treatment

Abstract: Performance modeling of wastewater treatment systems has now become an attractive area of investigation for the design, analysis, and optimization of operations. Mathematical modeling of MBR treatment is an effective tool to predict effluent quality. Model calibration is critical to improve the accuracy of simulation. Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) consist of biological reactors combined with membrane separation processes. In this study, the parameters affecting the pollution and treatment efficiency of the MBR process and the activated sludge process (ASP) were analyzed and compared in order to understand the pollution removal process sensitivity and their implications for the modeling. This method is developed to assess the effects of process variables and their interaction on the removal of pollution. The independent variables used in this process are: hydraulic retention time (HRT), aeration rate (AR), temperature and transmembrane pressure (TMP) and their interaction in order to obtain optimal conditions. Good data quality is essential for reliable modeling results as well as for effective control systems. Analysis of variance for developed quadratic models exhibits high significance and applicability. However, model is analyzed graphically for its predictive ability. The response surface methodology (RSM) was found useful statistical tool for understanding effect of temperature, HRT, TMP and AR as an important operational parameter on pollution removal efficiency. Under the optimum parameters, MBR technology improved pollution removal efficiencies significantly, the maximum pollution removal could be achieved. The significant difference concerned the elimination of total suspended solids, which amounted to 99.7%. Regarding COD and BOD5 a low concentration was obtained 25 and 15 mg/L respectively. Greater differences were achieved in the case of total nutriments. This work demonstrated the effective use of statistical modeling to enhance MBR process performance to obtain a sustainable and energy-efficient condition.


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