The impact of sludge return liquors on South African wastewater treatment plants

Authors

  • Olivier Nsengiyumva Water Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Yuva Coothen Water Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa
  • David Ikumi Water Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Kirshen Naidoo Royal HaskoningDHV, Building No. 5 Country Club Estate, 21 Woodlands Drive, Woodmead 2191, PO Box 867, Gallo Manor 2052, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17159/wsa/2021.v47.i1.9450

Keywords:

WWTP full-scale modelling, model simplification, steady-state simulation, plant performance indices, BABE process, struvite precipitation, dewatering liquors

Abstract

There have been three considerable shifts, in the past 20 years, in the conventional design and modelling of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs): (i) single unit process to plant-wide modelling, (ii) consideration of WWTPs as water and resource recovery facilities (WRRFs), and (iii) the need to simplify WWTP models to allow their intake by new stakeholders (i.e. plant operators, designers and decision-makers) who use these models for evaluation of WWTP optimisation strategies. The latter shift has prompted the debate about model complexity versus the required modelling purpose among modellers. In addition to the aforementioned shifts, there has been limited research on the impact of sludge recycling dewatering liquor on the overall plant performance, especially in the context of South African WWTPs. A simplified full-scale steady-state WWTP simulation tool was developed, based on principles of sound mass-balance stoichiometry and rate-limiting kinetics. This tool enables the user to analyse the impact of recycling the DWL on the plant performance through different scenarios. The strategic scenarios evaluated included the implementation of two side-stream treatment processes (STPs), namely BABE and struvite precipitation. The evaluation of various strategies was done using the benchmark simulation model (BSM) task group plant performance indices (i.e. effluent quality and operational cost indices, EQI and OCI, respectively) incorporated into the simplified steady-state full-scale models. The integration of STP in the WWTP layout results in better EQI and OCI. The composition of the DWL affects the choice of the STP to be used, i.e., for DWL from an AD treating WAS that is not P-rich the recommended side-stream treatment operation would be the BABE process rather than struvite precipitation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2021-01-28

Issue

Vol. 47 No. 1 January (2021): Water SA

Section

Research paper

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Olivier Nsengiyumva, Yuva Coothen, David Ikumi, Kirshen Naidoo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Creative Commons License

The content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.  Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal under the terms of this Licence, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided the source is attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors.

How to Cite

Olivier Nsengiyumva (2021) “The impact of sludge return liquors on South African wastewater treatment plants”, Water SA, 47(1 January). doi:10.17159/wsa/2021.v47.i1.9450.