Modelling of Membrane Bioreactors: Hydrodynamic and Biokinetic models

Abstract: The world is currently in a highly water stressed situation, with 844 million people around the globe with no access to clean water. By 2050, it is estimated that 5.7 billion people in the world will have to live in areas  plagued by water scarcity (UN, 2013). The availability of safe drinking water in sufficient quantity is directly linked with how wastewater is managed. In India, about 38671 MLD of untreated sewage is discharged into waterbodies rendering these water sources unfit for use. To prevent contamination of natural water bodies and to achieve water sustainability, there is a need to value wastewater for its potential rather than discard it. Membrane bioreactor (MBR) has emerged as one of the leading technologies for treatment of both municipal and industrial wastewater due to efficiency in producing high quality effluents. There have been several modelling studies focusing on the biological processes and the hydrodynamics aspects of membrane bioreactor. Biokinetic models including the Activated sludge models, Hybrid models and integrated models is used to understand and capture the complexities of the biological processes in MBR. The Hydrodynamic models including Computational Fluid dynamics models (CFD) focus on MBR system design and optimization. A multiphase CFD model is developed to investigate the efficiency of the aeration system in the Membrane Bioreactor. The turbulence in the Bioreactor is modeled using k-є model and the diffusion of oxygen in water from aeration system is modeled using species transport model. The developed CFD model is also validated using existing literature experimental results.

Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/03/2019
12:00 am - 4:00 pm