An activated sludge model based on activated sludge model number 3 for full-scale wastewater treatment plant simulation

A modified model based on the activated sludge model no. 3 was established to simulate a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant in Shanghai, China. The activated sludge model no. 3 was modified to describe the simultaneous storage and growth processes occurring in activated sludge systems under aerobic and anoxic conditions. The mechanism of soluble microbial product formation and degradation by microorganisms was considered in this proposed model. Three months simulation was conducted including soluble chemical oxygen demand, NH4+-N, NOX--N and T-N parameters, and compared with measured data from the Quyang wastewater treatment plant. Results indicated that the calculated effluent chemical oxygen demand and NH4+-N using this proposed model were in good agreement with the measured data. Results also showed that besides inert soluble organic matter contributing to the effluent chemical oxygen demand, soluble microbial products played an important part in the effluent chemical oxygen demand and, therefore, demonstrated that these products composed an important portion of effluent soluble chemical oxygen demand in wastewater treatment plants and should not be neglected.