Effect of biomass concentration and aeration rate on performance of a full-scale industrial estate wastewater treatment plant

Abstract In this study, performance of an industrial estate wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) (Faraman's Industrial Estate, Kermanshah, Iran) was investigated by varying effective operating variables in order to explore the optimum operating conditions. Two independent effective variables i.e. mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) (2000, 4500 and 7000 mg/l) and number of working aerators (NA) (2, 4 and 6) was studied. The experimental runs were designed using Design Expert Software (DOE) (Stat-Ease Inc., version 7.0). From the results, it was found that COD and BOD removal efficiencies were increased with an increase in MLVSS and NA. This study showed that varying the arrangement of the aerators was a key factor affecting the system's performance.