Performance and process simulation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) treating petrochemical wastewater

Abstract Mathematical modelling of biological treatment is an effective tool to predict effluent quality. Model calibration is critical to improve the accuracy of simulation, which is normally carried out by fine-tuning the values of parameters according to the practical data. It indicated that huge amount of practical date will be consumed, and it cannot predict the treatment performance of new wastewater. In this study, the main objective was to investigate the feasibility of application BioWin software coupled with determination of sensitive parameters to predict the treatment performance of membrane biological reactors (MBRs) treating real petrochemical wastewater (PW). Model calibrations, i.e., COD fraction of petrochemical wastewater and kinetic parameters of biomass, were carried out using the respirometry method and the relationship between observed and true growth yield coefficients of the three lab-scale MBRs which were operated under different solid retention time (SRT). All the three MBRs had good organic and ammonium removal, with removal efficiencies higher than 80% and 99.9%, respectively. Simulation using the calibrated model also obtained good fit for effluent COD concentration, effluent nitrate concentration and bioreactor's MLSS concentration of all the three MBRs. The mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) of the simulation mostly were lower than 22%. The results indicated that it is feasible to using BioWin, incorporated with appropriate determination methods of sensitive parameters, to simulate and monitor the treatment performance of MBR treating petrochemical wastewater. This is more time-saving and effective than fine-tuning values of all parameters. This study provides a valuable reference for simulation of industrial wastewater treatment using BioWin.