Innovative Approach To Model Equilibrium Temperature in Activated Sludge Systems With Site Specific Monthly Bio-Heat Generation Factor

This paper presents an update to the Argaman and Adams comprehensive equilibrium temperature model that improves the biochemical heat gain calculation by using a monthly yield estimate to determine the biochemical heat factor for specific organic substrates. A case study of an above-ground, steel aeration basin in a coke producing facility’s industrial wastewater treatment plant is included to show the sensitivity of the proposed model. The proposed model predicted the monthly average aeration basin equilibrium temperature within a range of 0.0-1.2 °C. The original Argaman and Adams model was applied to the same data for comparison purposes. For this particular case study, the Argaman and Adams model predicted the monthly average aeration basin temperature within a range of 1.6-5.3 °C. The primary differences in the two models were the application of the biochemical heat fact or and differentiation of heat transfer factors for the tank floor and walls.