Simulation program for wastewater coagulation

The lack of comprehensive simulation models for wastewater coagulation is one of the obstacles to achieving optimal coagulant dosing. Two approaches for developing a model to describe the coagulation process are presented. The comprehensiveness in describing the influent quality with several parameters, rather than with one parameter, is identified to give high efficiency in dosing models based on algorithms constructed using the partial least squares method. The concept was tested on two full-scale wastewater treatment plants, with coagulant savings and effluent quality improvements. Significant differences were observed with the increase of online parameters in the models. The second approach is based on distribution of coagulant for particle and phosphate removal processes and is discussed for inert fractions. The concept is integrated into existing simulation software as a module. The calibration results and dosage predictions are demonstrated.