Tools to support the decision-making in the design and operation of activated sludge process for municipal wastewater treatment in developing countries

Facing the lack of information for the design of an activated sludge process for municipal wastewater treatment (7 m³/s), pilot plant research has been conducted (0.5 L/s) in order to calibrate a mathematical model. Several specialized procedures as the measurement of oxygen transfer in clean and process water, determination of COD fractions, detailed wastewater characterization, among others, have been applied. Calibration of the activated sludge process model was implemented in BioWin™ 4.1 (EnviroSim). Once the model was calibrated, performance of several activated sludge process configurations was evaluated. Extrapolating the results to the case of Bogotá (Colombia), once built the future large-scale wastewater treatment plants (20 m³/s) are expected to remove phosphorous and nitrogen at a rate of a 12.9 t/d and 62.45 t/d respectively. Loads will be removed from discharge into the Bogotá River. Pilot plant tests are necessary in developing countries facing lack of information to support decisions on wastewater treatment infrastructure planning, design and operation.