Modelling and Simulation of Biofilter System for Abattoir Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

The treatment of wastewater from abattoir using conventional wastewater treatment such as sedimentation and landfilling is associated with difficulty of complete organic matter removal. In the treatment of wastewater from abattoir, biofilter system has the capacity to treat very large volume of wastewater as well as achieve complete organic matter removal without polluting the environment. In this study, biofilter system for abattoir wastewater treatment process was modelled and simulated for complete organic matter removal. Biofilter system which included three aerators, ultrafilter, clarifier and storage tank was designed and simulated on a process simulator (Super Pro designer 4.53) and also, the mathematical model of the biofilter system was developed from the law of conservation of matter. Four design configurations that consisted of feed inlet stream of glucose, biomass, water and benzene having four different compositions (100%, 75%, 50% and 25%) were considered in the modelling and simulation. Disturbances in benzene concentrations were used to test the effectiveness of the proposed biofilter design configuration. The results of the mathematical models were compared with that of the process simulator using t-test at p < 0.05. The simulation results showed that glucose, benzene and biomass reduced in concentration from 4.95 to 0.00g/l, 0.63 to 0.00g/l and 0.10 to 0.004g/l, respectively. While the concentration of water increased from 989.70 to 994.45g/l. The model results also revealed a reduction in the concentration of benzene, glucose, biomass and water from 0.63 to 0.37g/l,4.95 to 2.92g/l, 0.10 to 0.06g/land 989.70 to 583.65g/l, respectively.The biofilter system removed up to 99.90% of both Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD),95% of Total Suspended Solid (TSS), and 95.73% of both Total Kjehdahl Nitrogen (TKN) and Total Phosphorus (TP), respectively. There were significant differences in the results of the mathematical modelling and process simulator at p < 0.05. Super Pro designer 4.53 and mathematical modelling have been shown to be suitable tools for the design of a biofilter system for abattoir wastewater treatment.