Application of response surface methodology to analyze the impact of operational parameters in membrane bioreactor

Title : Application of response surface methodology to analyze the impact of operational parameters in membrane bioreactor

Abstract:

Performance modeling of wastewater treatment systems has now become an attractive area of investigation for the design, analysis, and optimization of operations. Mathematical modeling of membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment is a powerful tool to predict effluent quality. In this study, a bioreactor coupled with a membrane filtration process (MBR) was employed to treat municipal wastewater. An experimental design based on the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to investigate the effects of operating conditions such as hydraulic retention time (HRT), aeration rate (AR) and transmembrane pressure (TMP), on the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), and total nitrogen. The results demonstrated a strong agreement amongst experimental data and model predictions. Furthermore, the RSM results display the effects of the operating parameters and their interactive effects on pollution removal. The maximum removal efficiency was achieved, exhibited 95% of COD, 99.7% of TSS and 93% of TN. These findings provide the effective use of statistical modeling to enhance MBR process performance, achieving sustainable and energy-efficient conditions.

Keywords: Response surface methodology; Analysis of variances; Box–Behnken design; MBR performances; Wastewater treatment.

Biography:

Dr. Sarra Kitanou is Professor at the National School of Chemical Engineering, Ibn Tofail University. She is a research chemist at Advanced Materials and Process Engineering Laboratory. Her research has been on Process Engineering and Environment. Her focus is wastewater treatment using membrane technologies, especially membrane bioreactor (MBR). The interest of these technology resides in their non-polluting appearance; their ease of automation and their ability to simultaneous elimination of different pollutants in a single treatment step. As a researcher applying environment perspectives, she has published widely in water research journals as well as wastewater treatment and environment journals. The research findings in her studies have also been discussed in many congresses and conferences around the world.