Modelling and simulation of German BIOGEST/EL-AGAMY wastewater treatment plants – Egypt using GPS-X simulator

This paper focuses on modelling and simulation of German BIOGEST/EL-AGAMY Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) using a package software GPS-X simulator to investigate the plant performance among six scenarios of various durations of fill, react and settle phases as a case study. The Activated Sludge Model 1 (ASM1) was used for biological processes, and the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) based influent model was used for influent characterization. This case study presents the rule of denitrification process via anoxic conditions to remove nitrates and nitrites which is known to be eutrophic, toxic for aquatic animals, hazardous to human health as well as inhibit phosphorus removal during activated sludge treatment. Also, denitrification process provides a selector operation to prevent filamentous sludge bulking that is considered a major problem in EL-AGAMY WWTP, as well as decreases the overall aeration energy of the batch cycle time.