ACTIVATED-SLUDGE PROCESS DYNAMICS WITH CONTINUOUS TOTAL ORGANIC-CARBON AND OXYGEN-UPTAKE MEASUREMENTS

The dynamic responses of a bench‐scale activated‐sludge process to step changes and square‐wave inputs in the feed flow and concentration were measured. Instrumentation permitted the continuous measurement of the oxygen uptake rate and dissolved organic carbon responses. Notable were the sensitivity of the oxygen uptake rate to process changes and the reliability of the dynamic oxygen electrode method. The responses were found to be greatly influenced by the organic loading, FS0/XV, which was incorporated into a load‐dependent kinetics model. Simulations showd good agreement with experiment in the case of the square‐wave disturbances. Because of the changing and complex nature of the activated sludge it was necessary to reestimate the parameter set for each run. Copyright © 1979 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.