Open AccessCutting the Wastewater Peaks for Cyclic Batch Production Plants
Author(s) -
Hui C.W.,
Li B.,
Smith R.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.200390010
Subject(s) - wastewater , volumetric flow rate , environmental science , sewage treatment , process engineering , production (economics) , flow (mathematics) , buffer (optical fiber) , production rate , environmental engineering , waste management , computer science , engineering , mathematics , mechanics , telecommunications , physics , geometry , economics , macroeconomics
This paper proposes systematic approaches for cutting the wastewater peaks generated in cyclic batch production plants in which wastewater generation rates and concentration are varied with time. To reduce the investment for the wastewater treatment unit or not to violate the discharge limits, the fluctuations of both flow rate and concentration of the wastewater generated need to be controlled or equalized. Buffer tanks (or basin) are commonly used to regulate the wastewater flow and concentration before the wastewater is sent to treatment units or discharge. The size of the buffer tank needs to be designed properly so that its size is minimized and still has enough capacity to handle various operating conditions. In this paper, conceptual approaches are presented to minimize the size of the buffer tank for either controlling wastewater flow rate or concentration. Mathematical models are proposed for controlling both flow rate and concentration.