WRc Ref: UC8616.

04
March 2013

New Models in STOAT 5.0







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Website: www.wrcplc.co.uk




New Models in STOAT 5.0


Report No.: UC8616.04
Date: March 2013
Authors: J. Dudley, L. Poinel
Project Manager: L. Poinel
Project No.: 15504-0
Client: Enviatec
Client Manager: Olaf Sterger








Contents
1. Overview ................................................................................................................. 1
2. Pumping .................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 In-line pumps ........................................................................................................... 3
2.2 In-tank pumps.......................................................................................................... 7
3. Aeration ................................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Surface aeration ...................................................................................................... 9
3.2 Diffused aeration ................................................................................................... 10
4. Site Services ......................................................................................................... 13
4.1 Electricity ............................................................................................................... 13
4.2 Heat ...................................................................................................................... 15
5. Fuzzy Logic Control ............................................................................................... 17
5.1 Inputs .................................................................................................................... 17
5.2 Rules ..................................................................................................................... 18
5.3 Configuration ......................................................................................................... 18
6. Parameter Setter ................................................................................................... 21
7. Anaerobic Digestion Systems ................................................................................ 23
7.1 Anaerobic digestion ADM1.................................................................................. 24
7.2 Converters and influents ........................................................................................ 33
7.3 Gas holder............................................................................................................. 36
7.4 CHP ...................................................................................................................... 37
7.5 Gas-fuelled boiler .................................................................................................. 39
7.6 Heat exchanger model updates ............................................................................. 40
8. Additional Process Models ..................................................................................... 41
8.1 Primary sedimentation ........................................................................................... 41
8.2 Activated sludge with metal adsorption .................................................................. 43
8.3 Sludge thickener .................................................................................................... 47
8.4 Instrumentation ...................................................................................................... 47
9. Additional resources .............................................................................................. 49




List of Tables
Table 3.1 Typical blower efficiencies .................................................................... 11
Table 6.1 Typical U-values ................................................................................... 32
Table 6.2 Typical heat exchanger fouling data ...................................................... 32
Table 6.3 Typical heat exchanger fouling data ...................................................... 40
Table 7.1 Adsorption rate data ............................................................................. 44
Table 7.2 Inhibition effects with nitrifiers ............................................................... 45
Table 7.3 Inhibition coefficients for nitrifiers .......................................................... 46
Table 7.4 Inhibition effects with heterotrophs ........................................................ 46
Table 7.5 Inhibition coefficients for heterotrophs ................................................... 46

List of Figures
Figure 2.1 Default pump curves ............................................................................... 4
Figure 3.1 Typical blower curves (Source: Gass, 2009) ......................................... 12


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1. Overview
STOAT has had new models added as part of its use in a project studying energy efficiency at
sewage works and improved process control.
The new models have been based on:
a) including major sources of electrical usage pumps and aeration;
b) minor sources of electrical usage, lumped together as site electrical demand;
c) fuzzy logic control, adding to the existing support for ladder-logic and PID control; and
d) anaerobic digestion, updating the anaerobic digestion process to include the new IWA
ADM1 model, and models for gas storage, heating/electricity generation through CHP,
and heating through a gas boiler.
These models are discussed in more detail in the subsequent sections.
As always when new models are added to STOAT existing databases cannot be used with
STOAT. They must be upgraded to the new database structure, using the Database Copy
utility that is provided with STOAT, shown in the following figure.


The main user manuals were written for STOAT 4.0 and comprise an installation guide,
getting started guide, user guide to the process models and a technical reference to the
mathematical algorithms behind the process models. Updates to these manuals have been
made in the read me files for STOAT 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3. This read me file, for STOAT 5.0,
provides additional updates.
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2. Pumping
There are two pumping models. One is in-line, where there are stream connections to the
pump inlet and outlet. This is expected to be the more common pump model, representing
where a pump is used to transfer flow between process tanks. The second is in-tank, where
the pump is used to transfer flow within a tank the most common usage is expected to be
with activated sludge aeration tanks, where MLSS recycles can be represented within the
aeration tank symbol, rather than needing explicit representation on the flowsheet.
Name Symbol
Inline tank

In-tank pump


2.1 In-line pumps
The inline pump has one inlet and one outlet. The flowsheet symbol is
At the works level all that needs to be specified is a name. Default names are automatically
generated.
Data can be specified for operation, sewage calibration and process calibration. Optionally the
initial condition (average power usage in the last 24 hours) can also be specified.
2.1.1 Operation

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Specify the pump curve. The head is relative to the maximum head, which is specified later,
under Process Calibration. The electrical efficiency is that for the pump. The default curve is
specified at 0, 10, 100% of pump throughput. The curves are given below.
Figure 2.1 Default pump curves

2.1.2 Sewage calibration

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If a friction factor is to be calculated (specified under Process Calibration) then the nature of
the liquid needs to be specified. The options for the liquid (rheological model) are:
- Water.
- Water, with a multiplier applied to the calculated water head.
- Sewage sludge, using the equations from the WRc report TR185, How to design
sewage sludge pumping systems. There are models for activated sludge, primary
sludge and digested sludge. The equations published in TR185 were developed in the
late 1970s to early 1980s, and with the widespread use of polymer conditioning these
equations underpredict the head loss. Therefore, with a polymer-conditioned sludge a
multiplier, > 1, needs to be specified to increase the TR185-calculated headloss.
- Using the TR185 models for rheology, specify the rheological parameters for the yield
stress, consistency parameter and flow index.
The TR185 model is based on a Herschel-Bulkley fluid:
t = t
0
+ K
n
Where
t Stress, Pa
t
0
Yield stress, Pa. Modelled in TR185 as t
0
= a
b

K Consistency parameter. Modelled in TR185 as K = a
b
Shear rate, m/s
2
. Modelled in TR185 as = a
b
n

Flow index. Modelled in TR185 as n = (1 + a
b
)
-1
Volume fraction of suspended solids
The headloss is calculated for Herschel-Bulkley fluids using the method presented in R.A.
Chilton and R. Stainsby, "Pressure Loss Equations for Laminar and Turbulent Non-Newtonian
Pipe Flow", J. Hydr. Engrg., ASCE 124 (5), pp. 522-529 (1998). The procedure is
summarised on the Wikipedia page for Herschel-Bulkley fluids,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel-Bulkley_fluid. If the volume fraction is less than 0.004
(suspended solids less than 4,000 mg/l) then the Einstein approximation is used where the
fluid is treated as a Newtonian fluid, with the viscosity being that of water multiplied by 1 + 2.5
.
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2.1.3 Process calibration

Process calibration requires specifying the following:
- Maximum pumpflow (essential if using the friction factor calculation method).
- Maximum head (essential if using the friction factor calculation method).
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- Pipe diameter (essential if using the friction factor calculation method).
- Pipe length (essential if using the friction factor calculation method).
- Pipe roughness (select a material from the drop down list; if none are suitable then you
can use user specified and specify the roughness directly).
- Calculation method (the default is fixed headloss; more commonly you would specify
friction factor).
- Static head (usually the difference in water levels between the body of fluid feeding the
pump and that of the body of fluid to which the pump discharges).
- Headloss (only if using the fixed headloss method).
There is a long list of possible pipe fittings, where the number of the relevant pipe fittings
present in the pipe run may be specified. If you are using the fixed headloss method then this
is not needed.
The pipe fittings are used to add additional velocity heads to the overall headloss the
headloss is calculated as a multiplier on v
2
/ (2 g), where v is the velocity in the pipe (m/s),
and g the gravitational acceleration (9.81 m/s
2
).
2.2 In-tank pumps
In-tanks have the same data requirements as inline tanks. The differences are:
- There are no inlet or outlet connections to be made to the pump symbol.
- Under Process Calibration there are four new parameters.
The first is to specify the process in which the pump is assumed to reside.
The second is to choose if the flow will be specified directly, or will be taken from
the internal MLSS recycle flow with activated sludge units. There are no checks
that the containing process is an activated sludge; the results of using Use
MLSS recycle with a non-activated sludge unit are undefined, as it will pick up
whatever data is found for that process at the same location as would be found
for an activated sludge system.
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If Specify flow is used then the pumped flowrate is given. Otherwise, if Use
MLSS recycle is chosen then the stage from which the MLSS recycle is to be
pumped should be specified. Should you have two MLSS recycles from a single
stage then only the first MLSS recycle can be used. WRc have never
encountered such a system in our experience, or in the published literature for
activated sludge systems.


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3. Aeration
There are two models for activated sludge aeration: surface aerators and diffused air
systems.
Name Symbol
Surface aeration

Diffused aeration


3.1 Surface aeration
Surface aeration requires specifying the correlation used to calculate the power
efficiency, and to list which activated sludge units are using surface aerator in
which stages, along with the alpha factor. Standard practice with surface aeration
systems is to specify an alpha factor of 1.0 unless there is evidence that a different value
should be used.



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There are five correlations to model surface aerators performances:
- The standard correlation was taken from data published in the mid-1980s by the
Simplex aerator provider, Ames Crosta: this correlation is the recommended
correlation.
- There are four additional correlations, based on work published in India, in Rao, AR, B
Kumar and AK Patel, 2007, Relative performance of different shaped surface aeration
tanks, Water Quality Research Journal of Canada, 42(1). These correlations allow for
the effect of tank shape to be included. Surface aerators are most commonly installed
in tanks with a square shape.
3.2 Diffused aeration
The diffused aeration model estimates the energy required between the blower
and the diffuser, and therefore also requires an estimate of the blower efficiency.
At present the blower efficiency is specified as a single value, rather than varying
with the blower duty.


The data required are:
- The activated sludge unit and stage where the diffused aeration system is located. It is
possible to have a system that uses a mixture of surface aerated and diffused air
systems this was a common configuration in the 1990s, where a surface aerator
would be used in the first one or two aerated pockets, and the diffused aeration used
for the rest of the aeration tank.
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- The correlation for estimating the power efficiency. The choices are Khudenko
1
,
Empirical
2
, Membrane mat
3
or Own coefficients.
- Diffuser submergence.
- Diffuser coverage (percentage of floor area).
- Spacing between diffusers (only essential for the Khudenko correlation).
- Use alpha correlation to use a correlation between MLSS and the alpha factor
4
.
- Use longitudinal variation to use an empirical correlation between location and the
average alpha factor
5
.
- Alpha factor a value must be specified.
- Model parameters if Own coefficients was chosen. The model is K
L
a = (a
0
Floor
coverage
a1
+ a
2
)
Q
G
a3
, where Floor coverage is in percent, and the gas flow, Q
G
, is in
m
3
/d.
Some typical data
6
for blower efficiencies are presented in Table 3.1 and Figure 3.1
Table 3.1 Typical blower efficiencies
Blower type
Nominal blower
efficiency, %
Nominal turndown,
% of rated flow
Positive displacement with 60 to 45 50

1
B.M. Khudenko and E. Shpirt, 1986 ,Hydrodynamic parameters of diffused air systems. Water Research, 20(7),
905-915.
2
Envirosim correlation.
http://www.envirosim.com/products/bw32/techref/correlationformasstransfercoefficient.php
3
Jolly, M., Green, S., Wallis-Lage, C. and Buchanan, A. (2010), Energy saving in activated sludge plants by the
use of more efficient fine bubble diffusers. Water and Environment Journal, 24: 5864. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-
6593.2009.00164.x.
4
Gunder, B, 2001, The Membrane Coupled-Activated Sludge Process in Municipal Wastewater Treatment,
Technomic Publishing, Lancaster, USA.
5
Assumption: alpha factor increases linearly with distance, and close to 0.9 by the end. The alpha-factor from
the correlation is an average value. The alpha factor is then calculated from the linear model V = 0.5: alpha =
calculated from correlation; V = 1.0: alpha = 0.9.
6
Gass, JV, 2009, Scoping the Energy Savings Opportunities in Municipal Wastewater Treatment, presentation at
Consortium for Energy Efficiency, July 2009. Available online at: http://www.cee1.org/cee/mtg/09-
09mtg/files/WWWGass.pdf.
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Blower type
Nominal blower
efficiency, %
Nominal turndown,
% of rated flow
VFD
Multi-stage centrifugal 76 to 50 60
Single-stage integrally geared
centrifugal
80 to 72 45
High speed turbo gearless
centrifugal
80 to 72 50

Figure 3.1 Typical blower curves (Source: Gass, 2009)

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4. Site Services
Site services are used to represent the sum of minor electricity requirements and space
heating requirements. The site electricity process is also used to calculate the site electricity
costs.
Name Symbol
Site electricity

Site heat

4.1 Electricity
There should be only one electricity demand process on a flowsheet.
Data is provided in two places. Major power users are specified under Process
Calibration, and minor users under Operation.
Process Calibration provides a simple list of pumps and aerators already included in the
works model, and all that is required is to select those required. Usually all would be selected.

Operation then adds the total electricity demand from minor users. This can be specified
varying with time.

Electricity charges are specified from the menu item Utilities.

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This brings up the data entry form.

Here you can specify the currency unit (STOAT should pick up your local currency unit, but
this can be over-ridden if required).
The electricity charges are based on an amalgamation of several UK electricity-providing
companies, to ensure that most options are covered. The charges are typically based on:
- An availability charge, based on the contracted power, which is then charged on the
contracted power demand, whether used or not. STOAT currently ignores this element
of the cost.
- An excess demand charge, should the site require more than the contracted demand.
The default contracted demand is 0 kW, so the contracted demand must be changed to
reflect the values used at the site under investigation.
- Demand-based charges:
A price for usage during peak winter daytime hours (for which the months and
time where the charge is in operation should be specified; the defaults are
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December February, 16:00 19:00. The possibility of having a summer peak
demand is also available.
A price for usage during winter, for weekends, day and night. The winter months
need not be exactly the same as the peak winter months. The defaults are
November March. Night is defined as 00:00 07:00.
Fossil fuel and climate change charges.
If electricity is generated on site and sent back to the grid then there is a feed-in-
tariff available to generate income for the site.
4.2 Heat
The heat demand unit is intended to reflect the requirement for low-grade space
heating. The model has one inlet and one outlet, for the hot water generated by
either a gas boiler or CHP unit. As many heat demand processes as are
required can be used on the flowsheet. The space heat demand is specified as
it varies with time. The required temperature is also specified this is only used if the
temperature of the heating fluid is low, as the heating fluid is required to always be at least
5C hotter than the space heat demand.

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5. Fuzzy Logic Control
The fuzzy logic controller allows specification of control systems using either a
triangular or rectangular fuzzy classification. The rectangular classification will
behave in a similar manner to a ladder logic controller. Data are specified under
four categories: inputs, outputs, control rules and configuration. The fuzzy logic controller was
based on the work of Tong et al. (1979)
7
, Stahtaki and King (2007)
8
, Beck et al. (1978)
9
, and
Tomiello et al. (1999)
10

5.1 Inputs
Up to 20 inputs may be specified. Each input needs to specify the minimum and maximum
value. The inputs are regarded as belonging in one of five categories: Very Small (VS), Small
(S), Average (A), Large (L) or Very Large (VL). With a triangular distribution you need to
specify the triangular boundaries, upper and lower, denoted by 1 (lower) and 2 (upper). For
the VS and VL categories you need specify only one boundary, as the other boundary is given
by the values specified by the minimum and maximum values.

5.1.1 Outputs
Up to 20 outputs may also be specified. For each output the minimum and maximum
permitted value must be specified. There are five control changes defined, for which values
must be specified for four. The five values are Large Decrease (LD), Small Decrease (SD),
No change (N), Small Increase (SI) and Large Increase (LI). The values for the changes LD,
SD, SI and LI must be specified.

7
Tong, RM, MB Beck and A Latten, 1979, Fuzzy control of the activated sludge wastewater treatment process,
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis report PP-79-7.
8
Stathaki, A and RE King, 2007, An intelligent decision support system for wastewater treatment plant
management, International Journal of Engineering Simulation 8(1).
9
Beck, MB, A Latten and RM Tong, 1978, Modelling and operational control of the activated sludge process in
wastewater treatment, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis report PP-78-10.
10
Tomiello, M, E Perrin, M Roubens and M Crine, 1999, Fuzzy control of an activated sludge process, Second
European Congress of Chemical Engineering (ECCE 2).
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If control changes are specified as absolute values then the changes are specified as the
change that should be made directly to the output variable. However, if the change to be
made is relative then the changes are specified as percentage changes.

5.2 Rules
Each output can be associated with up to four rules, to indicate that the relevant output
change (LD, SD, SI or LI) should be made. The associated values for the inputs (VS, S, A, L,
VL) should be specified, where there is a sixth possible value for each input, Ignore (I). When
you look at the results the change for each output will be given as LD, etc., and also as NF
(rule Not Fired i.e. no change made to the output value).

5.3 Configuration
There are three configuration parameters:
- The first is the sampling interval. Too small a sampling interval will slow down the
simulation and may result in many small changes to the output. Too large a sampling
value will result in poor control. Typical sampling periods for process control are 10
minutes 1 hour; the default is 15 minutes.
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- The second configuration parameter is whether the fuzzy values should be interpreted
as a rectangular system (where fuzzy values cannot overlap), or triangular. The
rectangular approach will behave in a similar manner to a ladder logic controller; but the
ladder logic control assigns the output a fixed value; the fuzzy controller allows relative
changes to the output value, rather than fixed values. The default is the triangular
approach, which allows for an input value to be present in two categories (for example,
low and medium), with different probabilities for belonging in each category.
- The final configuration parameter is whether the changes that are made should be
absolute or relative.



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6. Parameter Setter
The parameter setter allows changes with time for parameters that are
normally kept constant, such as the sewage and process calibration
parameters.
Up to ten inputs may be specified using the Connectivity menu. As usual, the entry form
requires specifying the name of the process, the stage (if the parameter does not depend
upon the stage then this must be specified, but will not be used) and finally the parameter that
will be changed.

Then, under the Operation menu, the values that will be used for a given time must be
specified. Up to 4,320 values may be specified (sufficient for changing values every two hours
for 360 days).

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7. Anaerobic Digestion Systems
STOAT has always had anaerobic digestion models, but these have mostly been based on
BOD. There has been one COD model, that of Droste. The IWA has published a large
consensus model for anaerobic digestion, the Anaerobic Digestion Model Number 1 (ADM1),
which is now seen as the preferred model for anaerobic digestion. This model has been
implemented in STOAT v5.0, but as a different process symbol to the standard anaerobic
digestion models.
The standard anaerobic digestion models (the BOD-based models first order and Mosey, and
the COD model Droste) looked at the sludge stream, and provided no means of using the
digester gas, other than as reported production values in the digester. In addition they had no
link between the digester temperature and the heating requirements for the digester. The new
model has provided a new digester symbol to allow for a gas outlet from the digester, and for
a heating water inlet and outlet. The new model is referred to in the process toolbox as
Anaerobic Digester, while the older models have their symbol labelled as Mesophilic
Anaerobic Digester.
Name Symbol
Anaerobic digestion ADM1

Digester gas monitoring

Gas holder

Gas holder flow splitter

ASM1 to ADM1 conversion

ADM1 to ASM1 conversion

Food waste to ASM1
conversion

CHP engine

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Name Symbol
Gas boiler

Heat exchanger


7.1 Anaerobic digestion ADM1
The anaerobic digester has two inlets and three outlets. The inlets are feed sudge
(the upper inlet on the left) and heating fluid (the lower inlet on the left; the heating
fluid may be water, if internal heating is used, or sludge, if external heating is
used). The outlets are digester gas (on the top), digested sludge (the upper outleft
on the right) and heating fluid (the lower outlet on the left).
The IWA modelling community has released three reference implementaions, described as
ODE, DAE1 and DAE2. All three are available in STOAT, with DAE2 recommended for most
uses. The ODE model treats organic acid dissassociation (for example, acetic acid,
CH
3
COOH CH
3
COO
-
+ H
=
) and hydrogen exchange between the gas and air as being
time-varying. DAE1 treats the acid dissassociation equations as being sufficiently fast that
they can be taken as being at equilibrium, while DAE2 assumes that both the acid
dissassociation and the hydgrogen mass transfer are at equilibrium. The difference in model
predictions between the three is usually negligible, with ODE being the most accurate and
DAE2 the fastest to run. ODE requires the use of a stiff solver, and WRc recommend the use
of either RK-Chebychev or ROCK2 as the solvers; with a large flowsheet the use of ODE as
the anaerboic digester model can result in the simulation taking hours to model hours, and a
switch to DAE2 is advised. ODE usually runs at an acceptable speed when it is used as an
anaerobic digester model separate from the associated sewage works.
The total tank volume sludge plus gas should be specified under Names and dimensions.
The total volume is only used if, under Process calibration, you specify that the digester has a
fixed, rather than floating roof.

There is a large amount of calibration data that can be specified for the ADM1 model,
available under Sewage calibration and Process calibration. There is little guidance from the
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IWA ADM1 report on how to calibrate the model, and most users appear to leave the model
parameters at the default values. The parameters are given in the following screen captures.
7.1.1 Sewage calibration
The standard ADM1 model has kinetic parameters that are independent of temperature the
digester is assumed to be controlled at a constant tempearture, and the kinetic parameters
(mainly growth rates) will be specified as appropriate for that temperature. The ADM1 report
provides three sets of values, all based on typical sewage sludge: low rate mesophilic single-
stage digestion (the most common form of anaerobic digestion); high-rate mespophilic single-
stage digestion; and thermophilic single-stage digestion. WRc have chosen the STOAT model
defaults based on the low-rate mesophilic parameters. WRc have made on main change in
the handling of parameters: many of the kinetic parameters have been given a temperature
dependency, as the STOAT implementation allows for variable temperature (unlike the
reference implementations described above). A further difference between STOAT and the
reference implementations is that the STOAT version allows for varying volume, as some
digesters have sludge removed before raw sludge is added, to ensure that there is no short-
circuiting and contaminantion of the treated sludge.
The standard temperature variation model is:
(kinetic parameter) = A
1
exp(-B
1
(T 30)) A
2
exp(-B
2
(T 30)),
Where T is the temperature in Celsius, and A
1
, B
1
, A
2
and B
2
are the model parameters. The
default parameter values were chosen to meet the following constraints: to be the same as in
the IWA ADM1 report at 35C; to have a maximum at 45C, as this is commonly quoted as
the mesophilic optimal temperature; to be zero at 55C, as mesophilic activity falls off rapidly
with increasing temperature above the optimal value, and thermophilc bacteria take over as
the preferred bacterial population; and to be around 10% of the maximum value at 10C,
reflecting the fall-off in activity with low temperatures.
For calibrating the model WRc would suggest that the main effort is given to the parameters
on the first page of the calibration data, for the composition of the composites (seen as
complex material which wil be broken down into fats (lipids), carbohydrates and proteins). As
experience is acquired with the use of this model WRc will provide updates on model usage,
parameter values, and calibration.
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7.1.2 Process calibration
Process calibration specifies parameters relating to the digester construction and operation.
The volume specified under the Name and dimensions submenu defines the maximum
volume of the digester, including gas head space. Under Process Calibration you can specify
the sludge volume; the minimum sludge volume if the operating mode is chosen to be draw &
fill, rather than overflow; and the pump flowrate and operating schedule when using draw &
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fill. Note that draw & fill can be set to have an intermittent fill; if the raw sludge sent to the
digester has a continuous flow then, during the non-fill periods, that sludge will go nowhere,
and will disappear from the mass balance. You will need to ensure that there are appropriate
balancing tanks or flow splitters so that sludge is only sent to the digester during a fill period.
Gas leaving the digester is assumed to pass through a control valve. The reference
implementation of the ADM1 assumed that the valve had flow varying linearly with the
pressure difference between the digester and the downstream process. In practice most
valves have a flow that varies approximately with the square root of the pressure difference,
unless chocked flow conditions are reached. (Choked flow occurs when the upstream
pressure is twice the downstream pressure unlikely with most anaerobic digesters.)
The gas space can be modelled as either a fixed roof (in which case the gas headspace is the
difference between the total digester volume and the sludge volume), or a floating head (in
which case the gas head space is constant, and specified here the volume specified under
Names and dimensions is then ignored).
The mass transfer rate of gases from the sludge to the gas space can be calculated using
either the same value for all gases (the approach used in the IWA reference implementation)
or varying with the inverse of the square root of the diffusivity (which is the case with most
mass transfer models).
The digester temperature can be specified as either fixed or variable; if variable, the heat
exchange can be either internal (in which case the heating circuit inlet and outlet are assumed
to be water, and to be used with an internal heat exchanger, for which the transfer area and
U-value must be specified), or external (in which case the heating circuit inlet and outlet are
assumed to be sludge taken from, and returned to, the digester).
If a varying digester temperature is specified then the heat loss from the digester must be
specified, through the wall and roof areas and U-values. Many older digesters were part-
buried in the earth, and so there is provision to specify the wall surface areas above and
below the ground level above, the external temperature is that of the air; below, that of the
ground. Air and ground temperatures are specified under the main menu item Ambient,
described below.
If an internal heat exchanger is used it is possible to specify at what rate it will foul, what the
fully-fouled heat transfer coefficient (U-value) will be, and when it is cleaned.
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Table 7.1 Typical U-values
Material
U-value, W/m
2
C
Escritt
11
EPA
12

Fixed steel cover, plate 4.7 5.2
Fixed concrete cover, 9 thick 2.2 3.3
Floating cover, Downes-type, with wood composition roof 1.4 1.9
Concrete wall, 12 thick, exposed to air 3.2 4.9
Concrete wall, 12 thick, plus 1 air space and 4 brick facing 0.8 1.5
Concrete wall or floor, 12 thick, exposed to 10 wet earth 0.62
Concrete wall or floor, 12 thick, exposed to 10 dry earth 0.36 0.35
Table 7.2 Typical heat exchanger fouling data
13

Description Fouling rate Biofilm thickness Fouling coefficient
Biofouling @ 30
0
C 0.0125 150m 4 000 W/m
2
K
Biofouling @ 35
0
C 0.0317 250m 2 400 W/m
2
K

The overall fouled heat transfer coefficient is calculated from the equation
1/U
fouled
= 1/U
clean
+ 1/U
fouling material
7.1.3 Ambient conditions
Ambient conditions specify the minimum and maximum air and ground temperatures and the
relative humidity. An annual profile can be specified the defaults are suitable for the
Northern UK.

11
Escritt, LB, 1971, Sewers and sewage works, George Allen and Unwin.
12
EPA, 1979, Process design manual sludge treatment and disposal.
13
Bott, TR, 1990, Fouling notebook, Institution of Chemical Engineers, Rugby, UK, ISBN 0852952597. There is
no direct data suitable for sewage sludge or sewage treatment; WRc have used the graphs presented in the
book to assess likely fouling rates and reductions in U-value.
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7.1.4 Monitoring gas quality
A moving average can be calculated for the gas quality. There is only one
calibration parameter the averaging period.
7.2 Converters and influents
The ADM1 model uses a set of determinands that are different to those commonly used in
modelling sewage treatment. Because of this there is a need to convert between the ADM1
determinands and those used by activated sludge models. At present the published literature
has focused on converting between the IWA ASM1 and the ADM1, and therefore this is
supported in STOAT. As the research literature offers additional conversions, between ADM1
and ASM2d and ASM3, STOAT will be extended to include these alternates. As there is much
similarity between ASM1, ASM2 and ASM3 the use of ASM1 is seen as an acceptable
starting point the main loss of information is phosphorus, as this is ignored by the ADM1,
and therefore return liquors from the ADM1 will always be treated as having zero phosphate.
7.2.1 Influents
Influents are reached in the usual way, by right-clicking over the influent icon and selecting
Generate profile.

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7.2.2 ADM1 influent
This is available from the influent models, and allows specifying the influent directly using the
ADM1 determinands.
7.2.3 Food waste influent
This is also available from the influent models, and allows specifying the influent using
determinands that are convenient when given food waste compositions (particulate COD,
soluble COD, VFAs as COD, ammonia, total inorganic carbon, and cations). This influent
must be used with the food waste converter to subsequently convert the determinands into
the ADM1 equivalents for use by the digester model.
7.2.4 Food waste converter
The food waste converter is based on work published by Zaher
14
. The procedure
makes use of two steps. The first maps the food waste parameters (mainly
specified as COD) into an intermediate set of parameters suitable for defining
sewage sludge.

These parameters are, in their turn, mapped onto the ADM1 determinands. As can be seen
many of the parameters have a one-to-one relationship between the food waste and the
ADM1; those that do not generally can be calculated from the assumed stoichiometry of
proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. The default stocihiometry is that commonly quoted for
these mateials, so that the model should be useable for most food wastes the main
characterisiation will be that of the particulate COD into proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and
organic inerts as part of the first stage of the conversion process.

14
U Zaher, P. Buffiere, J-P Steyer and S. Chen, 2009, A Procedure to Estimate Proximate Analysis of
Mixed Organic Wastes, Water Environment Research 81(4) 407 415.
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7.2.5 ASM1 to ADM1
The ASM1 to ADM1 converter is used to convert between STOAT COD-based
sewage streams and the ADM1 determinands. The defaults are those
recommended by the IWA benchmarking taskforce looking at modelling sewage
treatment plants. As an extension to the reference version provided by the IWA benchmarking
group WRc has added phosphorus the standard (IWA) model ignores phosphorus.

7.2.6 ADM1 to ASM1
The ADM1 to ASM1 converter is used to convert between ADM1 determinands
and STOAT COD-based sewage streams. The defaults are those recommended
by the IWA benchmarking taskforce looking at modelling sewage treatment plants.
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As an extension to the reference version provided by the IWA benchmarking group WRc has
added phosphorus the standard (IWA) model ignores phosphorus.

7.3 Gas holder
The gas holder has one inlet from the digester gas and three outlets. These are,
starting from the top, excess gas lost to the atmosphere (usually this will be sent to
a flare stack there is no explicit model for a flare stack in STOAT, but the flows
through this outlet will represent what has been sent to the flare); gas taken from
the gas holder for benefiial use either to power a boiler or a CHP system; and condensate
water, which should normally be a value close to zero. Unlike most models in STOAT the gas
outflow is set by the downstream process the gas flow is set by the demands from the gas
boiler or CHP engine, rather than by any operating conditions set at the gas holder.

The flowrate of gas diverted to the flare can be specified; it is also possible to flare gas before
the gas holder reaches its maximum value. The default values of zero will result in gas being
flared only when the digester is at maximum volume and the flow of gas in exceeds that of
gas out. A non-zero value will result in gas being always sent to the flare stack.
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7.3.1 Using CHP and a gas boiler
The standard flow splitters in STOAT set the outlet flow based on the inlet flow.
However, with the gas holder, the outlet flow is set by the downstream process
the gas demand from a boiler or CHP engine. If both a CHP engine and a boiler are
required then a special flow splitter is required, where the outlet is specified by the
downstream process, and the inlet flow is calculated as the sum of the two outlets.
7.4 CHP
The CHP engine has two inlets: for digester gas (upper left) and heating water
(lower left); and two outlets: for the combustion gas exhaust (lower right) and the
heated water (upper right).
The operational settings specify the required electricity demand and the cooling water
flowrate. The CHP engine is always operated to meet the required electrciity demand, if
possible.

The process calibration data specifies the maximum electrical output, and the maximum
electrical and thermal efficiency. The relative efficiency, as a function of the load, is specified
as the last set of data in the process calibration menu. The default electrical relative efficiency
profile was taken from US EPA reports on CHP systems; WRc were unable to locate any
equivalent data for thermal efficiency, so assumed that the thermal efficiency would be
constant with load.
As well as specifying the electrical demand it is possible to specify that there is an additional
demand that will be taken from the site electricity demand model.
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The air:fuel ratio is used to calculate the air consumption, which is added to the mass flow of
the exhaust combustion gas.


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7.5 Gas-fuelled boiler
The gas boiler has two inlets: digester gas (top left) and heating water (bottom
left); and two outlets: combustion gas (top right) and heated water (bottom right).
There is one operational parameter: the flowrate of the heating water.

Process calibration data requires specifying the maximum boiler ouput and the boiler
efficiency. The digester gas is calculated by specifying that the boiler operating mode is one
of the following: constant output (constant at the maximum value); constant outlet
temperature; a constant water temperature rise; or a constant rise relative to another stream
typically the outlet from a heat exchanger.

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7.6 Heat exchanger model updates
The heat exchanger models (co- and counter-currrent)have been updated to
include time-varying fouling of the heat exchanger.

Table 7.3 Typical heat exchanger fouling data
15

Description Fouling rate Biofilm thickness Fouling coefficient
Biofouling @ 30
0
C 0.0125 150m 4 000 W/m
2
K
Biofouling @ 35
0
C 0.0317 250m 2 400 W/m
2
K

The overall fouled heat transfer coefficient is calculated from the equation:
1/U
fouled
= 1/U
clean
+ 1/U
fouling material


15
Bott, TR, 1990, Fouling notebook, Institution of Chemical Engineers, Rugby, UK, ISBN 0852952597. There is
no direct data suitable for sewage sludge or sewage treatment; WRc have used the graphs presented in the
book to assess likely fouling rates and reductions in U-value.
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8. Additional Process Models
8.1 Primary sedimentation
There is an IWA benchmarking group focused on modelling complete sewage treatment
plants. This working group has currently developed two benchmark systems, called BSM1
(Benchmark System 1) and BSM2. BSM2 added a simple primary tank model based on the
work of Otterpohl and Freund
16
. STOAT provides two implementations of this model. The
standard Otterpohl model calculates the hydraulic retention time as the differential equation d
, /dt = (Q ,) / 3 and the relationship HRT = V / (0.001 + ,). The alternate model uses the
preferred WRc calculation, d HRT/dt = 1 Q HRT / V. Performance of the primary tank is
based upon an empirical correlation developed by Otterpohl and Freund from data collected
at German sewage treatment plants.
There are two extensions to standard models. When industrial determinands are being
modelled there is a model which will allow metals in the influent to be adsorbed to the solids
and settle. There is also an extension to the standard primary tank model (PSED3) to allow
for chemical phosphorus removal to take place within the tank.


16
R. Otterpohl and M. Freund, 1992, Dynamic models for clarifier of activated sludge plants with dry and wet
weather flows. Water Science and Technology. 26, pp. 1391-1400.
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8.1.1 Otterpohl model
Sewage calibration is just the settleable fraction of the particulate BOD.

Under operational data, instead of specifying the primary sludge solids content, the
percentage of flow removed as sludge is specified.

8.1.2 Industrial with metal adsorption
Adsorption and desorption rates are calculated from an empirical correlation based on the
octanol-water coefficient. This coefficient is specified under the main menu bar, under
Edit/Component properties. The default components are all organic compounds.

8.1.3 PSED3 with chemical phosphorus removal
The sewage calibration parameters have been enhanced with the ASM2 model parameters
for chemical phosphorus reactions.
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8.2 Activated sludge with metal adsorption
8.2.1 Adsorption
Adsorption was modelled using the following model (Huang et al., 2000)
17
:
( )
T
K pH K
T
K pH K
C K C C K
dt
dC
D
A
D A
76 . 343
log 0632 . 0 0892 . 0 0635 . 1 log
2 . 1848
log 1285 . 0 21 . 0 2775 . 7 log
1 10 10
1 10 10
* *
*
+ =
+ + =
I =

where
K
A
Adsorption rate, mol
-1
min
-1
K
D
Desorption rate, min
-1
I Maximum metal uptake, mg metal/g biomass
C
*
Adsorbed metal, mg metal/g biomass
C Bulk liquid metal concentration, mol/
NOTE: if C is measured in mg/ then the value for K
A
should be divided by 10
3

MW, where MW is the molar weight
pH pH; log
10
[H
+
]
K
1
First hydrolysis constant, [M
2+
] + [H
2
O] [MOH
+
] + [H
+
]

17
Huang, CP, HE Allen, J Wang, LR Takiyama, H Poesponegro, I Poesponegro, D Pirestani, SP Myoda and D
Crumety, 2000, Chemical Characteristics and Solids Uptake of Heavy Metals in Wastewater Treatment, Water
Environment Research Foundation report D93013/93-CTS-1ISBN 1-893664-07-04, WERF, Alexandria,
Virginia, USA
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The fundamental equation, the dC
*
/dt equation, underlies the Langmuir adsorption model,
which has been found to be the best predictor of the adsorption properties of activated sludge
systems (Hussein et al., 2004
18
; Ahalya et al,. 2003
19
; Tilaki and Alli, 2003
20
; Nelson et al.,
1981
21
).
A spreadsheet provided with the Huang et al. report includes the following data.
Table 8.1 Adsorption rate data
Metal
I, mg/g
log
10
K
1

Primary sludge
22

Secondary
sludge
23

Cadmium 269.76 191.08 3.9
Cobalt 141.432 100.181 4.3
Nickel 140.904 99.807 4.1
Zinc 156.912 111.146 5

This correlation is used to partition the four metals between the soluble phase (where the
metal cannot be removed) and the adsorbed phase (where the metal is removed by
sedimentation, and subsequent removal of the settled sludge).
8.2.2 Inhibition effects
Nitrification inhibition data was taken principally from Richardson (1985)
24
, and is summarised
in the following table.

18
Hussein, H, SF Ibrahamin, K Kandeel and H Moawad, 2004, Biosorption of heavy metals from wastewater
using Pseudomonas sp., Electronic Journal of Biotechnology. Available at:
www.ejbiotechnology.info/content/vol7/issue1/full/2, accessed 10 July 2006.
19
Ahalya, N, TV Ramachandra and RD Kanamadi, 2003, Biosorption of heavy metals, Research Journal of
Chemistry and Environment 7(4) 71 79.
20
Tilaki, D and R Ali, 2003, Study on removal of cadmium from water environment by adsorption on GAC, BAC
and biofilter, Diffuse Pollution Conference, Dublin.
21
Nelson, PO, AK Chung and MC Hudson, 1981, Factors affecting the fate of heavy metals in the activated
sludge process, Journal of the Water Pollution Control Federation, 53(8) 1323 1333.
22
Correlated as 0.0024 MW g/g.
23
Correlated as 0.0017 MW g/g/.
24
Richardson, M, 1985, Nitrification inhibition in the treatment of sewage, The Royal Society of Chemistry,
London, ISBN 0-85186-596-8.
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Table 8.2 Inhibition effects with nitrifiers
Metal Degree Concentration
Cadmium
Threshold 10 mg/l
42% reduction 14.3 mg/g VSS
Cobalt
Threshold No data
50%
25
1 mg/l
78% 10 mg/l
Nickel
Threshold 1 mg/l
100% 5 mg/l
88% 12 mg/g VSS
Zinc
Threshold 10 mg/l
25% 11 mg/ g VSS
Assuming a simple inhibition model
26
:

+
=
=
C
I
C
K C / 1
1
0

where K
I
Inhibition coefficient
C Inhibitor concentration, mg/
X Biomass concentration, mg/
growth rate

C=0
growth rate with no inhibitor

25
MLSS concentrations were 360 mg/ for the 1 ppm test and 148 mg/l for the 10 ppm test. Data not for
nitrification, but used here as a best estimate.
Constable, SWC, AF Rozich, R DeHaas and RJ Colvin, 1992, Respirometric investigation of activated sludge
bioinhibition by cobalt/manganese catalyst, 46th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, Lewis
Publishers, Chelsea, Michigan, USA.
26
This form of inhibition model has been used previously in the IWA Activated Sludge Models 1, 2 and 3. Henze,
M, W Gujer, T Mino and M van Loosdrecht, 2000, Activated sludge models ASM1, ASM2, ASM2d and ASM3,
IWA Publishing, London. ISBN 1-900222-24-8.
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The estimates of K
I
from the above data are presented in the table below:
Table 8.3 Inhibition coefficients for nitrifiers
Metal K
I

Cadmium 0.02
Cobalt 0.019
Nickel 0.0016
Zinc 0.033

For heterotrophs the effect of heavy metals is commonly regarded as much less than for
nitrifiers, and typically is regarded as no significant inhibition (Sujarittnonta and Sherrard,
1981)
27
However, other studies have found different results.
Knoetze et al
28
. has the following data for a biological phosphorus removal plant (similar to the
Reading sewage treatment works).
Table 8.4 Inhibition effects with heterotrophs
Metal Threshold for general activated sludge,
mg/l
29

Cadmium 15
Cobalt No data
Nickel 15
Zinc 10

Knoetze et al. provide data for inhibition. The inhibition coefficients are given in the following
table:
Table 8.5 Inhibition coefficients for heterotrophs
Metal K
I

Cadmium 0.0675
Cobalt 0.019
Nickel 0.0675
Zinc 0.045

27
Sujarittnonta, S and JH Sherrard, 1981, Activated sludge nickel toxicity studies, Journal of the Water Pollution
Control Federation 53(8) 1314 1322.
28
Knoetze, C, TR Davies and SG Wiechers, 1980, Chemical inhibition of biological nutrient removal processes,
Water SA 6(4) 171 180.
29
MLSS c. 2000 mg/. Threshold taken as being a 5% reduction in activity.
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8.3 Sludge thickener
The thickener has one inlet, the feed, and two outlets supernatant and
thickened sludge.
The model is based on a simple steady-state mass balance, and had no dynamic behaviour.
This model was defined as a required model by the IWA benchmarking group. Calibration is
to specify the thickened sludge concentration and the capture of solids.

8.4 Instrumentation
As part of the IWA benchmarking project new controllers have been specified. These
are a standard sensor, but with the addition of noise, and a sensor in which there is a
delay between taking the sample and the result being available. The IWA models
also require a version in which the noise is taken from a data file, to ensure
repeatable results between simulations, but this has not been implemented in STOAT.

8.4.1 Noisy probe
The noisy probe requires specifying the noise parameters, which can be white noise (absolute
values the noise is independent of the magnitude of the signal), and also noise where the
noise is proportional to the magnitude of the signal.

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8.4.2 Delay sampler
The delay sampler requires specifying the time delay between the signal being taken and
being made available, and the noise parameters, which can be white noise (absolute values
the noise is independent of the magnitude of the signal), and also noise where the noise is
proportional to the magnitude of the signal.



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9. Additional resources
Our German partner, EnviaTec, has a variety of STOAT flowsheets that may be downloaded
at http://www.enviatec.de/de/de_downloads.htm. The webpage is in German, but may be
accessed through
www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=de&to=en&a=www.enviatec.de/de/de_downloads
to provide an English translation.
The available flowsheets are
- Pre-denitrification
- Cascade denitrification
- Simultaneous denitrification
- Intermittent denitrification
- Alternating denitrification
- Post-denitrification
- SBR system (sequencing batch reactor)
There are also additional resources on using STOAT, including some in English as well as
German.