Dynamic Modelling And Simulation of Rotating Biological Contactors

Rotating  Biological  Contactor  is  a  remediation  technology  used  in  the  secondary treatment of wastewater (domestic  and biodegradable  industrial  wastes).  In  this  work,  a mathematical  model  for  rotating  biological contactors (RBC)  is  presented,  which encapsulates  the  consumption  of soluble substrate  in  the  developed  bio-film attached to the  disk  of a rotating  biological contactor.  The  model  describes  the  consumption  of the substrate and oxygen in  the bio-film,  and in the  trough assuming the liquid in the trough is completely mixed, and the rates of substrate and oxygen utilization within the bio-film follow  Monod  kinetics.    The  numerical  solution  of  the  model  agrees  with  the experimental  data  reported  by  other  workers.  The  simulation  also  predicts  the performance of RBCs in  the event of any fluctuations in the flow rate and concentration of the soluble BOD5 in the influent wastewater stream. The developed model can be used in the future to aid in the optimization of the performance of RBCs.