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Civil Engineering Journal

Vol. 6, No. 3, March, 2020

Heavy Metal Removal Investigation in Conventional Activated

Sludge Systems

Magdi Buaisha a, Saziye Balku b, Şeniz Özalp-Yaman a*

a
Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey.
b
Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Atilim University, Ankara, Turkey.

Received 31 October 2019; Accepted 01 February 2020

Abstract
The combination of industrial and domestic wastewater in municipal WWTPs (waste water treatment plants) may
be economically profitable, but it increases the difficulty of treatment, and also has some detrimental effects on the
biomass and causes a low-quality final effluent. The present study evaluates the treatment proce ss both in the
presence and absence of heavy metals using ASM3 (activated sludge model no.3) so as to improve the model by
means of incorporating other novel inhibitory kinetic and settler models. The results reveal that the presence of
heavy metal, a case study for copper and cadmium at a concentration of 0.7 mgL −1 in a biological treatment system
has a negative effect on heterotrophic bacteria concentration by 25.00 %, and 8.76 % respectively. Meanwhile,
there are no important changes in COD (chemical oxygen demand), SS (total suspended solids) and TN (total nitrogen)
in the final effluent in the conventional system. However, all these parameters are acceptable and consistent with EU
Commission Directives. The results indicate that ASM3 can predict and provide an opportunity of the operation for an
activated sludge wastewater treatment plant that receives the effluent from an industrial plant.
Keywords: Activated Sludge; ASM3; Heavy Metal; Heterotrophs; Kinetic Models.

1. Introduction
Industrial wastewater discharged from the industries such as textile dyeing, petroleum, metal finishing, automobile,
electro-plating, and leather tanning cause heavy metals entering into the life cycle. So, this becomes one the most
important environmental problem in the world. The detrimental effects generally depend on the type and the
concentration of the heavy metals. The most frequently encountered heavy metals present in the industrial effluents are
copper, mercury, zinc, lead, cadmium, iron, chromium, cobalt and nickel. There are many treatment technologies
applied for the removal of heavy metals from wastewaters. Among them the most frequently studied technologies are
ion-exchange, adsorption and membrane filtration [1]. Ong et al. [2] give the following ranking of the toxicity of the
heavy metals for biological treatment: Cd > Cu > Zn > Cr > Pb, which differs from previously mentioned rankings as
these have focused on the human organism. The effect on the wastewater treatment process is mainly the direct impact
on the metabolism of microorganisms, but in the case of human beings the focus is mostly on the nervous system and
cells [2, 3]. The concerns on metals in urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are mainly related to its contents
in discharges to environment, namely in the final effluent and in the sludge produced. In the near future, more
restrictive limits will be imposed to final effluents, due to the recent guidelines of the European Water Framework
Directive (EUWFD). Concerning the sludge, at least seven metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn) have been

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

http://dx.doi.org/10.28991/cej-2020-03091484

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee C.E.J, Tehran, Iran. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms
and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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regulated in different countries, four of which were classified by EUWFD as priority substances and two of which
were also classified as hazardous substances.
There are also some other methods such as chemical precipitation, coagulation-flocculation, and flotation. A study
[4] on the adsorption technique using chitosan and modified chitosan in the heavy metal ion removal concluded that
chitosan has considerable advantageous in low cost, biocompatibility, biodegradability, excellent adsorption
performance, environmentally friendliness, and bioactivity and also modified chitosan has a great advantageous in
many points over the conventional adsorbents. Çeçen et al. [5] investigated the effect of Cr, Pb, Hg, Cd, and Ag on
nitrifying sludge respiration by depicting the highest inhibitory effect of Ag and the lowest inhibitory effect of Cr
(either trivalent or hexavalent, their effects are similar).
The biological wastewater treatment is not an efficient process due to the toxic cation effect on the biomass for the
wastewater with high metal concentrations. The toxicity of metals influences the microbial biomass growth and
treatment efficiency inversely. If present in low concentrations, some metals may act a micronutrient, however, in high
concentrations they may cause the cell break off. Since the irreversible inhibition of some enzymes, the heavy metal
concentration at ppm level (mg/L) is known to be toxic. The toxicity of heavy metals in an activated sludge system
was investigated [6] for copper, zinc and nickel and it was determined that the nitrifiers had higher sensitivity than
heterotrophic bacteria to these metals. The metal accumulation capability of biomass was the highest in copper case
and it was indicated that the presence of heavy metals reduces microbial diversity abundance in activated sludge
systems. The effect of copper and zinc, which were studied on biomass, separately and combined [7], showed that
copper was more toxic than zinc. According to the results one can say that the presence of copper up to 5 mg/L, the
bio-kinetic parameters was not affected adversely, but serious upsets were caused in the system when concentration
increased to 10 mg/L and higher.
Toxicity effect changes with heavy metal ions and organisms’ type and concentrations and also the environmental
conditions [8] such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), ionic strength, the other metal ions presence, together
with the operating parameters such as, hydraulic residence time (HTR) and solids retention time (SRT). The
experiments were performed for the synthetic wastewater containing 14 mg/L copper (II) [9] indicated that chemical
oxygen demand (COD) removal percentage increased with increasing SRT both in the presence and the absence of
copper. It was also shown that the growth yield coefficient decreased and the death rate constant increased in the
presence of 15 mg/L copper(II) [10]. All heavy metals are toxic to the bacterial life and inhibit the microbiological
processes at moderate and high concentrations, although they stimulate microorganisms at low concentrations. Copper
inhibits the heterotrophic biomass at low concentrations and is more toxic than lead, zinc and nickel. In fact, copper
had a very important negative effect on the bacterial communities in the activated sludge systems and their
performance in anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic processes. In order to overcome copper toxicity, the bacterial species showed
different adaptation and tolerances. Some species were stimulated also in high concentrations of copper [11]. The
Illumina MiSeq Sequencing analysis in order to classify the microbial community showed that the system lost the
chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency at 40 mg L-1 copper concentration.
Bringing together industrial and domestic wastewater in municipal WWTPs may be economically profitable for
treatment purposes; yet the consequences direct as regards the difficulty of treatment and unexpected impact on
biomass and end-product.
Hence there is a need to evaluate behavior of WWTPs with and without heavy metals in activated sludge systems.
Activated sludge models were derived for domestic wastewater treatment systems; however, they found a place in the
application of the industrial biological wastewater treatment systems. For instance, a cooking wastewater biological
treatment process was simulated [12] and optimized by ASM3 and then the model parameters compared with that of
wastewaters having different industrial sources such as pulp mill, tannery and palm oil mill. It was shown that the
ASM3 model could predict the performances of coking wastewater treatment plant successfully in removing chemical
oxygen demand and ammonium nitrogen. ASM1 (activated sludge model 1) was also used for waste water treatment
of pulp and paper mills, where estimated and correlated heterotrophic growth rate and lysis rate constants with
temperature were reported as maximum 9.69 d-1 and 1.96 d-1 respectively [13].
In the modeling of activated sludge systems, several mathematical models have been suggested and the effects of
heavy metals on the performance of the activated sludge systems on the growth rate have been studied. However only
limited number of studies concerning the lysis rate constants in the presence of heavy metals is reported though its
importance. In order to evaluate the effects on heterotrophic growth and lysis rate, a novel modeling concept was
established and concluded that the growth rate decreased while decay rate was increasing with heavy metal
concentration and the inhibition coefficients of 1.21 and 1.82 mgL-1 for Cu and Cd, respectively [14]. In order to
determine the net maximum specific growth rate as a function of concentrations of heavy metals, the inhibitory effects
of copper and zinc on autotrophic bacteria was studied [15]. The results reveal the stronger inhibitory effect of Cu
compared to Zn and nitrification process was completely inhibited at 1.2 mg/l for Cu and Zn. IC 50 (median inhibition
concentration) values were also found as 0.08 mg/l and 0.35 mg/l for Cu and Zn respectively.

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Although WWTPs are not are not designed to remove metals, the study of metals behavior in these systems is a
crucial issue to develop predictive models that can help more effectively the regulation of pre-treatment requirements
and contribute to optimize the systems to get more acceptable metal concentrations in its discharges so, In the present
study, a dynamic model based on ASM3 [16] is used to assess the behavior of the activated sludge process at a full
scale domestic wastewater treatment plant. Actually, activated sludge models only consider domestic wastewater
treatment. However, if they are extended in order to cover the growth and lysis rates of heterotrophic and autotrophic
bacteria with metal presence, they could be applied to the industrial wastewater treatment containing heavy metals, as
well.
The ultimate goal is to improve ASM3 by a combination of laboratory tests and process modeling to assess the
effects of heavy metals on the process of an activated sludge wastewater treatment that receives the effluent from an
industrial plant. This evaluation will take copper and cadmium into account in the process; some of the ASM3 original
default parameter values were changed according to the results of the batch experiments to predict the effects of heavy
metals on activated sludge treatment plants. At the end, a new model is proposed and coupled with ASM3 considering
the growth and the lysis processes in activated sludge under aerobic conditions. The outcomes of the present study are
expected to enlighten the perspectives of the growth and lysis processes in activated sludge containing heavy metals
such as copper and cadmium as a case study. Therefore, the activated sludge systems should be modeled, simulated
and optimized for the industrial waste water treatment to explore the effect of different heavy metals on the model
parameters.

2. Materials and Methods

In the present study, the wastewater treatment model improved for conventional systems is simulated in order to
include the heavy metals (Cu) and (Cd), then the results are evaluated. The conventional system is continuously
aerated.

2.1. Data Collection

For the purpose of the present study, it is referred to the data formally obtained in one other works. Novel
inhibitory kinetic models which include non-competitive kinetic, linear regression models for XH are derived using the
values of growth and lysis rate constants obtained from the batch results [14] which show that the inhibitory effect of
these two heavy metals was in a good agreement with non-competitive inhibition kinetic at different concentration.
The R-squared values of regression lines at different cadmium concentration for growth and lysis constants are 0.97
and 0.92, respectively (Equations 1 and 2). The R-square values of regression lines at different copper concentration
for growth and lysis constants are 0.98 and 0.74, respectively (Equations 3 and 4).
Linear regression model in case of cadmium is as follows:
𝜇𝐻 = −1.8683 × concentration of cadmium + 4.5197 (1)
Where µH represents heterotrophic growth rate constant

𝑏𝐻 = 0.0448 × concentration of cadmium + 0.3122 (2)

Where bH denotes the heterotrophic lysis rate constant

Linear regression model in case of copper is as follows:

𝜇𝐻 = −2.3692 × concentration of copper + 4.51 (3)

𝑏𝐻 = 0.1689 × concentration of copper + 0.3122 (4)

In the present study these novel kinetic models for heavy metal model obtained from the batch experiments [14]
are combined with ASM3 model.

2.2. Aeration Tank Model

In the modeling of an activated sludge tank, a single tank was used for the biological processes. The wastewater
entering the biological tank undergoes some biological processes. The water and sludge mixture, which is known as
activated sludge, leaving the biological tank enters the settler where sludge settles down and water is discharged to the
receiving medium. Most of the sludge settled down is recycled to the biological tank in order to increase the quantity
of the biological mass and maintain the appropriate substrate-to-biomass ratio. In the present study ASM3 was
considered as an appropriate choice for the time being especially in dealing with the aerobic and anoxic processes in a
single tank. Mass balances in the aeration tank result in:

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𝑑𝑋𝑎𝑡 𝑄𝑖𝑛𝑋𝑖𝑛 + 𝑄𝑟𝑠 Xrs − (𝑄𝑖𝑛 + 𝑄𝑟𝑠)𝑋𝑎𝑡

= + 𝑅𝑖 (5)
𝑑𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑡

Where Xat, Xrs and Xin are 13-dimensional vectors consisting of ASM3 components in the activated sludge tank,
recycle, and inlet wastewater, respectively. Ri is the component conversion rate of xi, Vat is the aeration tank volume,
and Q denotes the flow rate.
The mass balance related to the dissolved oxygen (S) includes an additional term on the right-hand side
𝑘𝐿 𝑎 (So𝑠𝑎𝑡 − So𝑎𝑡 ) where 𝑘𝐿 𝑎 and So𝑠𝑎𝑡 represent liquid phase volumetric mass transfer coefficient and saturation of
the dissolved oxygen, respectively.

𝑑𝑋𝑎𝑡 𝑄𝑖𝑛𝑋𝑖𝑛 + 𝑄𝑟𝑠 Xrs − (𝑄𝑖𝑛 + 𝑄𝑟𝑠)𝑋𝑎𝑡

= + 𝑅𝑖 + 𝑘𝐿 𝑎 (So𝑠𝑎𝑡 − So𝑎𝑡 ) (6)
𝑑𝑡 𝑉𝑎𝑡

In the activated sludge model (ASM3), there are 13 components and 12 microbiological transformation processes
in the original model and kinetic rate expressions for each process are given in the model as a function of 13 model
components. The inlet wastewater composition, stoichiometric matrix and kinetic parameters (at 20°C) were taken
from ASM3. The stoichiometric matrix was used to write the conversion rate of each component. The process rates,
formation/disappearance rates of model compounds, the mass balances around each layer of settler were applied. As
mentioned before, the ASM3 model allows us to describe phenomena of organic matter, nitrogen removal and
suspended solids. In fact, the main classification in the model state variables is in organic matter, expressed in terms of
COD, nitrogen compounds and suspended solids. The state variables included in the ASM3 are the fundamental
components that act upon the process, but they are not always measurable or interpretable in many practical
applications. Therefore, some composite variables can be calculated from the state variables in order to combine them
into forms that are typically measured in reality, such as MLVSS (mixed liquor volatile suspended solids), COD
(chemical oxygen demand), TSS (total suspended solids) and TN (total nitrogen), as reported below:

𝑀𝐿𝑉𝑆𝑆 = 0.75 × (𝑋1 + 𝑋𝑆 ) + 0.90 × (𝑋𝐻 + 𝑋𝐴 ) + 0.60 × 𝑋𝑆𝑇𝑂 (7)

𝐶𝑂𝐷 = 𝑆𝐼 + 𝑆𝑆 + 𝑋𝐼 + 𝑋𝑆 + 𝑋𝐻 + 𝑋𝑆𝑇𝑂 + 𝑋𝐴 (8)

𝑆𝑆 = 𝑋𝑆𝑆 (9)

𝑇𝑁 = 𝑆𝑁𝐻 + 𝑆𝑁𝑂 + 0.01 × 𝑆𝐼 + 0.03 × 𝑆𝑆 + 0.02 × 𝑋𝐼 + 0.04 × 𝑋𝑆 + 0.07 × (𝑋𝐻 + 𝑋𝐴 ) (10)

2.3. Secondary Settler Model

Activated sludge plants transform organic matter into biomass. The effective operation of the process requires the
biomass to be removed from the liquid stream (in the secondary settler) prior to being discharged in the receiving
waters. The sedimentation of the particles in the liquor is achieved by gravity along with the density differences
between the particles and the liquid. Part of the biomass is purged, while a large fraction is returned to the biological
reactor to maintain the appropriate substrate-to-biomass ratio.
In order to solve the mass balances around the biological tank the concentrations of compounds in the recycled
stream are needed. Furthermore, the concentrations in the discharged water are also necessary to know whether the
treatment is sufficient or not. Settling tank is modeled as a cylindrical tank with 10 layers and Takács Model [17] is
adapted to ASM3 compounds. No biological processes in the settler and no change in the concentrations in radial
direction are assumed in the modeling. According to the flux theory; total flux is equal to the sum of the bulk and
gravity fluxes. The soluble components of ASM3 which are denoted as ‘S’ are assumed to follow the water flow and
gravity fluxes for them are set to zero. Hence, the concentrations of soluble components of ASM3 are taken as equal in
the inlet and outlet of the settling tank. For the particulate components of ASM3 which are represented by ‘X’, the
settling velocity is derived from Takács’ expression as follows:

𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑡 )−𝑒 −𝑟𝑒(𝑋𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑡

𝑗 −𝑓𝑛𝑠𝑋𝑖𝑛 )
𝑣𝑠𝑗 (𝑋𝑗𝑠𝑒𝑡 ) = max(0, min(𝑣0′, 𝑣0 (𝑒−𝑟ℎ(𝑋𝑗 −𝑓𝑛𝑠 𝑋𝑖𝑛 ))) (11)

0 ≤ 𝑣𝑠𝑗 ≤ 𝑣0′

Where v0, 𝑣0′, rh, rp, and fns are model parameters defined in Takács et al., Xinset is the suspended solids concentrations
entering the settler, Xjset concentration of the suspended solids calculated for each layer of the settler based upon
ASM3 as follows:

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𝑋𝑗𝑠𝑒𝑡 = 0.75(𝑋1𝑠𝑒𝑡 + 𝑋𝑆𝑠𝑒𝑡 ) + 0.90(𝑋𝐻𝑠𝑒𝑡 + 𝑋𝐴𝑠𝑒𝑡 ) + 0.60𝑋𝑆𝑇𝑂

𝑠𝑒𝑡
(12)

2.4. Extending ASM3 Model

In this study, the above mentioned model which is a combination of ASM3 and settler models is improved by
adding novel inhibitory models obtained from batch experiments with growth and decay of heterotrophic biomass
processes to respond to changes in the heavy metals concentrations. The simulation of the ASM3 model is achieved
under unsteady conditions. The model is simulated by modifying only two parameters: maximum growth rate and
lysis rate, which vary depending on the change in heavy metal concentration as well as the composition of industrial
waste water, are not considered in the ASM3 default values. All kinetic and stoichiometric parameters regarding the
twelve processes are the default values, except the aerobic growth and decay processes of heterotrophic biomass which
are already included from the experimental results with the presence of Cu and Cd [14].
According to linear regression models for copper and cadmium observed in batch experiments for heterotrophic
process, the values of growth and lysis rate constants in the absence of copper and cadmium are found to be 4.5197
and 0.3122 d−1, respectively; whereas, these values are calculated as 0.1338 d-1 and 0.0143 d-1, respectively in the
presence of 0.7 mgL−1 of Cd and 0.1192, 0.0179d−1, respectively in the presence of 0.7 mgL−1 of Cu.

2.5. Designed Parameters for the Activated Sludge Process Plant

The design parameters related to the activated sludge plant were chosen according to the basic principles of
wastewater treatment plant design [18] as shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Designed parameters for activated sludge process plant [19]

Design parameters Symbol Unit Value

The influent average flow Qin m3 day−1 1000
3 −1
Average flow of recycle Qrs m day 800
3 3
Volume of Aeration tank (m ) Vat m 450
Volume of settling tank (m3) Vset m3 400
Height of the settling column hset m 3.5
−1
Oxygen mass transfer coefficient kla h 4.5
3 −1
Effluent average flow Qeff m day 980
3
Waste sludge rate Qw m 12
Waste sludge ratio Qw/Qin - 0.012
Recycle ratio Qrs/Qin - 0.80
Area of the settler As m2 113
Length of start-up period tp1 h 480
Length of conditioning period tp2 h 480
Length of normal operation period tb3 h 100

2.6. Effluent Requirements of Activated Sludge Plant

The main aim of the WWTP plant is to maintain sufficient concentrations of organics, nitrogen, and other
pollutants. In order to avoid both infeasibility and failure in such plants, the effluent should be restricted by law.
According to EU Commission Directives 1991 [20], on the effluent of wastewater treatment plants, the maximum
concentrations in terms of COD, SS, and TN are given by:
CODmax = 125 mg/L
SSmax = 30 mg/L
TNmax = 20 mg/L

3. Results and Discussion

To represent the process, model ASM3 has been adopted with regard to activated sludge system to characterize the
removal of organic and nitrogen pollutants, and a novel inhibitory kinetic model has been used to characterize the
growth and lysis rate constants. Using MATLAB code, the activated sludge process has been modeled with respect to
ASM3 coupled with novel inhibitory kinetic models and settler model.

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During simulations the results shows the changes in the concentrations of heterotrophs with respect to time at the
end of start-up period, conditioning period and operating period are given in the Figures 1 and 2 with or without heavy
metals (cadmium and copper) having a concentration of 0.7 mgL−1.
It is evident from this simulation that the presence of heavy metals (Cu, Cd) at concentration 0.7 mgL−1 in the
biological system effects on growth of bacteria. In the case of cadmium, the decrease in heterotrophic bacteria
concentration is 8.76 %, whereas 25.00 % for copper case.

Figure 1. Changes in growth of heterotrophic bacteria in activated sludge system (with and without heavy metal Cd)

Figure 2. Changes in growth of heterotrophic bacteria in activated sludge system (with and without heavy metal Cu)

In the meantime, slight changes in COD (chemical oxygen demand), SS (total suspended solids), and TN (total
nitrogen) have happened in final effluent. Total suspended solids and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids have
decreased, in the same time, chemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen have increased as shown in Table 2 in the
final effluent of the plant. MLVSS, COD, TSS, and TN are calculated according to the state variables included in the
ASM3 using Equations 7 to 10.

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Table 2. Results of simulation for effluent quality in a conventional system with heavy metals (cadmium, copper) and
without heavy metals

Normal operation period

Parameters Initial
No heavy Cadmium (0.7 mgL−1) Copper (0.7 mgL−1)
3
CODeff (g/m ) 260.1000 37.2243 37.2418 37.2700
3
TNeff (g/m ) 24.9070 20.7322 20.8705 21.1207
SSeff (g/m3) 125 7.7925 7.7858 7.7762
MLVSS (g/m3)
102.0900 1928.5 1885.0 1797.2
(Before settling tank)

The simulations of results of state variables of ASM3 in the aeration tank and final effluent of wastewater plant
have shown that XI, XS, XSTO, and XA are slightly increased by these heavy metals, while XSS and XH are decreased, in
addition, no change in concentration of soluble compounds (S) as shown Table 3.

Table 3. Simulation results of state variables of ASM3 in output of aeration tank and final effluent
Final effluent of wastewater plant
AERATION TANK
( Effluent )
State variables Initial (untreated)
Cadmium Copper Cadmium Copper
No heavy No heavy
(0.7 mgL−1) (0.7 mgL−1) (0.7 mgL−1) (0.7 mgL−1)
𝑆0 (g/m3) 0.00 3.3 3.3 3.2 3.3 3.3 3.2
3
𝑆𝐼 (g/m ) 30.00 30 30 30 30 30 30
3
𝑆𝑆 (g/m ) 100.00 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.3
𝑆𝑁𝐻 (g/m3) 16.00 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
3
𝑆𝑁2 (g/m ) 0.00 1 1 1 1 1 1
𝑆𝑁𝑂 (g/m3) 0.00 19.8 19.9 20.2 19.8 19.9 20.2
𝑆𝐻𝐶𝑂 (gmole/m3) 5.00 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5
3
𝑋𝐼 (g/m ) 25.00 1546.1 1545 1556.5 4.4446 4.5120 4.6992
𝑋𝑆 (g/m3) 75.00 58.7 59.1844 60.3328 0.1688 0.1728 0.1821
3
𝑋𝐻 (g/m ) 30.00 715.5 652.7924 536.6389 2.0565 1.9062 1.6200
𝑋𝑆𝑇𝑂 (g/m3) 0.00 50.3 72.1771 83.4754 0.1447 0.2108 0.2520
3
𝑋𝐴 (g/m ) 0.10 56.4 56.7180 57.1971 0.1622 0.1656 0.1727
3
𝑋𝑆𝑆 (g/m ) 125.00 2710.8 2666.2 2575.7 7.7925 7.7858 7.7762

4. Conclusion
The developed model ASM3 was extended to examine the influence heavy metals by novel inhibitory kinetic
models upon the waste water treatment system performance. The inhibitory kinetic models are used for the values of
growth and lysis rate constants achieved from the batch experimental results in the presence of heavy metals under
aerobic growth of heterotrophic biomass process. The main contribution of this study is to improve ASM3 by
combination with novel inhibitory kinetic models to assess the impact on the operation of an activated sludge
wastewater treatment plant that receives the effluent of an industrial plant.
Using MATLAB code, the activated sludge process has been simulated with respect to ASM3 coupled with novel
inhibitory kinetic models and settler mode. We can conclude from this simulation that the presence of heavy metals
(Cu, Cd) at the concentration 0.7 mgL−1 in the biological system has negative effect on growth of heterotrophic
bacteria. In the case of cadmium, the decrease in heterotrophic bacteria concentration is 8.76 %, whereas 25.00 % for
copper case and consequently, on effluent quality [COD, TN, MLVSS, TSS and particulate compounds (X)].
However, all these parameters are acceptable and consistent with EU Commission Directives. Finally, one can say that
ASM3 can predict and evaluate the operation of an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant that receives the
effluent of an industrial plant

5. Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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