A Study of Optimum Operational Methods for Domestic Wastewater Treatment Plants in Korea

국내 하수종말처리장 최적 운전 방안에 관한 연구

The optimum operation of domestic wastewater treatment plant can give influence on operational cost and future expansion in Korea where has 93 operational domestic wastewater treatment plants. Also, the study on optimum operation can reduce operation cost and budget of municipalities whom have responsibility of wastewater treatment plant operation. In this study, 9 domestic wastewater treatment plants which can represent 93 plants in Korea have been selected and operational data are gathered. The collected data are inputted to computer simulator based on IAWQ's Activated Sludge Model No.1 and optimum operation methods are developed. Also, the electric power for aeration which has large portion of overall operation cost are calculated based on design and operation conditions and these are compared. In this study, it was found that design wastewater characteristics are 1.6 times higher than those of daily maximum except for E plant and that estimation methods for design wastewater characteristics have to be improved. Based on computer simulation, we found there is no need to operate all aeration tanks due to weak influent overall power for aeration can be reduced to about 43% of design one.