Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Mathematical Model For The Biological Treatment Of Industrial Wastewaters In A Cascade Of Four Reactors, Annette L. Worthy, Mark I. Nelson, Rubayyi Turki Alqahtani

Associate Professor Annette Worthy

Many industrial processes, particularly in the food industry, produce slurriesor wastewaters containing high concentrations of biodegradable organicmaterials. Before these contaminated wastewaters can be dischargedthe concentration of these pollutants must be reduced. A method which has beenextensively employed to remove biodegradable organic matter is biologicaltreatment. In this process the wastewater (or slurry) is passed through abioreactor containing biomass which grows through consumption of thepollutants.The industrial treatment of wastewaters typically employs a reactor cascade.In a reactor cascade of n reactors the effluent stream from the ith reactor inthe cascade acts as the feed stream for the (i+1)th reactor, i.e. the nextreactor. The …