Dynamical modelling of a wastewater treatment process of the metallurgical industry

In this paper we consider the dynamical modelling and parameter identification of a biological wastewater treatment process from the galvanisation industry used to remove a mixture of organic matter and surface-active agents. In the present study we have considered mainly the measurements of dissolved oxygen and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) collected on laboratory and pilot-scale processes. From the identification study, we can conclude that the degradation is characterized by two reactions: one part of the easily biodegradable effluent is degraded with fast kinetics while the remaining part of the effluent is degraded via a slower reaction. This has been modelled by considering two different classes of substrates that indeed correspond to real components of the mixture