Research advances and challenges in one-dimensional modeling of secondary settling tanks--a critical review

Sedimentation is one of the most important processes that determine the performance of the activated sludge process (ASP), and secondary settling tanks (SSTs) have been frequently investigated with the mathematical models for design and operation optimization. Nevertheless their performance is often far from satisfactory. The starting point of this paper is a review of the development of settling theory, focusing on batch settling and the development of flux theory, since they played an important role in the early stage of SST investigation. The second part is an explicit review of the established 1-D SST models, including the relevant physical law, various settling behaviors (hindered, transient, and compression settling), the constitutive functions, and their advantages and disadvantages. The third part is a discussion of numerical techniques required to solve the governing equation, which is usually a partial differential equation. Finally, the most important modeling challenges, such as settleability description, settling behavior understanding, are presented.