Analysis of benchmarking and simulation for the optimization of a commercial wastewater treatment plant
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24850/j-tyca-2026-02-02Keywords:
Wastewater, water treatment, energy consumption, comparative analysis, simulation models, MexicoAbstract
Sustainable consumption of water and energy to mitigate environmental damage from anthropogenic activities is necessary. The most widely used wastewater treatment system in the world is conventional activated sludge. However, it has high operating costs, between 60 and 70 % due to energy consumption. In this study, “Benchmarking” allowed a comparative analysis between wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of similar magnitudes with parameters and specific energy consumption, complemented with a simulation in SIMBA# free version (not considering tertiary treatments), to improve the operational process of a commercial WWTP in Mérida, Yucatán. The results show that it is possible, by adjusting the capacity of the two blowers from 5 HP to 3 HP, to reduce 40.58 % of the total energy consumption in the WWTP (due to excess aeration), which additionally improves the quality of the effluent in the specific parameter of total nitrogen with a reduction from 72 g N/m3 to 56 g N/m3. However, it is necessary to make the proposed changes in the WWTP of this study to obtain the results in real operation and make pertinent adjustments.
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