The importance of applying an appropriate approach to modelling wastewater treatment plants

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed and built to remove contaminants from wastewater. WWTPs are composed of various facilities equipped with hydro-mechanical and electrical equipment. This paper presents a comparison of two different approaches for WWTPs modelling. Static modelling is suitable for determining the dimensions of facilities and equipment capacity. The special significance of this approach is for the design of new plants, i.e., when a very small number of input data on the quantities and composition of the influent wastewater is available. Dynamic modelling is expensive, time consuming and requires great expertise in the use of simulators, models and very good understanding of the treatment processes. Also, dynamic modelling is very important to use for optimization, consideration of future scenarios and also possible scenarios on the plant. The comparison of two approaches was made on the input data from the biggest and most important plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H)- WWTP Butila (Sarajevo). The main idea is to show the differences between two demanding accesses. It is important to know how to apply an adequate approach to research and solve the set task. The II phase of the plant Butila, which includes the removal of nutrients, is planned in several years and therefore the importance of research has increased.