Empirical Regression Model for Biochemical Oxygen Demand Removal in Solar Enhanced Waste Stabilization Ponds

Consequent on the findings that a Solar Enhanced Waste Stabilization Pond (SEWSP) will increase treatment efficiency thereby reduce the large land area requirement; hence, this study aims at developing an empirical regression model for the prediction of the efficiency of Biochemical Oxygen Demand removal of the SEWSPs for sewage treatment. SEWSPs were constructed of varying sizes made of metallic tank with inlet and outlet valves, and a solar reflector to increase the incident sunlight intensity. Physio-chemical and biological characteristics of the wastewater samples were collected from different points (inlet and outlets) of the SEWSPs were examined for a period of two months. The examined parameters were: Efficiency of BOD removal in %, Efficiency of E Coli removal in %, Dissolve Oxygen in mg/l, Efficiency of COD removal in %, Efficiency of Suspended Solid removal in %, Temperature in0C, Detention Time in days and coliform. Discussions were made revealing the relationship between the depth of the SEWSP and treatment efficiency.An empirical correlation model predicting the efficiency of BOD removal for the SEWSP was developed thus y = - 0.292X1 – 0.1011X2 + 0.876X3 + 0.148X4 – 0.087X5 +0.012X6 + 22.939 together with a MATLAB solver for easy computation