Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

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Environmental Technology & Innovation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eti

Experimental and simulation study of rectangular and circular

primary clarifier for wastewater treatment
∗
Nital Patel a , Jayesh Ruparelia b , , Jayesh Barve c ,1
a
Instrumentation and Control Engineering Department, Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India
b
Chemical Engineering Department, Institute of Technology, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India
c
GE Global Research, Bengaluru, India

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: Clarification is an essential process in wastewater treatment which removes suspended
Received 30 January 2021 solids using flocculants The efficiency of the primary clarifier is important as it affects
Received in revised form 6 May 2021 the performance of the subsequent processes. The modeling of clarifiers are carried out
Accepted 10 May 2021
using one-dimensional flux theory or two dimensional computational fluid dynamics.
Available online 12 May 2021
In this paper one-dimensional modeling of sedimentation process based on flux theory
Keywords: applied to lab-scale circular and rectangular primary clarifiers is reported. The experi-
Wastewater treatment ments were carried out for three operating conditions i.e. low, medium and high solid
Circular clarifier concentrations using lab-scale setup. The one-dimensional sedimentation process model
Rectangular clarifier was implemented on MATLAB platform and simulation was carried out. The model
One-dimensional sedimentation process simulation is able to predict effluent total suspended solids as well as TSS present along
model the height of the lab-scale primary clarifiers. The average R2 value 0.97 was observed
Total suspended solids
between measured and simulated total suspended solids present along the height of
circular clarifier for the three operating conditions whereas average R2 value 0.96 was
found in the case of rectangular clarifier for identical conditions. Based on the simulation
and experimental results the removal of suspended solids is found better in circular
clarifier as compared to rectangular clarifier for the influent flow rate of 134 mL/min
with influent total suspended solids from 300 to 600 mg/L.
© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Industries and domestic water usage are the main source of wastewater comprise of pathogenic microorganisms,
organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, hydrocarbons, heavy metals etc. Therefore it is necessary to maintain certain
standards of water quality before releasing wastewater to the natural resources. The toxic substances in ill-treated
wastewater influence ecosystem, public health and soil contamination. Wastewater treatment plant consists of primary,
secondary and tertiary treatments. In primary treatment the suspended solids are removed using flocculants. In secondary
process biological contents are removed through aerobic biological processes such as biofiltration, aeration, oxidation
ponds etc. The tertiary treatment removes remaining inorganic compounds, substances such as nitrogen and phosphorus.
In primary treatment process, sedimentation is the key practice of allowing particles in wastewater to settle under the
effect of gravity. Various methods are widespread for sedimentation such as horizontal flow, vertical flow and inclined

∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jr@nirmauni.ac.in (J. Ruparelia).
1 Ex- Professor, Nirma University.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2021.101610
2352-1864/© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

plate. In horizontal flow settling tanks, water with the particles in suspension is introduced at one end of the tank, then
as the water flows to the other end of the tank settling of particles in the water occurs. In vertical flow settling tanks,
flow takes place in vertical direction and hopper bottom is provided at the bottom of the tank to dispose the collected
sludge. In inclined plates settler (lamella), flow passes through multiple, variably sized inlet orifices to the settling zone
and proceeds upward through the plates, which are at an angle of 55◦ from horizontal. For the efficient operation of
the wastewater treatment plant, monitoring and control of each process is essential. Process modeling is an important
aspect to study the process behavior and dynamics. Modeling of a system is helpful to understand how the system really
operates without working on the real-time systems and test the system behavior against the change in input variables.
In order to reduce the costs of monitoring of wastewater treatment processes, mathematical models, statistical models
and other simulators are used. There are two main approaches for the process model development: first principle model
and data driven model. First principle model requires thorough knowledge of process hence it requires more efforts and
time to implement. Data driven model involves knowledge of input and output data of the process so implementation in
this case needs less efforts and time however the performance is based on quality of the data.
In the literature wastewater treatment plant simulator and biological process models are reported for the prediction
of pollutant present in effluent as well as to study the dynamics of wastewater treatment plant or biological process.
A methodology for modeling a full-scale treatment plant and tracing experiments carried out to understand the hy-
drodynamics behavior of various units (Pons et al., 1996). Models of the sludge settling velocity was investigated and
compared with measured data of pilot plant (Koehne et al., 1995). A multi layered dynamic model based on solid flux
and mass balance for sedimentation process was used to predict solids profile along the clarifier height, effluent and
underflow suspended solids (Takacs et al., 1991). A generalized dynamic model for clarification process was developed
and validated against pilot plant secondary clarifier (Takacs et al., 1990). A nonlinear proportional integral controller which
is able to stabilize the thickener operation using a simple mass balance structure was presented (Betancourt et al., 2013).
The dynamics and flow structure simulation study of a rectangular sedimentation tank with lamellar settlers was reported
(Tarpagkou and Pantokratoras, 2014). A cylindrical settler model extended to conical settler geometry and characteristics
of batch settling experiments for conical settler was carried out (White and Verdone, 2000). Computational fluid dynamics
model of a thickener used in mineral processing was investigated and implemented (Kahane et al., 2002). A mathematical
model of secondary clarifier of wastewater treatment process and movement of sludge blanket was characterized using
the solid flux theory and settling velocity (Bakiri et al., 2012). Pektas (2009) investigated mathematical model of settler
and estimated sludge particles in the case of constant average velocity. The study was conducted using direct numerical
technique for computing the thickness and drop-size composition of the dispersion band formed in a shallow-layer
settler under steady state and transient conditions (Gomes et al., 2007). An investigation is reported on how the initial
feed solids volume fraction and the initial suspension height affect the evolutions of the heights of the suspension and
the consolidated bed, as well as the determinations of the solids volume fraction obtained at the bottom of the batch
settler (Zhang et al., 2015). Auditing of molybdenum thickener and a tailing thickener with two online instrumentation
(SediRack, ColumnTest) was carried out (Concha et al., 2017). Mufiiz et al. (1998) developed a conductimetric method for
measuring solid concentrations and studied hydrodynamics behavior of the continuous thickener by means of transient-
response techniques and dispersion model for the calculation of the hydrodynamic settling zones. The sedimentation
velocity equation was proposed and simulation of sludge blanket evolution was carried out subsequently validated
with experimental data (Chatellier and Audic, 2000). A simple mass balance based partial differential equation model
of secondary clarifier was presented and model parameters associated with dispersion effect, settling velocity were
predicted. The developed model was integrated with activated sludge model (David et al., 2009). The concentration of
particles were predicted using mass balance equations in continuous inclined settlers to classify or separate particles by
size and/or density (Davis and Gecol, 1996). A method of monitoring and control of batch sedimentation was presented
by measuring hydrostatic pressure at a certain distance from the bottom of the batch settler (Nocon, 2010). Four different
swirl/vortex technologies like standard swirl sedimentation tank, swirl sedimentation tank with a directional elbow, swirl
sedimentation settler with a profiled pipe, swirl sedimentation tank with a directional elbow and reversed outlet were
studied (Ochowiak et al., 2017).
A methodology of using the fractional density changes for the estimation of the mass of the suspended solids in the
batch settler revealed that the expected accuracy of the mass estimation is ±10% (Nocon, 2013). Weiss et al. (2007)
investigated a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model that predicts the sedimentation of activated sludge in full-scale
flat-bottom circular secondary clarifier. A mathematical model for continuous sedimentation of flocculated suspensions
in clarifier was developed and studied for the steady state and dynamics operation (Burger et al., 2005). The impact of
converging cross sectional area on increase in concentration at the bottom for incompressible suspensions using one
dimensional clarifier model was studied (Diehl, 2000). An experimental study of tubular settler and plate packing settler
with eight different suspensions was carried out (Bandrowski et al., 1997). The influence of coagulant dose, coagulation
mixing time, stirring rate, contamination level of the wastewater and pH on various settleability parameters like sediment
volumetric percentage, settling velocity, sludge volume index and total suspended solids was investigated (Gonzalez et al.,
2007). A methodology for rapid estimation of the mass of total suspended solids in batch settler based on variation
in fractional density change was proposed and investigated the estimation of total mass of the suspended solids prior
the sedimentation process, monitoring of the percentage of mass above the height of one of the hydrostatic pressure
measurements, observation of the compaction of sludge at the bottom of the clarifier (Nocon, 2016). A fuzzy controller
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 1. Rectangular and circular clarifiers (a) schematic (b) experimental set up.

Table 1
Dyes used to prepare synthetic wastewater solution.
Dyes Low TSS (mg/L) Medium TSS (mg/L) High TSS (mg/L)
1 Ammonium purpurate 65 85 105
2 Congo red 65 85 105
3 Bromophenol blue AR 65 85 105
4 Rhodamine B 65 85 105
5 Bromocresol green AR 65 85 105
6 Congo red 65 85 105
7 Crystal violate 65 85 105
8 Erichrom black 65 85 105
Total Dye 520 680 840
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 314 422 514

of the sludge height in the secondary settler is presented based on influent flow, removal flow and recycle flow online
data and daily analytical values of the sludge volume index (Traore et al., 2006). A study was carried out to investigate
hydrodynamics behavior of the rectangular sedimentation tank as a function of the flow and feed type. It is revealed that
center inlet section and lower inlet section were suitable in medium flow conditions and low flow conditions (Lopez et al.,
2014).
The identification of nonlinear flux function of partial differential equation by three methods spline-fit, quadratic-
fit and special-fit was proposed (Betancourt et al., 2014b). The one-dimensional model of a continuous sedimentation
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 2. Specifications of clarifiers (a) Circular (b) Rectangular.

Table 2
Model parameters of clarifiers (a) Circular (b) Rectangular.
(a) Circular clarifier
Model parameters (cm/min) Low TSS 314 (mg/L) Medium TSS 422 (mg/L) High TSS 514 (mg/L)
vs1 0.18 0.22 0.24
vs2 0.29 0.33 0.32
vs3 0.40 0.41 0.39
(b) Rectangular clarifier
Model parameters (cm/min) Low TSS 314 (mg/L) Medium TSS 422 (mg/L) High TSS 514 (mg/L)
vs1 0.14 0.18 0.20
vs2 0.23 0.26 0.27
vs3 0.33 0.34 0.32

Fig. 3. TSS sample collection points of clarifiers (a) Circular (b) Rectangular.

in clarifier–thickener unit was proposed and numerical simulations were reported (Betancourt et al., 2014a). The one-
dimensional model of sedimentation was proposed incorporating differences in transient and steady state solutions
(Nocon, 2006). A computational fluid dynamic model was simulated and validated using pilot plant (Flamant et al.,
2004). The simulation and experimental study of the industrial primary clarifier in which estimation of the solids present
in the effluent of primary clarifier was carried out using one-dimensional model and Fuzzy logic (Patel et al., 2020).
An empirical model was developed to evaluate the removal efficiency of a coagulation/sedimentation units based on
experimental observations to investigate the removal of COD and TSS from food processing wastewater. Experiments
were carried out for three coagulants: ferric chloride, ferrous sulfate and aluminum sulfate. The obtained values of
coefficient of determination revealed that model can represent the experimental data with reasonable accuracy (Amin
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 4. Discrete one-dimensional models of clarifiers (a) Circular (b) Rectangular.

et al., 2021). Hybrid linear-nonlinear models were developed for the prediction of total suspended solids, total dissolved
solids, biochemical oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand in wastewater treatment plant (Lotfi et al., 2019).
Two data driven models, artificial neural network and M5 model tree were developed for the simulation of biochemical
oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. It was observed that artificial neural network
performs better as compared to M5 model tree (Asami et al., 2021). A unified tank model for aeration tank and secondary
sedimentation tank was proposed and investigated to find optimal location of the diffusers in tank. It was observed that
proposed design present a useful alternative with good accuracy (Kuş and Kara, 2020).
The main objective of present work is to apply one dimensional model of sedimentation process to the primary
clarifiers. Two lab scale primary clarifiers, circular and rectangular, were used for the study, where circular clarifier was
the prototype of plant primary clarifier (Patel et al., 2020). The model equations were implemented in MATLAB platform
and simulation study for both clarifiers was carried out. The simulation predicts effluent TSS as well as TSS present along
the height of the clarifier for a given values of influent flow rate and influent total suspended solids. The advantage of
present work is that using feed flow rate and influent TSS the effluent TSS of primary clarifier can be predicted which
helps in monitoring the performance of clarifier effectively.

2. Experimental setup

The experimental set-up as shown in Fig. 1(a) and (b) consists of feed tank, rectangular clarifier and circular clarifier.
The stirrer and scrapper mechanism is provided in feed tank and circular tank respectively. The speed of the stirrer and
scrapper can be adjusted by electric motor drive mechanism. Each clarifier comprises three ball valves for inlet flow rate,
outlet flow rate and retentate.

2.1. Circular and rectangular clarifiers

As shown in Fig. 2(a) the circular clarifier consists of two concentric tanks. The purpose of the inner tank of circular
clarifier is to provide the time for flocculation. The wastewater enters from the top of the inner tank as shown and clear
water exits from the top of the outer tank whereas solids are accumulated at the bottom of tank. The retentate valve is
opened to remove the accumulated suspended solids. As shown in Fig. 2(b) the wastewater enters at one side of the top
of the rectangular clarifier and clear water exits from the opposite side of the top. The accumulated sludge exits from the
bottom valve of clarifier.

3. Materials and methods

The circular clarifier of present study is the prototype of primary clarifier of industrial common effluent treatment plant
(Patel et al., 2020). In the plant primary clarifier study, the operating conditions of influent suspended solids considered
were 300–400 mg/L, 400–500 mg/L, 500–600 mg/L and feed flow rates varied in the range of 800–900 m3 /h. In order to
get synthetic dye solution with suspended solids in above range various dyes listed in Table 1 were taken in the reservoir
tank equipped with agitator to prepare 120 L stock solution. The resultant TSS in stock solution was 314 mg/L. For all
the runs of low TSS concentration the stock solution was made in the same way and adjusted the dyes/water addition in
such that it comes 314 mg/L with 2% variation. When feed was taken into the feed tank TSS was measured once again to
make sure desired TSS was attained. The same procedure was followed to prepare feed solution with 422 and 514 mg/L
TSS.
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 5. Simulation and experimental results of circular clarifier for low, medium and high solid concentration (a), (b), (c) respectively with curve
fitting equations and R2 of experimental TSS vs simulated TSS. TSS0e, TSS1e, TSS2e and TSS3e represent the experimental values whereas TSS0, TSS1,
TSS2 and TSS3 with ‘‘solid lines’’ represent the simulated values.

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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 6. Simulation and experimental results of rectangular clarifier for low, medium and high solid concentration (a), (b), (c) respectively with curve
fitting equations and R2 of experimental TSS vs simulated TSS. TSS0e, TSS1e, TSS2e and TSS3e represent the experimental values whereas TSS0, TSS1,
TSS2 and TSS3 with ‘‘solid lines’’ represent the simulated values.

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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Fig. 7. Prediction of effluent TSS concentration against change in influent TSS concentration for clarifier at low, medium and high solid concentration
(a), (b), (c) respectively.

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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

In order to compare the performance of circular and rectangular clarifiers the experiments were carried out at same
operating conditions. The feed flow rate (Qf ) and outlet flow rate (Qout ) were maintained equal with no flow of retentate
(Qr ) during the course of experiments performed. The wastewater from reservoir tank was fed into the feed tank using
submersible pump. The level of feed tank was maintained constant and wastewater stirred at constant speed 20 rpm.
A flocculent (Alum) dose of 10 mg/L was maintained in the feed tank. The dose of 10 mg/L was decided based on the
preliminary experiments carried out in which flocculant dose was varied from 1 to 15 mg/L. For the flocculant dose more
than 10 mg/L the performance of clarifier was almost constant. The inlet flow rate was maintained constant at 134 mL/min
and concentration of total suspended solids in feed was varied from 314 to 514 mg/L. The time constant (retention time)
of the process was approximately 180 min. The process was operated for 600 min and samples were taken from different
heights of the clarifiers at the interval of 60 min.

3.1. Circular and rectangular clarifiers

The 28 cm height of the sedimentation zone in circular clarifier is divided into four different layers each of 7 cm
height as shown in Fig. 3(a). For each layer four different samples at the interval of 60 min were collected from four
peripheral points and mixed to get 100 mL. The precision pump pipette was used to collect the sample and accurate
depth as mentioned in Fig. 3(a) was maintained from the surface of the wastewater. The total suspended solids of collected
samples were determined through the steps of filtration and drying followed by weighing using high precision balance.
The height of the sedimentation zone in rectangular clarifier is 23 cm and the sedimentation zone is divided in to four
different layers of 5.75 cm height each as shown in Fig. 3(b). The same protocol like circular clarifier was maintained for
the rectangular clarifier.

4. Mathematical model and validation

The proposed discrete one dimensional models of circular and rectangular clarifies are shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b),
respectively. The assumption made are (a) the vertical movement of particles occur whereas the horizontal gradients
in concentration are negligible (Patel et al., 2020; Nocon, 2006). (b) The movement of solid particles is only due to
gravitational settling and the bulk movement of water in the settler (Nocon, 2006). (c) The sedimentation takes place
only inside the settler (Nocon, 2006). In fact, TSS concentration variation along lateral cross-section direction compared to
vertical direction was minimized by proper clarifier design involving sizing and operational parameters like cross-section
area, height, flow-rates etc. In addition, any minor lateral variation was taken care by use of averaged sample at each
layer i.e. 100 ml sample collected at each layer was made-up by mixing samples collected from 4 laterally distributed
(peripheral) points at the specific layer cross-section plane. The movement of solids inside the clarifier occurs due to
upward velocity w (Qout /A) and the downward force vs (settling velocity) which depend on the solids present at the
particular layer. Here vs1, vs2 , vs3 are the settling velocities at layer 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The TSS0 , TSS1 , TSS2 , TSS3 are
the total suspended solids present at each layer from bottom to top of the circular and rectangular clarifier.
The one-dimensional (vertical or height-wise) model equations of clarification process of industrial scale circular
clarifier earlier published by these authors (Patel et al., 2020) are taken as the basis for the one-dimensional (vertical
or height-wise) model equations of the lab-scale circular and rectangular clarifiers given by Eqs. (1) to (4). The total
suspended solids present at each layer from bottom to top denoted as Tss0 , Tss1 , Tss2 and Tss3 . The cross-sectional area
of the clarifier and depth of each layer are represented by A, ∆z respectively.
dTss0 Tssin Qf
∆z = − (v + w) Tss0 + v s1 Tss1 (1)
dt A
dTss1
∆z = wTss0 − (w + v s1 ) Tss1 + v s2 Tss2 (2)
dt
dTss2
∆z = wTss1 − (w + v s2 ) Tss2 + v s3 Tss3 (3)
dt
Tss3
∆z = wTss2 − (w + v s3 )Tss3 (4)
dt
The model parameters determined using experimental results for circular and rectangular clarifiers are listed in Table 2(a)
and (b), respectively. The simulation of model equations was implemented in MATLAB 2019b software using s-function
tool. The course of experiments were 60 to 600 min. The values of initial conditions were taken based on the solution of
initial steady-state operating condition through iterations carried out to fit and validate the model with experimental
values. The initial conditions for each layer of circular clarifier for low, medium and high solids concentration were
considered as [0.52, 0.47, 0.25, 0.08], [0.92, 0.69, 0.35, 0.11] and [1.17, 0.82, 0.41, 0.13] mg/L respectively. The initial
conditions for each layer of rectangular for low, medium and high solid concentration were considered as [0.4, 0.3, 0.1,
0.06], [0.84, 0.62, 0.33, 0.10] and [1.03, 0.75, 0.39, 0.13] mg/L respectively.
The simulation using above model parameters was carried out using MATLAB in order to generate TSS profile for
circular and rectangular clarifiers for different solid concentrations. Fig. 5(a), (b) and (c) represents the experimental
and simulated total suspended solids profiles for circular clarifier. The time duration for experiments and simulation
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

Table 3
%error of simulated vs experimental results for circular and rectangular clarifiers.
(a) %error for circular clarifier
Time (min) %error for low influent TSS %error for medium influent TSS %error for high influent TSS
TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3 TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3 TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3
60 −8.36 −18.64 4.15 −16.08 −14.24 7.04 −14.68 −15.25 4.18 10.13 19.10 20.78
120 13.79 −17.30 18.81 −19.85 −7.79 −13.33 −20.02 −11.99 10.21 19.49 18.75 −5.01
180 4.20 6.47 −11.82 −8.90 −11.10 14.99 −17.34 13.58 −8.47 −5.97 3.15 4.64
240 −5.85 −0.57 12.39 6.55 0.98 2.60 10.84 9.40 −8.24 2.56 −8.24 1.32
300 8.61 5.66 5.78 0.47 3.32 −7.24 7.92 4.38 5.83 5.52 −14.50 15.12
360 6.01 −2.66 5.39 −7.37 −3.70 2.97 4.21 4.09 8.66 −1.61 −5.13 −11.90
420 −0.01 −6.52 0.77 −9.71 5.57 5.95 4.29 6.15 −3.60 −4.43 6.57 2.92
480 5.39 2.86 6.03 −13.45 2.92 5.62 8.37 6.25 −5.00 0.92 8.43 −8.84
540 6.68 6.15 6.98 8.72 0.81 0.43 2.99 0.59 −0.81 3.60 1.79 15.47
600 5.34 4.73 9.74 2.51 2.74 8.18 10.27 10.14 6.00 −1.28 6.07 13.65
(b) %error for rectangular clarifier
Time (min) %error for low influent TSS %error for medium influent TSS %error for high influent TSS
TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3 TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3 TSS0 TSS1 TSS2 TSS3
60 −13.6 3.48 12.24 −3.07 −13.40 2.96 −15.58 −15.83 −19.41 −14.31 4.41 2.83
120 1.07 9.31 9.10 8.27 −20.10 −6.72 −19.34 −12.72 −18.06 −19.68 −9.37 14.59
180 −8.04 5.21 6.00 1.80 9.69 −1.59 −15.74 6.08 −16.24 12.35 7.78 12.56
240 −7.39 8.57 4.55 −0.69 8.61 −16.59 8.46 6.78 −3.54 3.59 6.62 −2.78
300 2.68 5.60 7.21 0.84 6.32 5.87 −2.07 8.43 4.40 0.76 5.42 −10.89
360 −2.61 −1.18 1.12 4.06 −0.91 7.46 −6.80 −0.88 6.41 −6.18 −2.12 6.43
420 5.83 1.61 −0.57 5.36 −5.65 −0.19 6.90 5.15 −1.42 2.53 −12.06 4.97
480 5.78 4.59 2.60 4.31 1.42 4.09 2.68 4.53 0.69 4.60 −11.38 0.54
540 1.64 5.67 3.67 3.34 2.35 3.58 1.68 −1.25 −2.32 5.48 5.08 −3.82
600 1.29 7.62 2.15 2.19 0.51 3.34 4.87 10.74 −4.22 4.29 5.20 −6.69

was considered as 600 min and 1500 min respectively. Residence time of the process was kept as 180 min. Total
suspended solids present at 180 min, at top layer for low, medium and high solid concentration are 0.239, 0.293 and
0.362 g/L respectively. The average R2 was 0.97 for circular clarifier across the depth of clarifier and varying influent solid
concentration.
The experimental and simulated total suspended solids profile for rectangular is shown in Fig. 6(a), (b) and (c). The
duration for experimental and simulation was considered as 600 min and 1500 min respectively with residence time of the
process as 180 min. Total suspended solids present at 180 min, at top layer for low, medium and high solid concentration
are 0.254, 0.328 and 0.393 g/L respectively. The average R2 was 0.96 for rectangular clarifier across the depth of clarifier
and varying influent solid concentration.

5. Results and discussion

In order to predict the effluent TSS concentration using developed one-dimensional model, 10% change in influent solid
concentration was applied for low, medium and high solid concentration operating conditions. The simulation results for
applied change in case of circular clarifier is shown in Fig. 7(a, b, c). The results reveal that for low, medium and high
influent solid concentration the TSS present in top layer increased from 6%–10%. The same trend was observed for the
rectangular clarifier.
As per the simulation and experimental results it was observed that in both the clarifiers, TSS solid concentration
increases in each layer with time till steady state is achieved. However due to sedimentation phenomena at steady
state there is significant difference in TSS concentration between top and bottom layer. Both clarifiers have the same
design except the shape of sedimentation area of the tanks. It was observed that even if the cross sectional area of the
rectangular tank is more (795 cm2 ) as compared to circular tank (706.5 cm2 ) the solid removal is better in circular clarifier
than rectangular clarifier may be due to sharp edges and flow patterns. For a given influent flow rate and influent TSS
concentration, the model can generate TSS profile along the height of the clarifiers and as the residence time taken as
180 min, the TSS3 value at 180 min in simulation give the information about the effluent TSS.
The percentage errors calculated as (((Measured TSS-Predicted TSS)/Measured TSS)*100) for circular and rectangular
clarifiers are listed in Table 3. The magnitude of %error was higher till 240 min of the operation subsequently it decreased.
This is due to large movement of the suspended solids in the beginning of the clarifier operation. The one dimensional
model simulation study with distributed source was reported in which feed zone was divided in multiple layers and
simulation study was carried out for solid concentration profile as a function of number of layers in feed zone considered
(Nocon, 2006). The circular clarifier considered here is the lab-scale prototype of industrial clarifier reported by us (Patel
et al., 2020). As per the simulation results the total suspended solids present at top layer of the circular clarifier for low,
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N. Patel, J. Ruparelia and J. Barve Environmental Technology & Innovation 23 (2021) 101610

medium and high solid concentration at 1000 min are 0.678, 0.808 and 1.06 g/L whereas for rectangular clarifier are
0.733, 0.941 and 1.131 g/L. From the results it can be revealed that the performance of circular clarifier is better than the
rectangular clarifier.

6. Conclusions

The discrete one dimensional models of rectangular and circular clarifier along with simulation study are presented
for the removal of total suspended solids from wastewater. The simulated and experimental results exhibited average R2
values 0.97 and 0.96 for circular and rectangular clarifiers respectively across the depth of clarifier and varying influent
solid concentration. The experimental and simulation results exhibit that the total suspended solids present at top layer
of circular clarifier is less compared to total suspended solids present at top layer of rectangular clarifier for varying solid
concentration at a given flow rate. The circular clarifier performs better than the rectangular clarifier over the range of
300–600 mg/L of influent total suspended solids.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Nital Patel: Data acquisition, Interpretation, Modeling, Simulation, Validation. Jayesh Ruparelia: Conceptualization,
Visualization, Supervision. Jayesh Barve: Conceptualization, Visualization, Supervision.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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