E3S Web of Conferences 150, 0 20 05 (20 20) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/20201500 20 0 5
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The performance assessment of Khouribga waste water

treatment plant: diagnostics, gaps and operating guide
Ghalia RAJHY*, Driss KHOMSI1
1
Mohammadia School of Engineering, University Mohammed V, BP 765, Rabat, Morocco
Abstract. This article presents an evaluation’s results about performances of Khouribga’s Wastewater
Treatment plant. In general, the purpose of proposed model for the performances evaluation being is to check
the quality and quantity of the system goals compared to the design data and the legislation. The quality goals
being not verified in our case, the plant operation’s diagnosis is deployed to detect the different meanings
impacts caused by some points of controls and to raise the causes of these anomalies. Through a feedback
experience, some corrective and preventive actions will be proposed to treat the dysfunction. A follow up of
the evolution of the performance is proved to be necessary and adds up as an experience feedback in a
Moroccan context.
The methodology suggested to evaluate the
1 Introduction performance of a wastewater plant is presented in figure
In Morocco, the volume of rejected waste water was 1 and enlisted below.
estimated at 750 Mm3/year in 2015[1]. In contrary of the
developed countries, more than 50% of these rejects are The case study worked on this project for the application
released in the nature [1] causing then nuisances in the of that methodology is the wastewater treatment plant
environmental, sanitary and esthetical order. Morocco Khouribga (WWTPK).
faces now 2 challenges : in one hand limiting the direct
WWTPK is an existent plant renovated to treat urban
rejects of waste water in the receiving places by ensuring
wastewater with the activated sludge system for average
their treatment and their sanitation, and in a second hand
load with two parallel liquid lines; Each line consists of a
looking for a way to value this water to profit from it
pre-treatment (screens , grit and grease chamber ), a
specially as an hydric resource. The WWTPs represent
secondary treatment of activated sludge system and
an important field as for the valorisation of the material (
tertiary treatment using mechanical treatment and
reuse the treated water, the sludge production ) and
followed by microfiltration and disinfection using the
energetic ( the heat production, electricity), otherwise,
NaClO .
only 20% of the waster water is reused. The actual
inventory realized of the existing treatment plant in The sludge treatment consists of thickening, digestion
Morocco, shows at what point these unities, especially and sludge drying. The present system products biogaz
the ones handled by the cities, know some difficulties to by anaerobic digestion of the sludge and is used to
accomplish their work and are sometimes abandoned for generate electrical energy and heat. A co-generator and
many reasons. It it necessary to reassess the performance heater are installed in the present plant.
of the current stations and start using this model as a
better conception. The performance analysis of the The plant was constructed in 2013 with a design capacity
plant's choice was Khouribga's WWTP. It is consisting up to 15 700 m3/d in 2020 (average load ) . The effluent
of biological treatment with activated sludge system and at the end of the WWTP disposal standards fixed by the
includes the tertiary treatment in order to reuse the exploitant are 10 mg/L as target of the concentration of
treated waste water for the phosphate wash. A qualitative total suspended solids; 10 mg/L for biological oxygen
performance analysis leaded us to diagnose these plant Demand (BOD5); 50 mg/L for chemical oxygen
and raise the differences compared to the demand (DOC) and 1000 units / 100 mL as limit of the
requirements,the international standards and the one faecal coliforms.
defined in the litterature. Subsequently, functional
solutions are proposed for energy, environmental and The wastewater treated is reused for cleaning the crude
financial optimization of operations. Since publications phosphate in a production plant. That explains why the
of case studies in Morocco are rare, this study will qualitative standards are higher than the ones fixed by
contribute to adding documentation in a Moroccan the Moroccan legislation and destined to be rejected in
context. the river.
Fig. 1.Description of the methodology defined for the
2 METHODOLOGY: performance evaluation of a wastewater treatment plant

*
Rajhy Ghalia: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 150, 0 20 05 (20 20) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20201500 20 0 5
EDE7-2019

objectives and to note if the station is not overloaded

before the horizon defined.
This is followed by the verification of the non-
compliance of the discharges in the environment with
respect to the thresholds set in Annex II of the amended
European Ministerial Decree of 31/01/2008.
Finally, the compliance of the sludge and gas sector
verified by the dryness of sludge eligible for the landfill
and CO2 emissions through the combustion of biogas in
the flare.

2.3 Sizing control and verification

In Figure 1, the analysis also consists of checking the
sizing of the various structures of the plant against the
rules of good practice suggested in the different French
2.1 Field Measurements and Anglo-Saxon literatures. This verification is
necessary throughout the process and makes it possible
As a first step towards performance assessment of to highlight the criteria that do not meet the prediction
Khouribga case study, the field measurements from during the design.
March 2015 to March 2016 were gathered to conduct the
quality and quantity data about the influent and effluent Table 2 summarizes the parameters aimed to be verified,
of WWTP. Samples were collected according to the their respective equations as well as the typical value
methodology described in the exploitation guide and ranges for each system unit or process.
analysed in the laboratory.
This inspection shall include an assessment of the
The parameters aimed are the BOD5, DOC and TTS. The WWTP sizing. The evaluation will be applied on the
quality of the water is measured at two states : at the the actual dimensions and loads of different systems of the
second and the tertiary treatment. These particular datas plant. Then the results will be compared with the
are the base to evaluate the qualitative objectives of the conception requirements and criterias defined in table 2.
WWTP fixed by the organism in the design and defined
in table 1. 2.3 Questionnaire

Table 1. Quality objectives defined in the specifications The questionnaire is designed to complete the diagnosis
with an expert operator's view of the operation and daily
Quality hazards that are in situ. As a complement to fieldwork
BOD5 DOC TTS
objectives experience, it is a complement to the theoretical analysis
Primary of design verification.
Not defined Not defined Not defined
treatment
The questionnaire is divided in 3 parts :
Secondary
25 mg/L 30 mg/L 120 mg/L
treatment 1. Questions about the fonctional abnormalities
Tertiary that exists : (i) installations’s changes and
10 mg/L 10 mg/L 50 mg/L failures (ii) smell’s problem and leaks (iii) non-
treatment
operational files;
This step consists in the analysis of the statistics of the
BOD5, DOC and TTS measurements at the entry of the 2. Questions about the exploitation (i) pumping
WWTPs, after the biological treatment and at the end of system’s existence (ii) ) the solid and liquid
the tertiary treatment from March 2015 to March 2016. output elements’s destination of each structure
(iii) The sampling method adopted and
It is also a question of measuring the number and measurements’s periodicity;
occurrence of detected discrepancies and verifying their
admissibility according to European legislation. 3. The adopted performance criteria (
internationals and initiative standars of the
2.3 Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the organism).
WWTP K
The first step in the logigram consists of recording the The questionnaire was communicated in situ during the
differences in compliance of the different control points WWTP PLANT visits.
defined during this evaluation process (3). These system
performance indicators are first of all the non- The results and debates are presented in the following
conformances of the average data compared to the section where the results of the methodology defined
Design data, in order to check the achievement of quality above will be listed.

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Table 2. Design criterias Table 3. Analysis of the conformities of the treatment units.

Treatment Verification Typical value Average Ratio of

unit criteria ranges Design loads Exceedances
WWTP
Screening Head loss 76 à 152 mm [2] Data fixed during the compared to
Khouribga
Grit and Flow velocity 5 à 15 m/h for 2020 study design data
grease period of 2020 (%)
Removal Hydraulic retention 15 à 20 min Plant entrance
time (HRT) Flow rate
55200 13362 0
Primary HRT 90 à 150 min [2] (m3/d)
sedimentation BOD5 (kg/d) 6900 4905 11,4
Overflow rate 30 à 50 m3/m2/d COD (kg/d) 13800 8164 3,6
TSS (kg/d) 8300 3367 1,4
Weir loading 125 à 190 m3/m/d Exit of the aerobic reactor ( Activated sludge system)
BOD5(mg/L) 25 19 17,1
Secondary Organic load 0,25 à 0,5 kg BOD5 COD (mg/L) 120 78 0,9
treatment – /kg SSLM/j TSS (mg/L) 30 21 6,8
Activated Exit of the plant (Treated water)
Sludge for Volumetric loading 0,8 à 1 kg DBO5 BOD5(mg/L) 10 19 84,4
average load /m3/j COD (mg/L) 50 77 99,1
Hydraulic retention 4 à 10 h TSS (mg/L) 10 20 96,7
time
3 à 7j
Solid retention time Our analysis of nonconformities will be done on rates, in
order to facilitate the future evaluation of the
Mass of cells 3 to 4 g/L performances between different plants.
(biomass )
11,4% of the organic matter samples recorded at the
Efficiency 80 to 90 percent entrance of the WWTP exceeds the nominal capacities
Clarifier HRT 1.5 à 3 h planned for 2020. This overload also affects the quality
objectives of the biological treatment where 17% of the
Overflow rate 16 to 28 m3/(m².d)
samples do not respect the quality objectives in BOD.
[2] Tertiary treatment is considered ineffective where the
reduction of pollution has not reached its objective. Low
Thickening Retention time 1à3d efficiency is then reported.
The pollution at the exit of the station does not respect
Solids loading 30 à 60kg MS/m²/d the objectives of Design but respects globally the
thresholds fixed by the Moroccan legislation which is a
Digestion Solid Retention 10 à 14 d maximal rejection of BOD5 and TSS of 30 mg / L.
Time (SRT)
3 à 4 kg MV/m3/d
Charge volumique For the legislative approach, a maximum number of non-
compliant samples are set in Table 8 of Annex 3 of the «
Arrêté du 21 juillet 2015 relatif aux systèmes
d'assainissement collectif et aux installations
d'assainissement non collectif, à l'exception des
installations d'assainissement non collectif recevant une
3 Results and discussions
charge brute de pollution organique inférieure ou égale à
1,2 kg/j de DBO5 » and are respectivly 11,4 , 7,3 and
3.1. Qualitative and quantitative performance 7,2% [3] for BOD , COD and TSS. These tresholds are
evaluation of the WWTP Khouribga compared to the values of the samples at the exit of the
biological treatment. The measurement of BOD of 17%
The current plant was sized for the 2020 horizon. The of the samples is overall the threshold defined by the
qualitative and quantitative analysis was carried out from organism. A anomaly of the BOD removal is detected
daily sampling, at 3 different points ; the first one is the and is due to the important organic load in the waste
entrance of the plant, second is the exit of the clarifier water compared to what was predicted in the
and third in the tertiary treatment. These different specifications.
sampling are measured in the laboratory to extract the
required qualitative values. The comparison of these
measured values with Design nominal values is detailed Following the quantitative analysis of the discharges to
in Table 3 with the calculation of the occurrence of the the receiving environment, the plant recorded during the
exceedance. measurement period a quantity of discharge of 100 621,6
kg of biodegradable pollutant load that exceeds the
release threshold of 43 000 kg year [4]. These discharges
were done in order to lower the organic load. The

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efficiency of the biological reactor for average low is For an overall evaluation of the plant, we summarize the
defined, The reduction of loads at the entrance will results of the indicators obtained to evaluate the different
improve the quality of water at the exit of the activated control points. Table 4 includes the results of the
sludge system. diagnosis.

Table 4. Summary of the Degree of Evaluation of the

The quality of the sludge at the outlet must have a Performance Criteria
dryness greater than 20% fixed by the project. However,
75% of the measurements at the outlet of the band filter Degree of
are non-compliant. Performance Criteria
Evaluation
Qualitative and quantitative analysis results
The valorization of biogas is non-consistant: 2.8 GWh
are lost in 2015. This generated an energy over-invoicing Quality of treated TSS Acceptable
of 1.62 Mdhs for electricity consumption and an water ( outlet of the BOD5 Acceptable
emission of 620,000 tonnes of CO2 due to the plant ) COD Acceptable
combustion of non-upgraded biogas.
Electricity Not acceptable
Energy consumption
3.2. Diagnosis of the treatment system Fuel Acceptable
Atmospheric carbon
Not acceptable
3.2.1 Sizing verification emissions dioxide

Verification of sizing is a step in defining the assessment TSS Acceptable

results causes. These results are statistically expressed to
facilitate analysis and comparison. For the WWTPK, 5 Water discharges
BOD5 Not acceptable
design criteria are checked among 22, or 22% of the
criteria are verified. COD Acceptable
Project and exploitation evaluation
3.2.2 The questionnaire results
Verification of the sizing Not verified
Through the questionnaire, several points and
modifications of the configuration were noted. First, the Site statement Not acceptable
operator ordered the installation of a rotating drum
downstream of the thickener since the concentration of
the sludge at the outlet is 40g / L while it is
recommended a concentration of 45g / L at the inlet of 3.3. Identification of causes and proposal of
the digester. To solve the problem of exceeding the corrective and preventive solutions
quality objectives in reducing the pollutant load at the
After analysis and diagnosis, the various problems with
outlet of the BA system, the 2nd aeration tank has been
significant impacts related to the station are first The
transformed into a "stabilization contact" system.
operation and arrangement of the lines of the plant;
As functional anomalies detected, the presence of stable
Presence of floats, weak dryness of sludge; Stable
foams on the surface of the aeration reactors reflects a
foams; direct discharge of raw water and treated water in
phenomenon of scepticism. Also, the clarifier has a
the receiving environment.
problem with floating algae, grease and dead mud.
These phenomena are at the origin of the disruption of
The breakdowns detected during our site visit are :
the station's operation and performance. The challenge
- The biological basin aerator 2 for stabilization
now is to propose appropriate corrective or preventive
and its dissolved oxygen sensor; to remedy to
solutions.
this situation of lacking of the oxygen contents
of the liquor in this basin, the operator uses the
aeration command similar to Pond N°; 3.3.1 Layout of station queues
- A shutdown of the boiler in March 2016
resulted in unstabilized sludge and low biogas In the previous diagnosis, the design criteria for
production. An expenditure of 170 000.00 DHs biological treatment are not verified because of the very
was charged for heating the digester. large volume of biological basins but also because of
- The co-generator. insufficient control and adaptation of recirculation at the
inlet.
For input data for 2020, only one water line of the
With regard to the exploitation, there is no analysis of activated sludge treatment must be operating. This
ammoniacal nitrogen and pH of the sludge of the configuration validates the design criteria.
digester. By 2030, the 2nd row will have to be commissioned,
adjusting the TRS to lower temperatures.

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By setting a biomass of 3g SSLM/L at 12°C, the design to detect the different points that are related to design
criteria are verified. anomalies, both functional and qualitative.
For a lower biomass, our sludge recycling rate will be The Khouribga Wastewater Treatment Plant was a
lower, at 70% instead of 90% by 2030. valuable model because it is a mature plant whose
As these scenarios are proposed, they must be checked sampling data has allowed us to have reliable results.
and controlled. Brdjanovic used an application At present, the various treatment processes are not used
combining the Activated Sludge Model N°3 (Gujer et al. properly; several losses in materials (discharges of
1999) and the Anaerobic Digestion Model N°1 (Bastone treated water), energy (the absence of cogeneration) and
et al. 2002) to optimize the performance of a wastewater financial (energy bill) are highlighted.
treatment plant in India[5]. This application allowed him The organization responsible for the station must think
to predict the different scenarios and configurations about further control by using mathematical modelling
necessary to maintain the quality of the treatment. software to predict the station's operation and optimize
treatment for better efficiency. For that, the Activated
sludge model N°1 ( ASM1) is the most accurate for this
3.3.2 Floats
situation : Constant temperature and pH ; moreover the
This floating problem is due to incomplete non-appliance of the azote and phosphorus removal [9].
denitrification and sludge fermentation as mentioned Followed by the calibration step using the protocol
above. suggested by Vanrolleghem PA et al. In 2003 [10]. This
To avoid the floaters associated with wild denitrification, processus in modelling will help the user to have a good
it is necessary to modify the residence time of the sludge description of the Carbone removal, to prevent the
in the clarifier. This time should be less than 2 hours abnormality behaviours of the WWTP and optimize
according to the recommendation of the FNDAE[6] [7] . scenarios in a later phase[11] .
This will also allow us to limit sludge fermentation while
regulating the oxygen requirement. In the case of wild
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3.3.4 Stable foams
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