Optimizing the biodegradation process in wastewater treatment plants is considered a crucial factor in enhancing the performance of biological treatment. This research focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of breaking down organic contaminants by harnessing the power of microorganisms. Analysis of the reduction of the organic load in wastewater is a complex process. Therefore, Genetic algorithms were utilized as a robust methodology to serve as an analysis tool for the mechanism of the biological treatment. In this study, a genetic algorithm (GA) has been used to obtain a solution that provides an optimal design of the anoxic/oxic units in the treatment units, where the total cost, including capital, maintenance, and operational costs, is minimized. A wastewater treatment plant in the Karbala government has been selected as the case study for this research. The GA results indicated that the optimal values for detention time in anoxic units are between 3 and 4 hours, for oxic units between 8 and 12 hours, for return activated sludge (RAS) between 0.8 and 1.5 hours, and for solids retention time (SRT) are 13 days. The diameter of the clarifier is between 90, 50, and 15 m for maximum, average, and minimum flow rates, respectively. By utilizing genetic algorithms as an analytical tool, this research project may have an impact on the operating parameters of wastewater treatment plants for biological treatment. Consequently, it provides an approach to promote the efficiency of biological treatment in wastewater treatment plants in real-world scenarios.
Al-Sulaiman et al. (2025) studied this question.