title: Feed-forward control of the external carbon flow rate in an activated sludge process.
abstract: Biological nitrogen removal in an activated sludge process is obtained by two biological processes: nitrification and denitrification. Denitrifying bacteria need sufficient amounts of readily metabolized carbon. The objective of this paper is to develop an automatic control strategy for adjusting the external carbon flow rate so that the nitrate concentration in the last anoxic compartment is kept at a low pre-specified level. A simple model based feed-forward control combined with a standard feedback PI controller is suggested. Simulation results show that the suggested controller, despite being simple, effectively attenuates process disturbances.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems and Control, Uppsala University, P O Box 27, SE-751 03, Uppsala, Sweden. psa@syscon.uu.se, bc@syscon.uu.se
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Samuelsson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carlsson
mesh_terms: D001331:Automation; D001419:Bacteria; D002138:Calibration; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D012722:Sewage; D002244:Carbon; D009584:Nitrogen