title: Energy saving in a wastewater treatment process: an application of fuzzy logic control.
abstract: Many uncertain factors affect the operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants. Due to the complexity of biological wastewater treatment processes, classical methods show significant difficulties when trying to control them automatically. Consequently soft computing techniques and, specifically, fuzzy logic appears to be a good candidate for controlling these ill-defined, time-varying and non-linear systems. This paper describes the development and implementation of a Fuzzy Logic Controller to regulate the aeration in the Taradell Wastewater Treatment Plant. The main goal of this control process is to save energy without decreasing the quality of the effluent discharged. The fuzzy controller integrates the information coming from two different signals: the Dissolved Oxygen and Oxidation-Reduction Potential values. The simulation results proved that fuzzy logic is a good tool for controlling the aeration of the wastewater treatment plant. The results obtained show that energy savings of more than 10% can be achieved using aeration fuzzy control and at the same time still keeping the good removal levels.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Girona. Campus Montilivi s/n, E-17071 Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiter
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Güell
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Comas
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Colprim
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poch
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Rodal
mesh_terms: D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000379:methods*; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*