title: Nitrate estimation in the denitrifying post-filtration unit of a municipal wastewater treatment plant: the Viikinmäki case.
abstract: In this work we present and discuss the design of an array of soft-sensors to estimate the nitrate concentration in the denitrifying post-filtration unit at the Viikinmäki wastewater treatment plant in Helsinki (Finland). The developed sensors aim at supporting the existing hardware analyzers by providing a reliable back-up system in case of malfunction of the instruments. In the attempt to design easy to implement and interpretable sensors, computationally light linear models have been considered. However, due to the intrinsic nonlinearity of the process, also nonlinear but still computationally affordable models have been considered for comparison. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of the developed soft-sensors and the possibility for an on-line implementation in the plant's control system as alternative monitoring devices.
authors.affiliation: Aalto University, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto, Finland. michela.mulas@aalto.fi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mulas
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haimi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sundell
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heinonen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vahala
mesh_terms: D058440:Denitrification; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005387:Finland; D009566:Nitrates / Q000032:analysis*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018508:Water Purification; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates