Control of an activated sludge wastewater treatment process based on a Calibrated and modified BSM1 Model

Abstract

This paper presents process modeling and dissolved oxygen concentration control loop design for an intermittently operated municipal wastewater treatment plant with the goal to reduce the operational costs and further improve effluent quality. A modified Benchmark Simulation Model No.1 (BSM1) developed according to a medium municipal wastewater treatment plant of 4500 m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> /day capacity was used as a working scenario. The model was calibrated and validated based on data collected from the real plant. Calibration was performed by varying the kinetic parameters of the model to match the simulation results to experimental data. The model validation was achieved by using several common performance indexes described in the literature. A dissolved oxygen concentration control strategy was designed and tested on the calibrated model. The results indicate a considerable energy saving compared to the initial plant control system.