Technical Report 2000-005

Feedforward control of the external carbon flow rate in an activated sludge process

Pär Samuelsson and Bengt Carlsson

March 2000

Abstract:
Biological nitrogen removal in an activated sludge process is obtained by two biological processes; nitrification and denitrification. Denitrifying bacterias 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 feedforward control combined with a standard feedback PI controller is suggested. The feedforward part is based on a steady state analysis of a simplified ASM1 model. Simulation results show that the suggested controller, despite simple, effectively attenuate process disturbances.

Note: A short version will appear at the 1st World Congress of the IWA, Paris 3-7 July 2000

Available as Postscript (548 kB), compressed Postscript (180 kB), and compressed Postscript (125 kB, no cover)

Download BibTeX entry.