Instrumentation, Monitoring, Control and Automation in

Water and Wastewater Operation

Gustaf Olsson
Lund University, Sweden
Gustaf.olsson@iea.lth.se


Abstract
Instrumentation, control and automation (ICA) are essential in all water and wastewater operations.
While wastewater treatment plants have been upgraded from relatively simple mechanical/biological
plants for organic removal the plants of today are increasingly complex and include not only
biological nutrient removal but also the interaction at both a plant wide level and with the sewer
systems. This has motivated an increasing interest in the use of ICA as part of the operation of
treatment systems. Various case studies have shown significant savings in operating costs and
remarkably short payback times.

The introduction of ICA can increase the capacity of biological nutrient removing (BNR) wastewater
treatment plants. These possibilities can be further exploited by intelligent use of measurements and
information technology. ICA has the potential to reduce operating costs such as electrical energy,
chemicals, sludge disposal, and in some countries green taxes and to keep the effluent quality
consistently acceptable, despite load variability and plant disturbances. ICA can also make the plant meet
increasing load demands. For apparent reasons ICA has to be integrated already in the plant design
process.

This chapter gives a brief overview of successful applications of ICA and of further extensions of the use
of advanced control and automation.

Keywords: instrumentation, control, automation, wastewater treatment, monitoring
1 Definition of the subject

Instrumentation, control and automation (ICA) are now essential in all water and wastewater
operations. While wastewater treatment plants have been upgraded from relatively simple
mechanical/biological plants for organic removal the plants of today are increasingly complex and
include not only biological nutrient removal but also the requirement to interact on both a plant wide
level and with the sewer systems.

The ideal ICA system contains four functional components:

- A quality team of people who feel a deep sense of ownership of the system and the treatment
plant and who are committed to the continuous improvement ethics;
- An instrumentation system to gather adequate process variable information;
- A monitoring system to acquire data, process and display the data, detect and isolate abnormal
situations, assist in diagnosis and advice, and finally simulate the consequences of operational
adjustments. A proper data acquisition and reporting is crucial;
- A control system to meet the goals of the operation. This can take place both locally within the
treatment process by low level control system or by co-ordination of the various processes
within the plant as well as with the sewer system.

Automation in wastewater treatment systems have to include several disciplines:
- Process engineering: the focus of the ICA efforts always has to be the process. Therefore
process knowledge, including the equipment to operate the process, is essential for a
successful control. Dynamic modelling and simulation is used as an important tool;
- Instrumentation technology: measurements of the states and parameters of the process requires
instrumentation knowledge;
- Signal processing: handling the measurement data has the purpose to remove inadequate data
and extract essential information from the sensors and instruments;
- Monitoring: based on the measurement information a monitoring and detection function has to
help to make the operation reliable;
- Operator guidance: based on measurements and monitoring the computer system should
support the operator to make the adequate decisions;
- Automatic control: the controller makes the decision how to change the control variables
(liquid and air flow rates, dosages, reaction times, etc.);
- Actuator technology: the design and operation of pumps, compressors and valves.
- Production planning: this includes planning how to operate the plant to prepare for future
disturbances and external changes. This can include planning for a coming rain event, extreme
loads (like a tourist season) or temperature due to seasonal variations.

The concept of control is further described in the introductory Section 2. There are several incentives
for control of wastewater treatment systems, and they are illustrated in Section 3. Disturbances to the
plant motivate feedback control and this requires that the goal for the control is clearly defined.
Section 4 presents the basic ideas of control concepts and some of the basic control actions that have
to take place to just keep the plant running. In Section 5 some specific control systems are described
for the biological oxidation processes, where dissolved oxygen control is a key operation. Section 6
describes how control can make the reduction process denitrification more efficient and economical.
Monitoring is to keep track of the current process operational state via the instrumentation. This is
further described in Section 7. In order to satisfy increasing demands on effluent quality and
ecological standards it is needed to apply an integrated view of the whole plant operation and its
connection upstream to the sewer network and downstream to the receiving water. These aspects are
discussed in Section 8. In Section 9, finally, some future perspective is discussed.
2 Introduction

Advanced control is getting increasingly demanded in water and wastewater treatment systems and
has been subject to a lot of applications in other parts of the process industry. Various case studies
have shown significant savings in operating costs and remarkably short payback times. Process control
in wastewater treatment systems is today well recognized as an integrated part of the plant operation.
Still, however, the industry has a lot to learn from other process industries, like the chemical or paper-
pulp process industries. It is the process knowledge, the sensor technology and the way the plants have
been designed and built that may limit what can be achieved today. Wastewater processes do have
some unique features: the flow rates, the disturbances, the small concentrations, the organisms, the
separation, and the fact that all the raw material has to be accepted and treated.

During many years the incentives to apply automatic control were missing. Operators and
organizations did not have the incentives to develop operation based on instrumentation, control and
automation (ICA). Economic incentives are of course essential and today many organizations have
created such economic driving forces that have accelerated the application of ICA.

There are several technical driving forces that have contributed to make ICA being applied much
more:
- Instrumentation development: today online instrumentation for some key components are
available and getting both reliable and profitable to use. This includes sensors for ammonia,
nitrite/nitrate and phosphate;
- Actuators: variable speed technology is well proven for electrical motors. This means that
both pumps and compressors can be operated flexibly, which will have a significant impact on
the quality of the operations;
- Computer systems: distributed computer systems, including PLCs (programmable logical
controllers) are available in modules and can be adjusted to the size of the plant;
- Automatic control: the control technology and engineering is sufficient for most needs and is
often packaged in the real time computer systems;
- Process knowledge: this has increased tremendously over the last decades. Dynamic models of
the treatment systems are available in commercial simulators and this can be of help not only
for the design but also for operator guidance;
- Education: the level of education of operators is often high and increasing. However,
unfortunately the education of process designers most often does not include anything about
dynamics and control. This was recognized already in 1974 at a conference at Clemson
University, South Carolina, USA. Professor John Andrews recognized the need for education
at all levels and he noted: A course in Process Dynamics and Control is commonly found in
most chemical engineering curricula. We would be well advised to include a course in
Dynamics and Control of Wastewater Treatment Systems in environmental engineering
curricula. Today there are such courses at a few universities, and it has taken a long time to
make this vision come true.

Demands from the regulatory agencies are also important driving forces and give incentives for
control. Demands on organic matter content, nitrogen and phosphorous components in the effluent
require good operation consistently, around the clock. The only reasonable solution to this challenge is
online measurements and automatic control.

Economic incentives are today much more apparent, and the requirement for economic operation are
expressed clearly at many plants.

It is generally acknowledged that the introduction of ICA during the last decades has increased the
capacity of biological nutrient removal (BNR) wastewater treatment plants by 10 to 30%. If these
possibilities are further exploited by intelligent use of measurements and information technology the
improvements due to ICA will have a significant impact during the next decade. It has the potential to
reduce operating costs such as electrical energy, chemicals, sludge disposal, and in some countries
green taxes and to keep the effluent quality consistently acceptable, despite load variability and plant
disturbances. Furthermore, ICA can make the plant meet increasing load demands. For apparent reasons
ICA has to be integrated already in the plant design process.

As the complexity of the plants and processes has grown the electrical and real time computer systems
have developed even faster. It is expected that ICA will have an even larger impact on both the
performance and economy of wastewater treatment systems in the coming decade.

More detailed descriptions of the state of the art of ICA in wastewater treatment systems are given in
the books [1] - [3].

3 Incentives for control

Control is about how to operate the plant or process towards a defined goal, despite disturbances.
Disturbances

Disturbances are the main reason why we need control. They are present all the time and will affect
the process, so they can not be neglected. The load varies every minute, hour, day and month with
respect to its flow rate, its concentrations and its composition. Under all these varying load conditions
the plant has to operate in such a way that it satisfies the effluent requirements. A wastewater
treatment process is quite unique in the process industry. The raw material cannot be controlled and
simply has to be accepted. Despite this lack of quality control of the input the product, the effluent
water, has to satisfy a sufficiently good standard all around the clock.

Disturbances related to the influent can be described as in Figure 1, which represents a municipal
treatment plant in a suburb with no industrial plant connected to the wastewater treatment plant.
Diurnal variations are apparent and the flow rate varies at least a factor of ten. The concentration
variations are almost in phase with the flow rate variation, so the total load varies significantly. Under
all these conditions, the plant has to be operated satisfactorily. Traditional design usually solves the
variability problem by increasing the tank volumes. In this way the variations are smoothed and the
plant can produce a satisfactory effluent. However, the price of such an overdesign is high. Also, at
low loads the plant may be underloaded and the retention time in the system will simply be too long.



Figure 1. Diurnal variations from Thursday through Sunday in a municipality without any industry.
There is no rain during this period.

Many treatment plants have to receive stormwater from rain. This causes two types of disturbances.
One is of course the higher flow rate, which will decrease the retention time in the process.
Furthermore, it may risk the performance of the settler, which will result in loss of sludge into the
effluent. Thus, the effluent quality will deteriorate while the process will lose sludge containing
microorganisms that serve in the waste removal process. The other rain disturbance is due to the rate
of change of the flow rate. A sudden rate of change will again cause problems in the settler unit. Any
sedimentation has to guarantee a smooth laminar flow, but the sudden flow increase will propagate to
the settler and cause hydraulic upsets and some turbulence. This is of course detrimental for the settler
performance.

In many plants there are unintentional disturbances caused by the equipment. If the plant is supplied
with only on/off control of the influent pumps any pump start will cause a sudden flow increase into
the plant. The result is again an upset of the settler performance. Consequently a good control and
operation of the plant will assume smooth pumping, using variable speed control of the pumps.

A wastewater treatment plant consists of many unit operations that are connected serially or via
recirculations. As a result, a disturbance in one of the units will propagate to some other unit. These
kinds of disturbances are less obvious, but may significantly influence the plant operation. One
example can illustrate this. Reject water (supernatant) from an anaerobic digester is usually
recirculated to the influent of the wastewater treatment plant. The supernatant has often a high
concentration of nitrogen components and will consequently increase the load to the plant quite
significantly. This can be illustrated by Figure 2.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0
20
40
60
80
days
m
g
/
l
/
h
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0
5
10
15
20
25
d
m
3
/
h

Figure 2. The consequence of recirculation of reject water (supernatant) from an anaerobic digester
back to the treatment plant during a 10-day period. The lower curve shows the supernatant flow rate.
The concentration is very high, so the impact on the wastewater treatment is significant. The upper
curve shows the oxygen uptake rate in the aerator, which is a sign of the biological activity as well as
the load (personal communication from M.K. Nielsen, Denmark,).

If the supernatant is recirculated at a high load situation the operation of the biological reactor will
suffer. Therefore it is important not only to control each one of the unit processes but also their
interaction. This recirculation should be activated only at the low load periods.
The control goals

The ultimate goal of the operation of a wastewater treatment plant is to satisfy the effluent criteria.
They can be expressed in terms of organic material content, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and
suspended solids. However, given the many steps of the operations from the influent to the effluent it
is most often almost impossible to base any control action on measurements of the effluent quality.
Instead a number of intermediate goals have to be formulated in order to synthesize some control
action. Examples of such goals are:
- Grow the right biomass population;
- Maintain adequate mixing;
- Keep the level of dissolved oxygen at the right level;
- Maintain an adequate air flow rate while minimizing the pressure;
- Keep the sludge blanket level in the settler between given limits;
- Avoid overload of the clarifier;
- Avoid too long retention time of the sludge in the settler.

Another goal is to minimize the operational costs. Here a control system can make a significant
contribution to savings. The two major energy consumers in wastewater treatment are pumping of the
influent wastewater and aeration. Typically aeration in the biological treatment systems represent over
80% of the energy costs for biological treatment [4]. Depending on the geographical conditions
pumping costs can be quite different in different plants, but pumping together with aeration represent
most of the energy cost.

Aeration can be controlled so that the microorganisms will receive just enough air to function, but not
more. Any excess of air flow will cost money. Likewise the pumps have to be designed in such a way
that they have a maximum efficiency at the most common flow rates. On top of this it is important to
control the flow rates smoothly, so variable speed drives are important for good control.
4 Basic control actions

The fundamental principle of control is feedback, illustrated by Figure 3. The state of the process is
measured by some online sensor (or a human observer). Based on the measurement a decision is made
how to correct the process in order to reach the goal. The decision is made in the controller that will
send a command to some actuator that will make the correction of the process. The reason that
measurements and corrections have to be made all the time is that disturbances will influence the
process behaviour in some way.



Figure 3. Illustration of the feedback principle.

We are faced with feedback systems all the time in our daily life. The human body would not function
without a huge number of feedback loops. For example, to stand up requires feedback. The balance
system in the ears and our vision will measure if the body is straight. The brain calculates how to
change the feet in order to keep the balance and the muscles (the actuators) will make the change
happen.

While driving a car the driver all the time applies feedback. The eyes watch the speedometer and the
road etc. and the brain will compose all that information and make a decision what to do in the next
moment. This is translated to the muscles to turn the steering wheel, to brake or to accelerate. The
reason all the time for the feedback is that the scene is changing continuously. In other words, the
process is subject to disturbances that force us to use feedback.

Open loop control

It is important to understand the difference between feedback control (also called closed loop control)
and open loop control. In open loop control the control action is simply triggered by a timer. No
measurement of the result is made. Some common examples of open loop control are:
- A pump that is switched on certain time intervals and switched off the rest of the time. No
flow rate measurement is made;
- A sequential batch reactor, where the phase length is only determined by a timer. For example,
in nitrogen removal the reactor is aerated a given time and then not aerated in the next time
interval. Again no measurement is made of the ammonium or nitrate concentrations at the end
of each phase. More of this is discussed in Sections 5 and 6;
- A sludge scraper is operated every n
th
minute. The sludge level is not measured, so sometimes
the scraper will remove only small amounts of sludge and at other times too much sludge;
- Two compressors may provide aeration for the biological reactor. One of them may be
switched on during the day and switched off during the night. No confirmation of the resulting
dissolved oxygen concentration is made.

Process
Controller
Actuator
External
disturbances
Measurement
It is obvious, that measurements and feedback control are necessary to truly compensate for variable
loads and other disturbances. Open loop control may seem to have a lower cost, since it does not
require measurements. However, if operating costs are calculated, then the open loop control is mostly
inferior. Furthermore, if the effluent quality is to be maintained, then feedback is superior.

Control of the equipment

The top priority for any operation is to keep the plant running. This means that all the equipment, such
as pumps, valves, motors, compressors, sludge scrapers, etc., simply have to work as intended. Many
of these operations are not directly influencing the effluent quality, but without a proper of the
equipment the effluent quality will suffer sooner or later.

Figure 4 is a control engineering block diagram and illustrates the principle of a simple control loop
for the local controllers. Assume that we wish to control the air flow rate in an aerator. The desired
value (setpoint) may be provided in two different ways. The operator can manually set the desired air
flow rate or another controller can send a signal that the air flow rate has to be changed. The desired
value is compared with the measured air flow rate that can be measured for example by a differential
pressure sensor. The controller acts on the difference between the desired and the measured values, the
error. The controller tries to bring the error to zero in the best possible way. The controller will send
its control signal to a valve and some motor or pneumatic device may open or close the air valve. The
external disturbance in this case may be the varying oxygen demand from the microorganisms in the
aerator.


Figure 4. A simple control loop.

Opening or closing an air flow valve means that the pressure in the air pipe will change. A pressure
controller is used to keep the pressure constant, despite the disturbances. Again, the structure of the
pressure controller looks like Figure 4. The controller calculates the difference between the desired
pressure and the measured pressure and produces a control signal that will influence the air flow
production from a compressor. This means that the pressure controller provides a new setpoint to the
compressor.

Let us assume that the compressor has a variable speed drive system. Then the pressure controller has
given the setpoint of the speed. The pressure controller will send a signal increase the speed in order
to increase the pressure and this implicates that the speed controller setpoint is increased. The speed
controller of a motor again looks similar to Figure 4. Basically the speed controller compares the
actual motor speed with the desired speed and attempts to make the difference (error) equal to zero.
Still, if the pressure sensor is not satisfied, then the speed setpoint will be further changed until the
speed of the compressor is such that the pressure setpoint has been reached.

It is obvious that any wastewater treatment plant contains a large number of local controllers for
physical variables like pressures, speeds, levels, liquid flow rates and air flow rates. It is not at all
Controller Process
-1
+
Setpoint Error Control
signal
Output =
measurement
Disturbance
apparent how each one of them will influence the final product, but all of them have to work
satisfactorily in a well functioning plant.

The control problems at the equipment level are very similar in any process industry, and a wastewater
treatment plant is no exception. Almost all these controllers are of PI (proportional + integral) type, i.e.
the control signal is proportional to the error signal and to its time integral. Such a controller has the
form:

|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
}
dt e
T
e K u u
1
0


where u is the control signal, u
0
an offset signal, e the error, K the proportional gain and T the integral
time. In a local controller the tuning of the two parameters K and T is the primary task. A too small K
will make the controller response slow while a too large K will make the controller react too quickly.
It may also cause instability of the system. The integral part of the controller has one purpose, to
finally make the error equal to zero.

The design of feedback controllers has attracted considerable attention in the control literature. Many
advanced control algorithms based on for example dynamic models, neural networks and fuzzy logics
have been proposed. However, no convincing evidence has been made available suggesting that these
advanced algorithms produce better control performance in wastewater treatment systems than the
conventional PID (proportional-integral-derivative) algorithms, which have been used in most
practical process control applications (more than 95% of the controllers in a typical paper and pulp
industry are PID controllers). Control systems based on simple rules (rule-based control) have also
found successful applications.

All measurements on the equipment level are physical measurements, such as levels, pressures, air and
liquid flow rates, so the sensor technology is well established [5]. There are literally hundreds of
textbooks in control, so we just select two for the bibliography. The textbooks [6] and [7] give a good
introduction into control theory applied for process control.

5 Control of biological oxidation

The control actions in the various unit processes will influence the quality of the water more directly.
We will give some examples of important control actions that are of great importance for the quality of
the operation of the plant, and thus the effluent water quality. For the interested reader we refer to [8]
for a detailed description of the biological processes in wastewater treatment.
The aeration process

In the biological reactor organic matter is removed by biological oxidation. Microorganisms feed on
the carbon and the oxygen in the water. Some of the organic matter is used to maintain the organisms,
while the rest is converted into carbon dioxide. The process is very similar to the way in which
humans use food (organic matter) to generate energy. The energy is released when the organic matter
is converted into carbon dioxide during respiration. Approximately half of the organic matter is used
to increase the body mass of the microorganisms, and the rest is converted into carbon dioxide.

Most of the nitrogen that arrives at the wastewater treatment plant comes as ammonium (60-80%).
The remainder is predominantly bound to both soluble and particulate organic matter. The nitrogen
bound to organic matter is released as ammonium. The particulate material is hydrolysed and produces
soluble organic matter and nitrogen.

The removal of ammonium takes place in two principal stages: nitrification and denitrification. The
nitrification process oxidizes ammonium into nitrate, while denitrification reduces nitrate into free
nitrogen. The nitrification process is performed by a group of microorganisms called nitrifiers.
Nitrifiers are autotrophs, i.e. they can use carbon dioxide (which the water contains) to grow, as
opposed to the heterotrophic microorganisms, which feed on easily degradable organic matter. Oxygen
is a prerequisite for this process. Conditions in which dissolved oxygen is present are called "aerobic
conditions".

Dissolved oxygen control

It is obvious that the concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) is crucial for the oxidation of both
organic matter and of ammonium. Both these processes take place in the same reactor. If the DO
concentration in the aerator is too low, then the growth rate of the organisms will be limited, as
illustrated in Figure 5. If the DO level is very high then the increase of the growth rate is only
marginal. Therefore, a too high DO level will make the operating costs too high.
Removal of N
0
0,2
0,4
0,6
0,8
1
1,2
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5
Dissolved oxygen, ppm
%

o
f

m
a
x

p
r
o
c
e
s
s

r
a
t
e
Nitrification rate
Denitrification rate


Figure 5. The principal behaviour of the growth rate of microorganisms as a function of the DO
concentration. For aerobic microorganisms the growth rate will increase with the DO concentration,
while for anoxic organisms the growth rate is highest for an oxygen free environment.

To begin with we will assume that the desired DO concentration is constant. The microorganism
growth rates will increase for an increasing organic or ammonium load. This can be noticed as an
increasing oxygen uptake rate (OUR). In other words: if the load increases, then the DO concentration
will decrease due to the increase of the oxygen uptake rate.

The control of aeration has been the subject to considerable research since 1970s, when the dissolved
oxygen (DO) sensors reached a level of robustness and precision suitable for feedback control [2].
Today, the control of DO to a set-point is considered a mature technology from the methodological
point of view. Remember, that the actuators are crucial. Thus, the compressor has to allow a variable
air flow that is required by the control system. Still there may be inadequate capacity of the blowers
for very high loads. From a control point of view this is a common problem: the control variable most
often has a lower and upper bound.

Figure 6 illustrates the structure of a typical DO control system.


Figure 6. Structure of a standard dissolved oxygen cascade control loop.

A DO controller is based on the measurement of the DO concentration in the reactor. Let us, for
simplicity, assume that the reactor is a completely mixed aerator. Then the DO sensor will represent
the concentration in the whole aerator. A too low DO concentration has to be compensated by an
increase in the air flow rate. Consequently a too high DO concentration will be decreased by
decreasing the air flow rate. In the control system the DO concentration is compared with the DO
setpoint and the DO controller (the master) will calculate the necessary airflow change required to
change the DO concentration towards the desired value. However the DO controller does not directly
manipulate the air valve. Instead the desired airflow is given as a setpoint to a second controller, the
airflow controller (the slave). This controller receives the airflow rate measurement and compares it
with the desired airflow. This difference will then make the actuator (a compressor or a valve) change
the airflow to the desired value. The loop is called a cascaded control loop and is the standard
configuration in most DO control systems.

Dissolved oxygen control based on ammonia measurements

The oxidation of ammonia via the nitrifiers is a slower process than the oxidation of the organic matter.
This means that the organic matter will disappear faster than the ammonia. Therefore the decrease of
the ammonia concentration is of primary interest. With the development of nutrient sensors it has been
possible to extend the dissolved oxygen control to allow for an on-line adjustment of the level of
oxygen supply. It means that the appropriate DO set-point can be determined by on-line ammonia
measurements. For details we refer to [1] [3].

If the aerator is designed like a plug flow reactor then the ammonia concentration is high at the inlet
and will gradually decrease towards the outlet. If the ammonia concentration approaches zero well
before the outlet, then the operation has been too ambitious and the last part of the reactor is not
needed for the oxidation process. This behaviour can be corrected with DO control. If the DO setpoint
is lowered, then the growth rate of the nitrifiers will be slightly smaller. Thus, the DO setpoint should
be decreased so much that the ammonia will approach zero close to the inlet. As a consequence the
energy consumption will decrease.

Conversely, if the ammonia does not approach zero at the outlet there may be several reasons. The first
one to be tested is if the DO setpoint has been too low. Then the setpoint can be increased (but only to
a maximum value) to ensure that the growth rate of the organisms has been sufficient. If the ammonia
still does not approach zero, then the aerator is overloaded at that time and the nitrification capacity is
insufficient.

Air valve
DO setpoint
DO sensor
Aerator
Air
flow
DO controller (master)
Air flow
controller
(slave)
Air flow setpoint
A DO setpoint controller can be a simple PI controller. The setpoint of the controller is the desired
ammonia value at the outlet of the aerator. The controller produces a control signal which will serve as
the desired DO setpoint. This signal is then sent to the DO control system (Figure 6). Now the DO
setpoint becomes a time varying value and no longer a fixed value given by the operator. The resulting
controller has become a hierarchical structure of three controllers working in cascade by the master-
slave principle.

This kind of ammonia controller DO setpoint has been introduced in many plants. The energy savings
can be significant, especially during low load periods. In the experiments reported in [9] the savings
were 28% compared to the parallel line where a constant DO setpoint was applied. This corresponds to
a significant part of the operating costs and can motivate the extra cost of an ammonia analyzer.
Phase length control in sequential batch reactors

Sequential batch reactors (SBR) are quite popular in many places and they offer interesting control
opportunities. During the biological oxidation phase there is no influent to the reactor. As a result the
organic matter content will decrease with time. Likewise the ammonia concentration will decrease as a
function of time, but slower than the organic matter. The ammonia concentration as a function of time
looks like the ammonia concentration as function of the reactor length in a plug flow reactor.
Ammonia is oxidized to nitrite and then to nitrate, so the decrease in ammonia corresponds to an
increase in nitrate concentration.

A great advantage with an SBR compared to a continuous flow reactor is that the ammonia
concentration change can be measured online with just one sensor. The oxidation process is completed
when the ammonia concentration approaches zero.

From a control point of view there is an even more attractive way to determine the phase length of the
oxidation in the reactor. A DO control system will serve the same purpose in an SBR as in a
continuous flow reactor. Now we assume that the DO is to be kept constant during the oxidation phase.
In the beginning the oxygen uptake rate is high. Consequently the required air flow rate is high. As the
reaction goes towards completion the required air flow rate will decrease gradually and when the
ammonia has been oxidized then the air flow demand will no longer decrease but will approach a
constant low value. This behaviour can determine the end of the oxidation phase.

If the phase length of an SBR is controlled by a timer, as in open loop control, then the completion of
the reaction can not be guaranteed. As a result many SBR operations are made with a safety margin.
This means that the ammonia level approaches zero well before the end of the oxidation phase. This of
course will cost money, both in terms of energy and more important in terms of lower plant
capacity.

6 Control of denitrification

In the denitrification process nitrate is converted into free nitrogen gas. The denitrification process is a
reduction process and is performed by heterotrophic microorganisms, denitrifiers. They are the same
type of organisms that use oxygen to oxidise organic matter when oxygen is present. Conditions in
which oxygen is not present are called anoxic. Under such conditions the heterotrophic organisms can
convert organic matter and nitrate into free nitrogen, carbon dioxide and increased body mass.

Nitrification and denitrification cannot take place at the same time, since the former is aerobic and the
latter is anoxic. Treatment plants are therefore designed to allow these processes to occur either in
different places (as in a continuous flow system) or at different times (as in a sequential batch reactor).

The concentration of dissolved oxygen also governs the denitrification process, and the denitrificaiton
rate will be hindered by any oxygen present, as illustrated in Figure 5. Therefore it is extremely
important to prevent oxygen from entering the anoxic process. Oxygen can accidentally enter such an
environment via the surface of water, via recirculated water from the aerobic process tanks or from
filter back-washing.

The denitrification requires not only nitrate but also easily degradable organic matter. Therefore it
must take place where the organic matter is present. Since the inlet water contains a high concentration
of organic matter the denitrification can paradoxically be placed before the nitrification. From the
outlet of the nitrification process nitrate rich water is recirculated into the anoxic reactor.

First consider a plug flow like anoxic process with continuous flow. The concentration of nitrate will
decrease along the reactor and should approach zero towards the end of the anoxic reactor. The outlet
concentration can be measured with a nitrate sensor. As in the aerobic system, if the concentration
approaches zero well before the outlet, then there is an overcapacity. In this case the control action is
different than for the aerator.

If the nitrate concentration in the anoxic reactor has approached zero before the outlet, then the
recirculation flow rate of nitrate rich water can be increased until the nitrate concentration approaches
zero close to the anoxic reactor outlet. In this way the capacity of the anoxic reactor can be increased.
Similarly, if the nitrate concentration is too high at the outlet of the anoxic zone then too much nitrate
rich water has been recirculated and the recirculation flow rate must be decreased. More details are
found in [9].

Nitrate sensors are commercially available today, so a control system using this information can be
readily installed. The setpoint of the controller is simply the desired nitrate concentration value close
to the anoxic reactor outlet. The control signal is connected to the speed controller of the recirculation
pump.

In a sequential batch reactor the phase length of the denitrification can be readily controlled. A single
nitrate sensor can measure the nitrate concentration. When it approaches zero the anoxic phase is
completed. More results on phase length control in SBR systems are found in [10].

The redox potential (oxidation-reduction potential, ORP) contains certain distinctive features that can
be used for denitrification control. Denitrifying activity has been found to decrease with an increased
redox potential that corresponds to an increased oxygen concentration. The relationship between
denitrifying activity and the redox potential has been found to be more or less linear. However, during
transient conditions the relationship may be far from linear. There can be a distinct change in the slope
of the redox when the nitrate has been consumed, but there is much debate about the efficiency of this
measurement, especially under transient conditions. However, a lot of results have been reported, see
[11].

7 Monitoring

To track the current process operational state via the instrumentation is called monitoring. Monitoring
has to start with the validation of measurement data. Even reliable instrumentation can fail during
operation, which can have serious consequences if the instrumentation is used in closed loop control.
There are many data screening methods that should be applied, see [1], [2]. Missing data have to be
detected, limits of the signal amplitude and its rate of change should be tested, outliers should be
identified. If a signal is expected to be constant then the variability of the signal can give information.
Deviations of the signals larger than 2o and 3o from the mean should be noted. It is obvious that
deviations large than 3o ought to be observed carefully and suitable operations have to be
implemented.

In some cases it is possible to perform cross validation on measurements from more instruments if any
correlation is expected, [1], [12]. If the confidence in a measurement decreases, it may be possible (on
a short-term basis) to use an estimated value, but eventually control must be set to a default scheme
until confidence in the measurement has been restored.

In a sophisticated treatment plant there is a huge data flow from the process. More instrumentation and
new instrumentation development will further provide more data. Unlike humans, computers are
infinitely attentive and can detect abnormal patterns in plant data. The capability of computers to
extract patterns (useful information) is rarely utilized beyond simple graphing. Information technology
is not commonly used to encapsulate process knowledge, i.e. knowledge about how the process works
and how to best operate it. Process knowledge is typically built up from the experience of operators
and engineers but all too often disappears with them when they leave. If process knowledge can be
encapsulated, then not only is it retained but the computer can also assist decision-making in plant
operation. The potential of substantial operator support for diagnosis and for corrective actions is there
and has been demonstrated, but it needs to be adopted by the water and wastewater industry.

The early detection and isolation of faults in the biological process are very effective because they
allow corrective action to be taken well before the situation becomes unfavorable. Some changes are
not very obvious and may gradually grow until they become a serious operational problem.

Most signals are corrupted by noise, coming from either the instrument itself or from the process. Such
noise should be eliminated and signal processing offers many methods, both simple and sophisticated.
A simple moving average is often used, but more sophisticated methods can offer much better
possibilities to extract information from a noisy signal.

There are many variables that are not directly measured but still of great interest. Here we will discuss
two examples, oxygen uptake rate and nitrification rate.

The oxygen uptake rate (OUR) is a function of the biological oxidation of both organic matter and of
ammonia nitrogen. It is obvious that the OUR has a major influence on the DO mass balance in the
water, and an increase of the OUR must be compensated by an increase in the air flow rate. From a
simple mass balance of DO the OUR can be calculated from the air flow rate, the oxygen transfer rate
(from gaseous to dissolved oxygen), and from the DO concentration. This makes it possible to track
the activity of the organisms in the biological reactor, [2].

The reaction rate can be readily calculated in an SBR. Having just one ammonia analyzer makes it
possible to track the ammonia concentration as function of time. From this information it is possible to
calculate the rate of change of ammonium. This in turn can inform the operator about the performance
of the nitrification. Full scale experiences are reported in [13].

8 Plant wide control

There are several driving forces that motivate the challenge to integrate all wastewater operations in a
drainage area. From a European perspective the need for integrated modelling and control has
increased dramatically by the EU-Water Framework Directive, which forms a basis for water policy
for the EU and associated countries. It focuses strongly on ecological criteria and strategic integrated
management. The system boundaries are extended to include river management at a basin scale as well
as point-source and diffuse-source pollutions. A new set of integrated and harmonised tools supporting
the intention of the WFD is required.

Instrumentation, control and automation (ICA) play an important role for the integration and concepts
like integrated control, system-wide control and plant-wide control are often mentioned. Both the
sewer system and the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) have an impact on the receiving water.
Combined sewer overflows (CSO) as well as the wastewater treatment effluent will influence the
quality of the receiving water, the former at discontinuous events and the latter on a continuous basis.
Here we define the concept of plant-wide control as the combined sewer and WWTP control and
operation. The objective is to make maximum use of the system capacity in order to meet large
disturbances, where the ultimate purpose is to minimize the combined load to the receiving water.

For the sewer the goal is to minimize the amount of CSO. The aim of the control of the WWTP is to
satisfy the effluent requirements while minimizing the operational costs [2]. During storm conditions
these goals may be difficult to reach. It is obvious that the control of the sewer system isolated from
the WWTP operation - will lead to suboptimal solutions. If the goal of the sewer operation is to
minimize the CSO the WWTP may soon be overloaded. The result of such an overload is firstly a
short-term impact due to the increased effluent pollution. Then a possible washout of organisms may
cause a long-term impact by making the WWTP operation less efficient during an extended period of
time.

In order to implement plant wide control the interactions between the system parts and their dynamic
characteristics have to be understood. This includes choosing the best locations of sensors and
actuators, which is the basis for the control structure. ICA has a large impact on integrated operation
and compromises have to be made when integration of different unit operations is getting realized.
Modern plant computer systems allow a wide distribution of control but this is not always met by
corresponding control structures.

Integration aims at minimizing the impact on the receiving water, while ensuring a better resource
utilisation. The system resilience is an important factor. This includes its ability to attenuate
disturbances, but should also reflect its sensitivity to major disturbances or even purposeful and
harmful attacks. In the integrated approach the ultimate goal is to formulate some criterion for the
receiving water and its ecological quality while satisfying various economic and technical constraints.
There is a great challenge to relate this performance to the plant effluent and possible sewer overflow.
We need performance measures of the plant operation that relate effluent quality to the resources that
are needed to obtain it, such as energy, chemicals, and other material and operating costs. This is not
yet solved satisfactorily, but promising research is in progress, such as [14]. Models are getting
developed to find strategies to dynamically find maximum WWTP loading according to continuous
monitoring and prediction of the operational states. Another aspect is storage management (in the
sewer system and in retention tanks), not only during storms but also during normal operations. By
mixing different types of wastewater to compensate e.g. for nutrient deficit or overload the capacity of
the plant can be maximized.

All integration means some kind of compromise. This is apparent and integrations at various levels
have been applied for a long time. If there were no interactions, then the individual optimization of
each sub-process would be the best strategy. Having couplings in reality we aim at a better result, than
if each one of the processes were controlled separately. Another way to phrase the compromise is to
call it a multi-criterion index: various performances have to be weighted and compared with each other.
This is a common approach in integrated water management [15]. Let us illustrate the idea with some
examples:
- The interaction between the aerator and the settler is a classical integration problem, reflected in the
compromise that has to be done in return sludge flow rate control.
- The anoxic zone in a pre-denitrifying plant interacts closely with the nitrifying aerator. Oxygen rich
water is recirculated from the aerator to the anoxic zone. The DO level has to be a compromise
between sufficiently good nitrification and denitrification. This has been discussed in Sections 5 and
6.
- Recycle streams interconnect various parts of a treatment plant. As noted in Section 3 supernatants
from the sludge treatment are most often highly concentrated in nutrients and have to be
synchronized in time with the plant influent load.
- The target for the sludge production is not the same in different plants. Sometimes the target is to
maximize the biogas production, at other plants the sludge production needs to be minimized.
- In the combined sewer and WWTP operation the individual system operations are sometimes in
conflict, so the overall goal of minimizing the load to the receiving water has to overrule the
individual goals [15].
9 Future directions

ICA will play an increasing role in wastewater treatment systems. It has been noted that the
introduction of ICA can increase the capacity of a treatment plant, both a continuous flow system and
a sequential batch reactor system. To meet future environmental and efficiency demands it is needed
to increase the integration of plant design and operation. Today, most often the ICA is added to an
already existing design, which often leads to insufficient performance.

The instrumentation development will favour more implementations of control systems and lead to
more consistent and economical operation of the treatment plants. Furthermore, the actuator
equipment has to get more attention. Variable speed control is a proven technology today, but often
not observed by the designers. Furthermore, efficient design of pumps and compressors is a pre-
requisite for economic operation of the plants.

Today most design is based on safety factors for the operations and the disturbances to the plant. There
is a clear ambition to gradually make the design more model based, where various risk factors can be
taken into consideration. This will result in a better coupling between design and operation.

Plant wide control still needs to be developed. More stringent energy consumption requirements will
be one driving force this development. In previous section we mentioned the compromise of sludge
production. A wastewater treatment plant not only consumes electrical energy. It can also produce
energy as biogas in the anaerobic digestion. This will immediately require a compromise between the
biological oxidation and the anaerobic digestion. The organic matter in the influent is needed to some
extent for the nitrification and the denitrification. However, in order to maximize the biogas
production as much organic matter as possible should bypass the aerobic oxidation and be forwarded
to the digester. Thus, a plant size production planning will be required.

Today many of the unit processes in the wastewater treatment plant can be controlled, but methods
and criteria need to be further developed to achieve the integration of unit processes within the plant
and to further integrate the plant into an urban water treatment system.
Glossary

actuator - a transducer which reacts to a control signal and performs the desired action

anaerobic - conditions in a biological treatments system characterised by the absence of oxygen in any
of its forms.

anoxic - nitrate serves as terminal electron acceptor

closed loop control - system where the controlled variable is measured and the result of the
measurement used to manipulate one of the process variables. Also called feedback control

denitrification - the conversion of nitrate-nitrogen to gaseous nitrogen through anoxic heterotrophic
cell growth

DO - dissolved oxygen

nitrification - the conversion of ammonia-nitrogen to nitrite and nitrate nitrogen through autotrophic
cell growth

on-line estimation - estimation of model parameters during the operation of the system

open loop control - system where information about the controlled variable is not used to manipulate
any of the system inputs to compensate for variations in the process variables. Also called sequencing.

ORP - oxidation-reduction potential or redox

oxygen uptake rate (OUR) - rate at which oxygen is utilised by microorganisms, typically expressed in
mg/L/hr

PID controller - three mode controller combining the actions of proportional (gain), integral (reset)
and derivative (rate) elements into a single unit

redox - oxidation-reduction potential or ORP

setpoint - the desired value for a control system, that is a temperature, flowrate, pressure or level at
which a process should operate

WWTP - wastewater treatment plant

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Index

More to come