Automation in Wastewater Treatment

Urban water systems are vital infrastructures in the society. The systems are widely distributed and often they are operated by different organizations. Despite a large variety of demand the system has to operate around the clock, providing a drinking water quality that is consistently good and a wastewater treatment effluent that all the time satisfies the required standard, so that the environment and public health are protected. Traditionally urban water systems have been designed from static principles with large safety margins. New economic incentives together with progress in sensor and computer technology and improved process knowledge have made it possible to design and operate the systems with a design that takes dynamic operation into consideration. The large variations should be handled with smaller volumes, but in combination with more advanced control and operation. Automation will provide the robustness of the system to provide a consistently good quality. Operation and control of wastewater treatment systems is the main emphasis here. The various incentives for automation are discussed and a review of the state-of-the-art of automation and operation is given. Models express our current knowledge of the processes. Instrumentation, process monitoring and process control are the major ingredients of automation. Current practice and the state-of-the-art of these areas are described and discussed. Aspects of the development in instrumentation, control and automation summarize the chapter.