New Hydrotech control system reduces annual chemical consumption by up to 70% while achieving better effluent quality Instrumentation, automation and control in municipal wastewater treatment can result in large resource, cost and energy savings.
By using feedforward and feedback control algorithms together with turbidity and phosphorus analyzers to control the chemical dose at the tertiary stage of a wastewater treatment plant, the optimized control system lowered the coagulant dose by 70% and the polymer dose by 36% compared to manual adjustments of the chemical dosing. Effluent total phosphorus (TP) and total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations were further lowered by 20–30% in comparison to the values achieved before this optimization exercise. With the control system in operation, the annual savings in coagulant and polymer are substantial.
Read the full technical article about Hydrotech's findings on optimizing the Nenäinniemi wastewater treatment plant here:
Water science and technology, Volume 87, Issue 3