CONTROLLED VARIABLES SELECTION FOR A BIOLOGICAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT PROCESS

This paper considers control structure selection for a biological wastewater treatment process, with emphasis on identifying controlled variables that contribute to minimize economic costs. This is achieved according to the self- optimizing procedure proposed by Skogestad (2000). The aim is to demonstrate how, with simple considerations on the control structure design, the efficiency of a wastewater treatment plant can be improved, minimizing operational costs in the plant, while keeping it running optimally and satisfying the effluent requirements.