A model based study: Revisiting conventional BNR configurations with advanced aeration control

摘要

Advanced aeration control based on on-line measurements of nutrients and process parameters such as dissolved oxygen in biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems is gaining a lot interest from utilities looking to save chemicals and energy associated with nutrient removal. Consequently, process engineers tasked with the optimization of BNR processes are often tasked with developing case-specific aeration control strategies. However, there are many aspects of aeration control design and implementation that still lack overarching guidelines. Over the last four decades there has been exhaustive efforts to develop most efficient BNR process configurations and flow schemes. As a result, today, we have multitude of conventional BNR process configurations targeting different aspects of nutrient removal. So far, implementation of aeration control involves modification of strategies to fit a given process configuration. However, simple modifications of the BNR process configuration to enhance the strength of a given aeration control strategy is often not considered. In this model based study, we explore BNR processes where advanced aeration control and process configurations are optimized as necessary to achieve the most efficient performance. Given the experience of the author, ammonia vs Nox (AvN) (as described by Regmi et al. (2014)) is considered in two of the simplest BNR process configurations - MLE and AO.