Knowledge-Based Systems 12 (1999) 355361 www.elsevier.

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An advanced integrated expert system for wastewater treatment plants control

P.A. Paraskevas*, I.S. Pantelakis, T.D. Lekkas
Department of Environmental Studies, University of the Aegean, 17 Karantoni Str. Mytilini GR81100, Greece Received 8 December 1998; received in revised form 13 July 1999; accepted 3 August 1999

Abstract The activated sludge process is a commonly used method for treating wastewater. Due to the biological nature of the process it is characterized by poorly understood basic biological behavior mechanisms, a lack of reliable on-line instrumentation, and by control goals that are not always clearly stated. It is generally recognized that an Expert System (ES) can cope with many of the common problems relative with the operation and control of the activated sludge process. In this work an integrated and distributed ES is developed which supervises the control system of the whole treatment plant. The system has the capability to learn from the correct or wrong solutions given to previous cases. The structure of the suggested ES is analyzed and the supervision of the local controllers is described. In this way, the main problems of conventional control strategies and individual knowledge-based systems are overcome. 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Expert systems; Articial intelligence; Activated sludge; Wastewater treatment; Automatic control

1. Introduction During the last decade, the research of wastewater treatment has been concentrated mainly on the operation rather than the design and construction of the treatment plants. This is due to the fact that the management and operation of the plants is the key step for the efciency of water pollution control. The complexity of the processes used in wastewater treatment, the inadequate and unreliable on-line instruments, the absence of appropriate performance specications on which to base control, the limited exibility in plant design, the lack of accurate process models, and the excess inuent variability have showed that the existing control technology has not been applied effectively. It is generally believed that techniques other than straightforward application of control theory will be necessary to achieve effective operation of wastewater treatment processes [1]. In this paper the development of an integrated ES is described which it is believed can overcome most of the problems usually encountered in a typical wastewater treatment plant.

2. The wastewater treatment plant The heart of a typical wastewater treatment plant, especially of domestic sewage, is the activated sludge process. In the bioreactor, a mixture of microorganisms, with the presence of sufcient dissolved oxygen, consume the biodegradable pollutants (substrate) and transform it into energy and new biomass. Next the water overows to the settling tank where the biomass ocks settle. The supernatant clean water is disposed properly after being disinfected. A fraction of the sludge is returned to the input of the bioreactor in order to maintain an appropriate level of biomass, allowing the oxidation of the organic matter. The wastewater feed to the bioreactor (aeration tank) has passed through pretreatment including screening, grit and grease removal and sometimes primary settling for removal of suspended solids heavier than water. The resulting solids from the primary and secondary settlers are treated in the sludge line, which normally includes the processes of thickening, stabilization (aerobic or anaerobic digestion) and dewatering. The water and sludge lines are interconnected since liquids from the sludge line are directed back to the water line.

3. Need for an expert system development

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 30-251-36001; fax: 30-251-36099. E-mail address: ppar@env.aegean.gr (P.A. Paraskevas)

Nowadays the emphasis on the wastewater treatment has

0950-7051/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII: S0950-705 1(99)00040-4

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been moved from the design and construction to the operation of the plants. Inadequate plant operation is responsible for the majority of wastewater treatment plant failures [2]. Conventional control strategies are usually based on control algorithms applied to local control situations e.g. DO control in the aeration tank or sludge wastage rate control. The difculty with providing supervisory control over several local controllers (i.e. hierarchical control) is that treatment plants are operated under conicting objectives that are difcult to compare in such a way as to make process optimization possible [2]. These multiple, noncomparable objectives can be summarized as minimizing treatment cost (energy, chemical, sludge handling) while improving efuent quality. Compared to other industrial processes, the wastewater is characterized by frequent variations in environmental conditions such as the feed ow rate and the inuent substrate concentration. These variations affect the process performance signicantly, sometimes even resulting in process failure. Therefore, careful design of the control strategy becomes necessary to maintain the process operation and to improve the efuent quality [3]. The application of a process control over the wastewater treatment plant system [2,46] has the following difculties: 1. The complexity of the whole process that consists of several operational units where many facts of different nature take place such as chemical, mechanical and biological. 2. Many parameters inuencing the system cannot be controlled, for instance ow and organic load variations, toxic loading, water temperature etc. 3. The system is highly dynamic and only very seldom it is working under steady state conditions. On the other hand, there is not a valid and accurate model of process dynamics. 4. The objective of the wastewater systems, which are to keep the efuent under the limits dened by the authorities and to minimize cost and environmental effects, are not precisely stated criteria. 5. Most information is neither numeric nor quantied. Qualitative information such as water smell and color, microbiological quality etc., which is essential to the operator of the plant, cannot be used to conventional control techniques. 6. Uncertainty or approximate knowledge. The subjective information, based on local experience, supplied by the plants expert is often vague or uncertain. The variables that describe the plant are global, a lot of them cannot be obtained on-line, most of the existing on-line sensors are not reliable and measure mainly macroscopic characteristics. Furthermore, it can be said that the conventional control methods work well during the normal states of the plant, but not in other abnormal situations like toxic inputs and

mechanical faults. The difculty of the conventional control systems to face with such problems has given rise recently to considerable research effort in Articial Intelligence.

4. Expert systems in wastewater treatment A sub-eld of Articial Intelligence that has received much attention in wastewater treatment is the area of Expert Systems (ES). The ES is a computer program that performs difcult specialized tasks at the level of a human expert. Because of the reliance of these programs on varied types of knowledge, these programs are also known as knowledge-based systems. They differ from conventional programs in that they clearly differentiate knowledge of how problems are solved from the domain-specic or applications knowledge, and also because they deal with nonalgorithmic knowledge, often in the form of heuristics or experience-based rules-of-thumb [7]. The central feature of an ES is that it relies on heuristic rules suggested by human experts rather than on detailed mathematical models of cause and effect. The underlying assumption is that human experts are able to perform effectively in spite of weaknesses in data and incomplete understanding of cause and effect at a detailed level. The knowledge in ESs is most often represented as rules in the following form: IF [a set of conditions is true] THEN [certain conclusions can be made] The antecedent (IF) may be evidence, symptoms, or observations that represent a condition, while the consequence could be a hypothesis or action. This rather natural way for human experts to explain how they do their job provides a format that can be easily coded for computer interpretation. Several expert systems have already been developed in environmental engineering of water and wastewater treatment problems. Tong et al. [8] were among the rst to make use of ES type rules for wastewater treatment plant operation and control, although they do not use the term expert system. Fuzzy logic was used to provide a qualitative interpretation of the quantitative data. Later, Beck [5], combined these fuzzy logic rules with a dynamic model to control the process. Jenkins and Jowitt (1987) used Becks rules to develop a simple expert system in prolog for the diagnosis of an activated sludge plant while Berthouex et al. (1987) extended Becks work by integrating the expert system to a database to provide plant operators with a more powerful software package (cited in Ref. [2]). Barnwell et al. [9] evaluated the application of ES in water quality modeling and concluded that ES will increase the level of sophistication and prociency of the model user. After them a great amount of literature followed describing various schemes, which include knowledge for ES, and develop consultation for diagnosis, design and process optimization. These will

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USER

SUPERVISORY LEVEL

USER INTERFACE

SUPERVISORY AGENT

DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE LEVEL

CONTROLLER

NUMERICAL KNOWLEDGE MODULE

WATER LINE SUBSYSTEM

SLUDGE LINE SUBSYSTEM

CASE-BASED LEARNING MODULE

DATA BASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DATA LEVEL

ON LINE SENSORS

OBSERVATIONS

SAMPLE COLLECTION LABORATORY ANALYSIS MICROSCOPE

WASTEWATER

TREATMENT

PLANT

Fig. 1. Structure of the integrated distributed ES.

not be reviewed here but a few interesting and instructive efforts on ES applied to wastewater treatment are mentioned, such as those of Herrod [10], Downs [3], Koskinen [11], Maeda [12], Yu et al. [13], Galil and Levinsky [14], Laukkanen and Pursiainen [15], Stover

and Campana [16], Barnett [4], Berthouex [6], and Serra et al. [17]. Although with all these papers and many others as well, signicant progress has been made to the improvement in the operation and efciency of the ES, there is not an

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integrated ES which will supervise the operation of the whole plant, will advice the operator to decision making or will decide itself, will prevent, by the appropriate actions probable process failures, and generally will provide for the proper and economic operation of the plant.

5. Structure of the suggested ES The suggested integrated ES for the control of the whole wastewater treatment plant is based on the recent works of Sanchez et al. [18] and Serra et al. [17]. They have tried to overcome some of the problems of knowledge-based systems and those of classical control systems by proposing a more efcient and robust control system which uses a distributed problem solving architecture [19]. Distributed Articial Intelligence (DAI) encompasses the research, analysis and development of intelligent communities that integrate a coordinated set of knowledge-based processes, usually called modules which interact either by cooperation, by coexistence or by competition, in order to reach common objectives. The main reasons for choosing an AI system with a distributed problem solving architecture are: geographic distribution in the domain of application, functional decomposition, faster processing speed by means of parallel execution, modularity and extendibility, controlling the increasing complexity of AI systems and increasing the power of the resulting system [18]. Among the various kinds of DAI architectures a supervisory integrated system is chosen because there is a set of xed abnormal situations for wastewater treatment plants such as storm, bulking, organic and ow shock loads etc., which may be solved with a predetermined plan or strategy in a more efcient way than with other types of DAI architectures. The ES we applied, which is a modication of that suggested by Sanchez et al. [18], is shown in Fig. 1. It is consisted of several interacting subsystems (modules) that can be executed in parallel processing. The modules belong in three levels, data level, distributed knowledge level, and supervisory level. The general knowledge is obtained from interviews with experienced process engineers and operators of real wastewater treatment plants, and from the international literature [1,2,2023,35,36]. 5.1. Data level This level receives all the information from the various units of the whole plant, the inuent, and the efuent. Three categories of information [24] are received and stored to the Data Base Management System (DBMS) from: 1. On-line sensors located in the plant such as inow, dissolved oxygen (DO) in the bioreactor, turbidity, temperature, pH etc. Recently on-line meters have

become reliable with respect to other parameters such as ammonia, nitrate, phosphate and redox potential. 2. Off-line analyses, by sampling, carried out in the plant laboratory such as COD, BOD, SVI, heavy metal concentrations etc. In addition microscopic observation of the biomass in the aeration basin is advisable because it is generally recognized as an effective way of diagnosing activated sludge problems. 3. Visual information describing the state of the plant such as water color, foaming, and odors are critical parameters and must be closely monitored. The last two categories of information are entered off-line and stored to the DBMS by the operators. The DBMS keeps records of all the monitored variables and sends the values to the higher levels, distributed knowledge and supervisory. The transmitting frequency of the various parameter values depends on the category that each parameter belongs, and on the control needs. 5.2. Distributed knowledge level (DKL) The DKL consists of ve subsystems (modules). 5.2.1. Numerical knowledge module (NKM) The NKM contains the activated sludge model No 1 of IAWPRC [25] in association with a model of the secondary settler [26], a dynamic model of the primary settler [27], and a dynamic model of the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge [28]. These partial modules allow the simulation of the whole plant operation. In addition the value of some parameters which need calculations, such as OUR (Oxygen Uptake Rate) and SCOUR (Specic Oxygen Uptake Rate), are estimated. By simulation and some measured characteristics of the inuent and the efuent, through recursive parameter and state estimation, and the aid of a Kalman ltering algorithm, the values of some parameters are estimated for model updating. In this way the values of the parameters can be tted and the control system can be easily applied to each specic plant. The NKM, through a software program, can detect outliers or false measurements. Most often they are due to the problems caused during calibration of the instruments, due to a random sensor malfunction, or to a drift of a sensor. Sometimes they are due to human mistakes. The NKM is capable to recognize erroneous sensor readings, to compute a more likely value for these cases and to handle periodically missing data as well. 5.2.2. Water line subsystem This subsystem contains the modules with the KBSs of the various local units of the water line [29]. The partial KBSs are the following: Preliminary treatment KBS: module supervising the physical unit operations which remove large solids

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(screening), grit and grease from the inow of the treatment plant in order to protect the following mechanical equipment (8 rules). Primary treatment KBS: module supervising the operation of the primary settler whose purpose is the removal of the settleable and oating solids found in wastewater (14 rules). Biological treatment KBS: module supervising the operation of the biological process, including the biological reactor (aeration tank), the secondary settling tank, and possibly the anoxic reactor (for denitrication), and the selector (for the control of lamentous organisms). This is the hard core of the whole process and it is consisted of 148 rules. Disinfection KBS: module supervising the disinfection process (most frequently chlorination) for disinfecting the treated wastewater prior the discharge to the environment (6 rules). 5.2.3. Sludge line subsystem It contains the following partial KBSs: Thickening KBS: module supervising the process (usually gravity thickening) used to increase the solids content of sludge by removing a portion of the liquid fraction (10 rules). Stabilization KBS: module supervising the process of sludge stabilization commonly achieved by aerobic or anaerobic digestion of sludge. The KBS developed is that of anaerobic digestion process (28 rules). Dewatering KBS: module supervising the physical (mechanical) unit operation used to reduce the moisture content of sludge. The KBS developed is that of the belt lter press, one of the predominant sludge-dewatering devices, which involves the application of chemical conditioning, gravity drainage, and mechanically applied pressure to dewater sludge (5 rules). 5.2.4. Case-based learning module The CBLM supervises the operation of the Case Library. This is supplied by all the abnormal states of the plant and the solutions given to them either correct or wrong. The Case Library is updated with the new information and learns from the past cases. In every abnormal state the ES compares the current situation with the recorded ones and according to the experience obtained, the operator makes his decision. In any case the ES is able to suggest a solution to the operator. 5.2.5. Controller Controller is the module through which the nal control of the plant is realized. Because of its many advantages [30], a combination of feedforward and feedback control system is implemented for the activated sludge process using the data of the DBMS. The manipulated variables used are:

1. Airow rate for the control of dissolved oxygen. 2. Waste activated sludge ow rate for the control of the total sludge mass in the system and the sludge age. 3. Return sludge ow for the control of the MLSS in the biological reactor. 4. Mixed liquor return ow from the aerated volume of the biological reactor to the anoxic zone, for the control of the denitrication. 5. Step feed ow distribution, which can redistribute the sludge within the aerator and control the SCOUR, which gives an indication of the DO prole within the oc. High SCOUR values might mean that conditions are likely to result in low oxygen concentrations in the center of the oc. If SCOUR is controlled at low value it should be possible to maintain the DO concentration at a lower level without increasing the risk of adversely affecting the settling properties [31]. The calculation of OUR is used in several ways: (a) estimation of the overall activity in the aerated part of biological stage and (b) rapid detection of inhibition of the biological reactions [32]. The activated sludge process requires substantial amounts of energy with the air supply system being the single largest energy user. Savings in energy used for aeration are thus essential for reducing operating cost [31]. This is accomplished by maintaining the DO concentration as low as possible without negatively affecting the biological reactions and therefore the quality of the efuent. Another constraint for the lowest DO concentration limit is set by the amount of air necessary to provide adequate mixing. Moreover, regulation of DO may improve the plant performance, not only from an energy point of view, but avoiding incidences which can cause lamentous sludge bulking or poor sludge settling conditions [33]. A sufcient number of on-line DO meters assures the same value of DO at all the points of the aerated part of the bioreactor. An algorithm is developed, executed by the NKM, which takes into account all the data and estimates this lowest permitted value each time. 5.3. Supervisory level The supervisory module acts as the manager of the whole control system. It receives information from the distributed knowledge level and the DBMS and diagnoses the state of the plant. This is normal if all the following conditions are true: 1. There are not divergences from the permitted limits of the efuent. 2. The measured and observed values of all the monitored parameters of the system are within the normal ranges. 3. There are not predictions for some abnormal input to the plant such as storm water or toxic substances loading. If no problem to the operation of the plant is detected, the normal situation of the plant is actuated and the conventional automatic control system operates the whole plant.

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If an abnormal situation is detected then the supervisory agent infers the current state of the plant, which is compared with the most similar previous case. The experience already obtained, in combination with the rules of the various knowledge bases, is used to give the same solution or a different one. The supervisory module or the operator either modify the set points of the control system, or deactivate the control system and give the proper orders to the on-line actuators. Sometimes manual operation may be required for some actions. The result of the given solution is a new experience, which is added to the old one. The user interface module is used for the communication between the user and the supervisory module. In any case the supervisory module reaches to its own conclusion about the action to be taken but the user may decide and act differently. If additional information is required the ES asks this from the operator. Also if an impending upset is identied the ES may provide an alert to personnel if necessary. An important principle in controlling the treatment process is to avoid over-adjustment, since this reduces rather than improving the stability [34]. Experienced operators seem to understand that and they rely not only on the current values but also on the data from the previous few days so as to obtain a view of the trends and a whole picture of the process. Operators usually make adjustments step-bystep rather than making a large-step change. The effect of a control action may last for several days or take several days to become effective, and knowing that similar action was recently taken may affect operators decision for the current day. All these are taken into account to the structuring of the partial KBS agents and the inference rules. Another feature of the control system is that the ES may recommend more than one-process adjustments and there can be contradictions. If taking no action seems a safe option, the operators usually choose to wait until more information becomes available and the ES is programmed to suggest the same no action. If delay seems risky, the operators tend to select the action that has the most immediate effect on improving the quality of the efuent or the action with the least potential harm. Examining trends of key variables is often helpful in determining which control action is needed [34].

supervisory level which manages the whole control system and communicates with the operator. The main features of the suggested control system are the following: A conventional feedforward in combination with feedback controller is used for controlling the process during normal conditions. If an abnormal situation is detected, the ES either changes the set points of the controller appropriately or the controller is deactivated and the plant is operated by the ES or the operator himself. The control system has the capability to learn from previously solved problems, and a case library is structured where all the abnormal situations with the given solutions, either correct or wrong, are recorded. The ttings of the parameters through a recursive parameter estimation process, and the learning capability of the ES, make it easily implemented to each specic real part. The optimization criterion of the ES is to keep the efuent characteristics within the permitted limits by operating the plant with the least possible cost. The operator nally decides for the action to be taken but the ES can always reach a conclusion and suggest its own solution. Sometimes more data may be asked. When the whole system is tested, calibrated and validated on a real plant it is believed that it will improve signicantly the efciency of the wastewater treatment plants.

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6. Conclusions In order to control a wastewater treatment plant an integrated supervisory ES is currently being developed based essentially on the recent work of Sanchez et al. [18]. The ES is consisted of several interacting modules that can be executed in parallel processing. The modules belong in three levels, data level which receives all the information from the plant, distributed knowledge level which contains the general knowledge, the conventional controller, the Case Library and the partial control rules, and the

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