Monitoring and control using on-line ORP on the continuous-flow activated sludge batch reactor system

On-line monitoring of ORP has been proved to be a practical and useful technique for process control of wastewater treatment systems. This paper presents the feasibility of using on-line ORP monitoring system on a laboratory scale single tank continuous-flow activated sludge batch reactor, which is capable of removing carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants. Two control strategies, fixed-time and real-time, are applied for process control. Results obtained from fixed-time control study indicate that the variations and the ORP profile can accurately represent dynamic characteristics of system; the pH profile can also indicate some of those characteristics. Also, the breakpoints, setpoints and settime on the ORP and pH profiles are used to establish the real-time control strategy to determine the transfer of operation stages. The real-time experiments show a better performance than fixed-time, thus, on-line ORP and pH monitoring and control is practical for continuous-flow batch activated sludge process control.