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analysis of a pilot-scale anaerobic baffled reactor treating domestic ...

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additional equipment used in the <strong>pilot</strong>-<strong>scale</strong> ABR installations was there for the purpose <strong>of</strong> sampling<br />

wastewater from a much larger flow than could be handled by the ABR, and feeding it to the <strong>reactor</strong> in<br />

a controlled and quantifiable manner. These included:<br />

• A submersible pump to deliver municipal wastewater to the <strong>pilot</strong>-<strong>scale</strong> ABR.<br />

• A pneumatic valve to control air supply to the by-pass valve.<br />

• A compressor to supply air to the pneumatic valve.<br />

• A magnetic flow meter (FI1) to measure and transmit flow rate at the outlet <strong>of</strong> the last<br />

compartment and cumulative flow.<br />

• A programmable logic controller (PLC) to capture flow rate data, calculate feeding/by-passing<br />

requirements and control the by-pass valve.<br />

• A timer control switch to control the by-pass valve when the PLC was <strong>of</strong>f-line.<br />

3.1.1.4 Principle <strong>of</strong> flow control<br />

The <strong>reactor</strong> outlet passed through a magnetic flowmeter (FI1) which produced a signal that was<br />

recorded by a programmable logic controller (PLC). A number <strong>of</strong> different control algorithms were<br />

implemented to achieve a fixed and relatively steady flowrate. The measured flow at the outlet was<br />

used to increase or decrease the flow at the inlet by adjusting the timing <strong>of</strong> the bypass valve (FC1)<br />

opening.<br />

During the experimental studies, there were three control regimes vis. timer control, bang-bang control<br />

and Proportional Integral (PI) control.<br />

• Timer control: Before the PLC was correctly programmed a timer switch was used to open<br />

and close the by-pass valve for fixed times in a fixed control cycle. For example, the pump<br />

would be set to turn on for 10 seconds in every minute. The timer control system had no<br />

mechanism for adapting when the pump delivery rate changed. Pump delivery was erratic due<br />

to the heterogeneous nature <strong>of</strong> the wastewater, particularly the presence <strong>of</strong> rags that would jam<br />

or block the pump impellor. There was thus little control over the amount <strong>of</strong> wastewater<br />

delivered to the <strong>reactor</strong>. Further, turning the pump on and <strong>of</strong>f so frequently resulted in damage<br />

to the pump motor and electrical circuits.<br />

• On-<strong>of</strong>f control to flow setpoint: A bang-bang control algorithm was implemented on the<br />

PLC. This aimed to control the flow rate to not exceed a specified flow rate. This target flow<br />

was determined as the flow required to achieve a target hydraulic retention time (T-HRT).<br />

This method <strong>of</strong> control did not allow compensation for periods <strong>of</strong> high or low flow, and no<br />

record was made by the PLC <strong>of</strong> the actual amount <strong>of</strong> flow through the <strong>reactor</strong>. Therefore, the<br />

average applied hydraulic retention time (A-HRT) cannot be accurately calculated when bangbang<br />

flow control was implemented. A sample <strong>of</strong> flow data for bang-bang control is presented<br />

in Section 5.2.1.<br />

• PI control <strong>of</strong> hydraulic retention time: A Proportional-Integral (PI) controller was<br />

programmed into the PLC using a time-slicing algorithm where, for a fixed cycle <strong>of</strong> 1 min, the<br />

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