Testing Expert System for Activated Sludge Process Control

Abstract

The wastewater treatment plant operator's problem in collecting, storing, manipulating, and interpreting data is an information‐management problem. It is believed that the operator's performance in controlling the treatment process can be improved if he is equipped with a convenient and efficient method for extracting useful information from the data. This paper presents a rule‐based expert system within an integrated information‐management system. The expert system only considers the activated sludge process, but the information system is for the entire treatment plant. The expert system provides the operator with timely advice based on the latest available process data as interpreted by a set of rules constructed with the help of experienced and skilled operators. The main purpose of the paper is to present case studies of an approach for developing and refining the control rules and for testing their accuracy and effectiveness. The expert system consistently reproduced the expert operator's decisions and performed better than nonexpert operators.