Wastewater treatment Expert system

1. Wastewater treatment Expert system University of Veszprém, Veszprém EuroTrend Informatikai Kft., Budapest karpatia@almos.vein.hu

2. Aim of the project The primary aim for the project is to create a complex expert system and database for optimizing the design and operation of municipal sewage treatment plants in Hungary.

3. Rationale Part 1 Developing this system for Hungary is highly important, as accession to the EU requires a huge expansion and reconstruction effort. The local governments of small communities often lack expertise both in scientific and technical knowledge regarding sewage treatment. These local governments may also lack knowledge and experience in applying for financial assistance from the State, the EU or other funding sources.

4. Rationale Part 2 For Hungary, a serious problem is that since 1985 there have been no new design guidelines or proposals set by the responding standardization authorities. As such, the permitting authorities have no measures in their hands to evaluate and differentiate the proposals of the different designers and constructors.

5. Rationale Part 3 The expert system would help avoid such problems by providing a tool for the representatives of the population to make better decisions regarding the optimum technology for their community. The local government could with careful consideration specify the requirements of construction and performance contracts. It would also be valuable to the permitting authorities as they regulate new publicly owned treatment works (POTW) and the expansion of existing systems.

6. Rationale Part 4 The expert system will include a dynamic process simulation able to model the operation of the plant and the quality of the effluent. It can be used during design and planning for optimisation of the operation, and minimizing the running costs (mainly aeration and pumping energy). On the basis of the dynamic simulation of the wastewater treatment processes, the expert system will be able to optimise the operation of currently operating units as well as proposed units. The optimisation of energy use alone can result in savings of 40-50 % in electric energy consumption.

7. Results of the project • Evaluating the practice of the sewage treatment in the country • Modelling a simulation • Operation control, and practical use

8. Conclusion An analogous situation is the reuse of the liquid manure, or the filtration residue of the manure. In this case there is no health based restriction of land application. In the case of methanization of the suspended manure in mixture with other animal wastes, the regulations and permitting requirements are confusing at the moment.