Upgrading a decision support system for air-scour control in flat sheet membrane bioreactors

A decision support system to reduce energy consumption has been validated during five months in a flat sheet membrane bioreactor pilot plant treating urban wastewater. Membrane bioreactor technology consists of biological nutrient removal combined with physical separation using microfiltration or ultrafiltration membranes for wastewater treatment. The main operational cost in membrane bioreactors is the energy consumed by the blowers to reduce the fouling phenomenon. The paper demonstrates the benefits of the performance of the intelligent decision support system for air-scour control, in terms of energy reduction through the evolution of the fouling. Overall, the intelligent decision support system saves 25% of the air consumed, which may represent a savings of as much as 56% in terms of power consumption. However, based on the evaluation of the validation results, this control system has been upgraded to avoid any plant shutdown or data saving failure.