Architecture of decision support system for WASDA : the module for sequencing batch reactor

A decision support system for wastewater treatment plant (WASDA) was developed to make appropriate decisions on plant design and process selection. WASDA mainly focused on municipal and industrial applications to produce conceptual and process design for primary, secondary and advanced treatments. It consists of multiple modules such as equalization tank, coagulation, neutralization, conventional activated sludge, extended aeration, sequencing batch reactor, oxidation ditch, rotating biological contactor and membrane system. This paper presents the architecture of WASDA for Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR), which includes the structural and developmental cycles of the SBR module that is available within WASDA package. Expert knowledge in the information base was assembled from design textbooks, manuals and other design requirements stipulated by the Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE) and Department of Sewerage Services (DoSS) and converted into Artificial Intelligence (AI) rules. The study provides a user-friendly approach to access essential knowledge about SBR and the procedures to design SBR, including design requirements, facilities selection and analysis of selected process performance. The design conducted using WASDA was verified based on manual calculation and a worksheet (Mathcad 11). The paper concludes that SBR could be designed using WASDA decision support system comparable to other method such as spreadsheet calculation.