Targeted Collaborative Research on Upset Early Warning Systems Phase I.

Principal Investigator:

Timothy Ellis, tge@iastate.edu (other projects)

Other Authors: Ki Young Park Brian K. Standley, Ki Young Park

Project Status: In Progress

Start Date: 09/15/2002
End Date: 01/15/2003


Research Objective: On-line respirometry has the potential to serve as a useful tool in the detection of pending upsets to wastewater treatment plants. While this potential has been available for some time, actual usage data is rare. In the meantime, municipal WWTP’s continue to rely heavily upon industrial pretreatment programs for the protection of their biological processes. While upsets may be rare, the consequences can be severe in terms of ecosystem damage, drinking water availability, and regulatory fines. Until operators are able to justify the capital, operations, and maintenance costs of these devices with the risk of potential upset, it is not likely that on-line respirometry will be widely accepted as an upset early warning device. To make this transition will require efforts by both manufacturers and users to develop these devices into robust, low maintenance, user-friendly units that can offer easily interpretable data not only on process upset but also on other variables such as process efficiency and oxygen utilization. This paper is meant to serve as an overview of the various types of online respirometers that could be used to detect upset conditions. This overview is followed by qualities one should look for in a respirometer for upset early warning and highlights from several applications.

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