AWWA MTC69732

The objective of this study was to develop a new intelligent aeration control system (IACS) to control energy consumption and membrane fouling under all conditions. The basic idea of IACS is that the mode and intensity of aeration are automatically adjusted from the feedback of information on foulant concentration and fouling rate. A set of equations to control aeration was derived based on feed water quality and fouling index. Then, IACS was applied to a pilot plant to verify its efficiency. The work was done at pilot scale using a 500 m³/day plant with submerged microfilters (Cleanfil-S20, Kolon, Korea) in a full-scale water treatment plant. Raw water collected from the Han River was used as feed water and poly-aluminum chloride was used as the coagulant. A computer-based control and data acquisition system was designed, installed and tested on the pilot plant for intelligent aeration control. The validity of this control method was examined using the pilot-scale MF system in long-term operation. Based on the experimental results, it is likely that the IACS is advantageous over other existing aeration methods (continuous or periodic aerations). The reduction in energy consumption was up to 70 % while the transmembrane pressure was stable even with raw water of high turbidity. Nevertheless, an adjustment of coagulant dose and maintenance cleaning condition was required to control membrane fouling due to algae and organics. Includes 6 references, tables, figures.