TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention concerns an assembly for the automated management of plants for the biological treatment of wastewater .

BACKGROUND ART

In particular, the present invention relates to continuous flow plants for the biological treatment of wastewater having a predenitro/nitro process.

These types of plants substantially comprise a first tank called "anoxic", in which the denitrification process takes place, and a tank called "aerobic", in which the nitrification process takes place. The two tanks are hydraulically connected to each other by means of a recirculation system. The nitrification process consists in oxidisation of the ammonia by the action of the oxygen. The ammonia is oxidised first to nitrites, as an intermediate reaction, and then to nitrates, as a final reaction. The denitrification process consists in reduction of the nitrates first to nitrites and then to molecular nitrogen by the action of bacteria in an environment without oxygen and in the presence of biodegradable organic substance. As is known to a person skilled in the art, the energy and production efficiency of the processes described above depends closely on the ratio of the concentrations of the compounds involved in the oxidisation and reduction reactions respectively. In particular, the nitrification process entails the consumption of molecular oxygen which is purposely blown into the aerobic tank, while the denitrification process entails the consumption of biodegradable organic substance present in the wastewater and necessary for the activity of the bacteria. In other words, in the continuous flow activated sludge systems, the wastewater is treated continuously in the aerobic tank, where oxidisation of the ammonia produces first nitrites and then nitrates, due to the action of the molecular oxygen purposely blown in, and in the anoxic tank for transformation of the nitrates first into nitrites and then into molecular nitrogen by means of the denitrifying bacteria and biodegradable organic substance. As anticipated above, the tanks in which the oxidisation and reduction processes take place are connected to each other by a recirculation system comprising a recirculation pump for conveying the water from the aerobic tank to the anoxic tank.

The effectiveness of the denitrification process that takes place in the anoxic tank is a function of the ratio between the quantity of biodegradable organic material and the quantity of nitrites and nitrates recirculated from the aerobic tank.

For some time, the need has been felt for an instrument able to continuously verify the nitrification and denitrification processes in progress in order to intervene to improve their efficiency in terms of wastewater treatment and energy consumption . Currently, in small and medium-sized plants, the variability of the ratio between the quantity of biodegradable organic material and the quantity of nitrites and nitrates in the anoxic tank, due to the variability of the incoming load, is not managed since the flow rate of the recirculation pump is maintained constant. In only a few rare cases is the recirculation flow rate varied manually by an operator on the basis of his professional experience. Obviously, this situation cannot meet the required efficiency and productivity needs . The instrumentation used so far for this type of plant consists in a plurality of probes, each of which is specific for one of the compounds involved in the oxidisation and reduction processes. This instrumentation suffers from the drawback of being particularly costly and, therefore, can be applied only to plants with dimensions that justify the expense .

The need is particularly felt for an automatic method for effectively managing the blowing of oxygen into the aerobic tank. In fact, the oxygen requirement varies according to the quality of the wastewater which in turn varies throughout the day. To understand the importance of this aspect, it should be highlighted that the consumption of oxygen in the above plants is responsible for approximately 75% of the energy consumption.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide an automated method for the management of plants for the biological treatment of wastewater, the technical characteristics of which are such as to improve the efficiency of said treatment and, at the same time, ensure running costs which are limited and, therefore, advantageous also for small and medium-sized plants .

The subject of the present invention is an assembly for the automated management of plants for the biological treatment of wastewater, the essential characteristics of which are described in claim 1 and the preferred and/or auxiliary characteristics of which are described in claim 2. A further subject of the present invention is a method for the automated management of plants for the biological treatment of wastewater, the essential characteristics of which are described in claim 3 and the preferred and/or auxiliary characteristics of which are described in claim 4-6.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The following example is provided for illustrative non- limiting purposes, for a better understanding of the invention with the help of the figure of the accompanying drawing, which illustrates in an extremely schematic manner the assembly subject of the present invention applied to a water treatment plant shown only partially.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The figure shows overall by the number 1, and in an extremely schematic manner, a continuous flow plant for the treatment of wastewater with parts removed for the sake of simplicity.

The plant 1 comprises an anoxic tank 2 supplied by the wastewater coming from a supply system 3 of the water to be treated, an aerobic tank 4 designed to receive the water coming from the anoxic tank 2 by means of the transfer pipes 5, and a recirculation system 6 designed to recirculate the water from the aerobic tank 4 to the anoxic tank 2.

The plant 1 provides continuous flow biological treatment of the wastewater having a predenitro/nitro process. The plant 1 is supplied with wastewater comprising nitrogen and biodegradable organic material. The nitrogen arrives mainly in the form of ammonia (60-80%) and organic nitrogen, divided into soluble and particulate. Both are subsequently converted into ammonia. The organic nitrogen component becomes soluble via the ammonification process, while the particulate component becomes soluble via the hydrolysis process. The ammonia is removed in two stages: nitrification and denitrification . The former converts the ammonia into nitrates while the latter converts the nitrates into free nitrogen.

The nitrification process takes place exclusively in the presence of oxygen and is carried out by a group of autotrophic microorganisms, called nitrifying microorganisms. The conditions in which the dissolved oxygen is present are called aerobic conditions. The denitri fication process, on the other hand, is carried out by heterotrophic microorganisms, called denitrifying microorganisms, in the absence of oxygen. The conditions in which the dissolved oxygen is not present are called anoxic conditions. In anoxic conditions the denitrifying microorganisms can convert the organic material and the nitrates into free nitrogen and carbon dioxide, causing the microorganisms to grow. Since the conditions in which the two processes take place are different, they necessarily have to take place in separate tanks and the plant 1 currently represents the most commonly adopted solution. In the aerobic tank the nitrification process takes place, which consists in oxidisation of the ammonia nitrogen with oxygen to produce first nitrites (intermediate reaction) and then nitrates (final reaction) . In the anoxic tank, the denitrification process takes place, in anoxic conditions and in the presence of biodegradable organic material, in which the nitrogen of the nitrates and/or of the nitrites is reduced to molecular nitrogen.

In the figure, the number 7 indicates overall an assembly for management of the continuous flow plant for treatment of the wastewater according to a non-limiting embodiment of the present invention.

The assembly 7 comprises a pH measuring probe 8 housed inside the anoxic tank 2, a redox potential measuring probe 9 also housed inside the anoxic tank 2, a pH measuring probe 10 housed inside the aerobic tank 4, a dissolved oxygen measuring probe 15 also housed inside the aerobic tank 4, a control unit 12 arranged to receive the signals from the probes 8, 9, 10 and 15, a variable-capacity pump 13 inserted in the recirculation system 6 and controlled by the control unit 12, and a blower 14 arranged to blow the oxygen in a variable quantity into the aerobic tank and controlled by the control unit 12. The control unit 12 receives the pH and redox potential information from the probes 8, 9 and 10 and, on the basis of the description provided below, accordingly regulates the flow rate of the pump 13 and the blowing in of air by the blower 14, by measurement of the dissolved oxygen.

The inventor of the present invention has identified three redox operating ranges for the denitrification process in the anoxic tank 2. The first operating range is characterized by a positive redox potential value above +50 mV ( indicatively around 100 mV) , which indicates an incomplete denitrification process, due to the fact that a part of the NO _x (nitrates and/or nitrites) present in the tank have not been reduced to N ₂ ; the second operating range is characterized by very negative redox potential values below - 250 mV (generally below -300 mV) , which indicates an excess of biodegradable organic material relative to the quantity of NO _x present in the tank which could, on the other hand, be used to denitrify a further quantity of nitrates and nitrites; the third operating range, characterized by negative redox potential values between -200mV and -50mV, is characterized by concentrations of NO _x near to zero, and indicates a correct and balanced ratio between the biodegradable organic material and the nitrogen to be denitrified. The control unit 12, via the redox potential measuring probe 9, receives information on which of the three operating ranges the denitrification process is working in and, adopting control logics with the pH signal and the parameters previously set as a reference, communicates to the pump 13 the correct flow rate to be assumed. In particular: the control unit 12 (a) if it receives information that the denitrification process is in the first redox range, will send the command to the recirculation pump 13 to reduce its flow rate so as to reduce the quantity of nitrites and nitrates present in the anoxic tank 2, and will begin to monitor the pH signal, since it is a direct and rapid indicator of the course of the denitrification process. In fact, this signal will begin to increase with the change in flow rate of the recirculation pump and must continue to do so until a maximum point is reached. If a negative value for the redox potential signal also corresponds to this point, the internal recirculation flow rate can be validated as the reference flow rate. If, on the other hand, the redox potential value remains positive, the recirculation flow rate must be further reduced until when, at the maximum reached by the pH signal, the redox potential signal tends to an asymptote within the range corresponding to the third operating range; (b) if it receives the information that the denitrification process is in the second redox range, it will send the command to the recirculation pump 13 to increase its flow rate so as to increase the quantity of nitrites and nitrates present in the anoxic tank 2, until when, always monitoring the pH signal dynamics, the redox potential signal again reaches the values corresponding to the third operating range; (c) if it receives the information that the denitrification process is in the third redox range, it will not command the recirculation pump 13 to modify the flow rate.

From the pH measuring probe 8, the control unit 12 receives information on the passage from operation according to the first or the second redox range to correct operation of the third redox range. Lastly, the dynamic analysis of the correlation between pH and redox potential (Pearson coefficient) allows completion of the passage between the above-mentioned operating ranges to be determined in a unique manner .

In other words, in the control unit 12 the information is set relative to the three redox ranges and the consequent responses of the recirculation pump 13 in terms of flow rate. In this way, if, due to an unbalanced ratio between biodegradable organic material and quantity of nitrates and/or nitrites, the process is not able to function structurally, the management assembly of the present invention can verify it and intervene to overcome the deficit if it is not structural. If the deficit of organic substance is structural, the system is able to drive an external metering pump for input of the organic substance strictly necessary to complete the denitrification process.

Similarly, the nitrification process in the aerobic tank 4 can be controlled via continuous measurement and processing of the pH values obtained from the probe 10. Typically, at the inlets to the domestic waste treatment plants, especially medium and small-size plants, the pollution load can be characterized, in terms of flow rate and concentrations, in three ways: high load (in the morning), medium load (in the afternoon) and low load (during the night) . By continuous analysis of the pH signals, it is possible to identify the beginning and end of all the above-mentioned load modes, thus allowing differentiated management thereof.

In particular, the greater the nitrogen load difference in the aerobic tank 4 for the three modes, the more evident the pH difference between one mode and the other. Having identified the neighbourhoods of the initial and end mode time instants, ad hoc management (according to the actual polluting load at the inlet) of the aeration system is possible, the latter being, as previously mentioned, responsible for approximately 75% of the plant energy consumption .

The control unit 12 will command the flow rate of the blower 14 according to the load mode, identified by analysis of the pH signal transmitted to it by the probe 10. In particular, the control unit 12 will command the blower 4 to increase the flow rate of 0 ₂ in the high load mode and reduce it when the load is medium and low.

To control the blowing of oxygen into the oxidization tank, a PID controller is provided to regulate the flow rate of the blower by means of inverter, using the DO as a controlled variable and fixing the set-point at a (variable) value which will be a function of the current status of the process, i.e. high, medium or low load. The numerical analysis carried out with the pH measuring probe 10 communicates to the control unit 12 the load status at the inlet as anticipated above, and the control unit, on the basis of previously set parameters, responds by setting the set- point of the PID regulator on the dissolved oxygen, measured with the probe 15, for example, to a value of 2 mg/l when the load is high, 1 mg/l when there is a medium load at the inlet and 0.5 mg/l when the load at the inlet is low.

Assuming a plant already having a constant PID type control (with oxygen set-point fixed at 2 mg/l, for example) and with a maximum load which is discharged in approximately 7-9 hours, the consumption in the other 16-17 hours, which can be divided into medium and low load, with estimated duration of 7-9 hours each, will be at least more than halved thanks to the invention, with a saving in energy consumption of over 40%. Optimization of the system will undoubtedly result in increased savings.

The present invention overcomes the limit of the lack of technological equipment in many medium and small-sized plants due to the high costs involved, making it financially unsustainable. In fact, for production of the proposed system, only robust, reliable, low-cost probes are used, such as the pH and redox potential measuring probes, which allow control systems to be produced at more advantageous costs than the current ones.