Process Control Improvements for Industrial Denitrification

The industrial protein and rendering facility located near Virginia’s eastern shore typically handles more than 1 MGD flow highly concentrated with nitrogen. Like many industrial plants that pause treatment operations on weekends, irregular plant-loading variability combined with high loading and low nutrient limits create carbon-dosing process control challenges with little margin for error. In this case, even resorting to a manual-dosing strategy to compensate for the variabilities often resulted in both early-week carbon underdosing and late-week carbon overdosing — creating havoc with denitrification levels and putting the plant’s permit compliance at risk.

Carbon-source supplementation in wastewater treatment directly impacts the denitrification process, so accurate dosing of carbon sources is vital for improving the quality of effluent from wastewater treatment. Adhering consistently to a well-chosen carbon-source dosing setpoint typically ensures the most efficient operation and lowest cost needed to meet wastewater-quality targets.