Fuzzy logic observers for a biological wastewater treatment process Original Research Article

In order to monitor and control biological processes, on-line measurements of the living part of the system are necessary but difficult or too expensive to obtain. This paper presents fuzzy estimators for the concentration of the substrate at the input, the total and partial alkalinity in the influent and in the effluent and the volatile fatty acid concentration at the output of the reactor. Those observers are built on available on-line measurements like pH, temperature, input flow rate and output gaseous flow rate. The observers are tested on a pilot-scale anaerobic digestion reactor for the treatment of raw industrial wine distillery vinasses.