Abstract
The wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is a complex system due to its non-linearity, time-variance and multiple time scales in its dynamics among others. The most important control parameter in a WWTP is the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration. The tracking problem of the DO concentration is one of the most fundamental issues in biological wastewater treatment. Proper control of DO concentration is necessary to achieve adequate biological conditions for microorganisms in the WWTP. Aeration is an important process to achieve those conditions, but it is expensive. It was performed using an aeration system, which includes blowers, pipelines and diffusers. This paper presents a new approach to designing a non-linear control system for controlling DO concentration using an adaptive backstepping algorithm. A model of biological processes and aeration system were applied in designing the control system. Simulation tests of the control system were performed and very good results on control were obtained. The proposed solution has proved to be effective and computationally efficient.