Improved process control of an industrial sludge centrifuge-dryer installation through binary logistic regression modeling of the fouling issues

Biological wastewater treatment generates huge amounts of waste sludge which need to be dewatered and eventually dried to minimize transportation and incineration costs. A characteristic feature of sludge in this context is that it turns into a sticky substance during its drying process inducing fouling problems in the drying installation. At the wastewater treatment plant of Monsanto in Antwerp, Belgium, one enclosed centrifuge-dryer system is used to dry the sludge. In the past, this installation had to be shut down regularly due to dryer fouling problems. To avoid these operational problems, a binary logistic regression analysis is presented in this research based on a 5-year database, resulting in an empirical model for the evaluation of the dryer fouling risk as a function of the sludge feed characteristics. The model inputs are the sludge volume index (SVI) and the dosing of clay additive and tertiary (flotation) sludge, the latter containing polyaluminumchloride (PACl), to the sludge feed of this particular system. By exploiting the knowledge captured by this model, the derived control strategy is based on the value of the SVI. Whenever the SVI is high the original high clay dosing to the feed needs to be maintained. At moderate SVI values, implying an intrinsically better sludge dewaterability, the strategy dictates a reduction in the clay dosing to the sludge feed to have a reduced sludge solids dryness after dewatering, thereby avoiding that the sludge exhibits its most sticky phase when passing the most fouling sensitive part of the dryer. When the SVI is lower than 50 mL/g the control strategy states that conditioning of the sludge with PACl is required to mask the stickiness instead of postponing it, avoiding that the stickiness of the sludge already hampers the dewatering stage of the process. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publication year:2012

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Authors from:Private, Higher Education