Scottish Power signs contract for optimised control of biological process at waste water treatment plant in Daldowie

In News — September 19 2011

Following an initial demonstration of the benefits, ADEX will instal an optimised ADEX control system at the Daldowie waste water plant in Glasgow. This system, which will be integrated fully into the existing control system, is designed to reduce energy costs (compared to current levels) to a minimum while maintaining or exceeding waste water purity levels required at the plant outfall.

The biological waste water treatment process at Daldowie requires the introduction of sufficient levels of dissolved oxygen to enable aerobic micro bacteria to function efficiently and so deliver a high level of waste water purity before release to the environment.

The energy costs associated with the blowers which supply this oxygen to the tanks is extremely high, so the prime focus will be on minimising this by increasing the precision of dissolved oxygen control, a task with considerable challenges due to the evolution of the bacteria, the varying amounts of waste in the tanks and the fact that the oxygen is supplied via a common air manifold which feeds all the pools at the same time and makes individual tank dynamics operate rather unpredictably. The optimised control system will also take into account ammonia levels at the plant outlet thereby optimising the need for oxygen in the tanks and so reduce energy costs further.