Monitoring microbial pollution indicators requires time-consuming laboratory analyses which give results after several hours or days. A big effort is then carried out by researchers in developing sensors for bacteria detection, but so far these technologies need further testing on wastewater applications. In this work, a soft-sensor for real-time monitoring of E. coli concentration is proposed. Conventional wastewater quality indicators are tested as predictors of E. coli concentration. The soft-sensor is calibrated and tested on data from the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant before the disinfection stage. Among the tested models, artificial neural networks showed the best performances over the test data (R2 = 0.80). The soft-sensor predictions were also evaluated over an historical scenario of the predictors, where it proved to be a useful support for real-time detection of E. coli concentration and thus to control the subsequent disinfection process.

Development of a soft-sensor for real-time estimation of E. coli concentration at the inlet of wastewater disinfection

Foschi J.;Turolla A.;Antonelli M.
2021-01-01

Abstract

Monitoring microbial pollution indicators requires time-consuming laboratory analyses which give results after several hours or days. A big effort is then carried out by researchers in developing sensors for bacteria detection, but so far these technologies need further testing on wastewater applications. In this work, a soft-sensor for real-time monitoring of E. coli concentration is proposed. Conventional wastewater quality indicators are tested as predictors of E. coli concentration. The soft-sensor is calibrated and tested on data from the effluent of a wastewater treatment plant before the disinfection stage. Among the tested models, artificial neural networks showed the best performances over the test data (R2 = 0.80). The soft-sensor predictions were also evaluated over an historical scenario of the predictors, where it proved to be a useful support for real-time detection of E. coli concentration and thus to control the subsequent disinfection process.
2021
Proc. 5th IWA Specialized International Conference on Ecotechnologies For Wastewater Treatment (ecoSTP2021)
bacteria monitoring; disinfection, microbial indicators; process control; soft-sensor
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
ecoSTP2020+1 - Abstract 4845868 - UV & ANN.pdf

Accesso riservato

Descrizione: Abstract accepted as platform presentation
: Pre-Print (o Pre-Refereeing)
Dimensione 315.44 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
315.44 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1196517
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact