Economic optimization of Wastewater Treatment Plants using Non Linear Model Predictive Control

Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) is a really challenging problem from the point of view of being an industry process that does not deliver any turnover. Instead, the costs of operation are always to be faced against the environmental benefits. It is from this point of view that any control and operation formulation that includes economic considerations may provide useful perspectives on this respect. This work proposes the implementation of Dynamic Real Time Optimization (D-RTO) integrating the economic optimization into Non-linear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) techniques for improving the operation of WWTPs.