Convex Pollution Control of Wastewater Treatment Systems
Abstract
We design a model predictive controller (MPC) for managing the actuators in sewer networks. It minimizes flooding and combined-sewer overflow (CSO) during rain and pollution at other times. To make the problem tractable, we use a convex relaxation of the microbial growth kinetics and a physically motivated linearization of the mass flow bilinearities. With these approximations, the trajectory optimization in each control period is a second-order cone program (SOCP). In simulation, the controller releases roughly 15% less pollutant mass than a conventional controller while treating nearly the same volume of flow. It does so by better balancing the flow over the treatment plants and over time.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
Hydraulic flow and structures
Publication details
- Journal / source
- IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
- Publisher
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2885–2892
- Publication date
- 9 June 2026
- Language
- EN