Targeted dosing of chemicals for better clarification performance with less consumption
The use of chemicals such as acids, alkalis, flocculants or flocculation aids is necessary in many areas of wastewater treatment and sludge treatment in order to achieve the required process performance. Ideally, the right chemicals should be added in exactly the right dosage to avoid either underdosing or overdosing. While underdosing leads to reduced performance, overdosing leads to increased operating costs and can also have a negative impact on the process.
The fluctuations in concentration and volume that often occur in practice make it difficult to achieve exactly the right dosage, and attempts are made to get these fluctuations under control with large mixing and equalisation tanks. The disadvantage here, however, is the space and investment required for basins and aggregates for the necessary homogenisation (e.g. circulation pumps or aerators). Often, however, the fluctuations cannot be completely eliminated despite the equalisation basins, so that in practice manual intervention is always necessary to adjust dosing to the respective situation. In the best case, this manual intervention reduces chemical costs, but leads to increased personnel costs.