Fuzzy Expert System for Bulking Prediction and Mitigation in the Activeated Sludge Process

A fuzzy expert system for prediction and mitigation of sludge bulking was developed for an activated sludge process which treats waste water from a food industry. The developed system is able not only to infer the degree of progress of sludge bulking but also to generate remedial operation guides which may be sent to the local controllers as remote set points. One of the important consequences through this study is the BI (Bulking Index) inferred by the bulking prediction expert system was found to have a close correlation with the SVI (Sludge Volume Index) which is a practical measure of degree of bulking but needs tedious chores for its measurement.