Modelling and optimal control of countercurrent ion exchange process

Abstract

The problem for wastewater treatment is very important these days because of population increase and industry development. Ion exchange technology has proved its positive qualities in domestic lives and industry, but the ion exchange process still needs deeper understanding and improving. That is why a new pilot plant has been built in Chemical Engineering Department at Peninsula Technikon. In addition to the treatment of domestic effluents there are other processes which the ion exchange is suited for, such as the recovery and the reuse of industrial effluents. The proposed control system is developed in such a way that it does not have to depend on a certain effluent. The selection of the process and the development of techniques for its control fall into the national needs of improving people's lives (e.g. giving them excess to clean water) and quality of the environmental conditions (treatment of toxic waste substances). There is a need for an application area for modeling and control methods developed in the field of control engineering for the Department of Electrical Engineering; on the other hand a need of control techniques for the development in the Department of Chemical Engineering technological process. This multidisciplinary liaison between the two Engineering departments promotes joint research activities and relevance between them. It also equips the graduating engineer with the relevant experience into working in a team of multidisciplinary engineering fields.Community and industrial relevance of the research study is that in addition to treatment of domestic effluents, the ion exchange process is also particularly well suited for: the desalination of hard waters, combined neutralization and desalination of alcohol effluents, such as mine drainage, acid mineral tailings, paper bleach affluent. the pretreatment of reverse osmosis feed for the removal of organic and colloidal particulate.