Optimization of economic and environmental objectives in a Non Linear Model Predictive Control applied to a wastewater treatment plant

Economic model predictive control (EMPC) combines real-time economic optimization and feedback control in the same algorithm, resulting in a single-layer structure that is especially suitable for non-linear processes operating under strong disturbances. This strategy is used to enhance the performance of WWTPs in terms of economics and effluent quality. The compromise between the optimization of economic and effluent quality objectives in the EMPC is addressed. An heuristic strategy is introduced in the formulation of the EMPC to improve its performance dealing with the multiobjective optimization.