Conceptual design of industrial wastewater treatment processes: primary treatment

The conceptual design of industrial wastewater treatment flowsheets implies the selection and sequencing of technologies in order to obtain a set of f easible treatment options, each achieving the proposed treatment goals. A d esign methodology was developed to support engineers in the conceptual desi gn of wastewater treatment facilities and help them to improve creativeness and effectiveness. This hierarchical process design package can be describ ed as an expert system coupled to a relational database and external progra ms integrated as a knowledge-based management system. This study describes the proposed hierarchical procedure and the primary treatment selection pro totype. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.