The primary mandate of wastewater treatment facilities is the limitation of pollutant discharges, however both continued tightening of permit limits and unique challenges associated with improving sustainability (i.e., resource recovery) demand innovation. Enabling increasingly sophisticated treatment processes in a cost-effective and energy-efficient way requires expanding capabilities for rapid, accurate real-time quantification of a broadened range of wastewater constituents as well as envisioning novel feedback control strategies based on these signals. This manuscript quantitatively compares results of early adoption of instrumentation and process upgrades at operating wastewater treatment facilities and proof-of-concept research results, with a focus on leveraging real-time sensing of wastewater chemistry for process monitoring and control. Up to 10% improvement in nutrient removal and energy savings are already being achieved, yet shortfalls in hardware readiness, lack of field-relevant context of research results, and a widening gap between the training of environmental engineers and the skillsets required to develop and maintain sensor-driven solutions present challenges. A forward-looking roadmap highlights opportunities for accelerating innovation, including (1) ensuring research results are published in units and context that allow operators to make an informed cost–benefit analysis with explicit comparison to existing operational baselines, (2) promoting integrated design of hardware and software to generate novel approaches for improved sensing of target analytes, (3) strengthening partnerships nationally, including for data sharing, field testing of new hardware, and expanding educational curricula, and (4) building forums for sharing of expertise and data among plant operators to enable smaller facilities to more cost-effectively collect information required to design and evaluate upgrades.

中文翻译：

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实现废水处理过程自动化：利用实时感测，数据分析和在线控制方面的创新

废水处理设施的主要任务是限制污染物排放，但是，持续严格的许可证限制和与提高可持续性相关的独特挑战（即，资源回收）需求创新。要以经济高效和节能的方式实现日益复杂的处理过程，就需要扩展能力，以对各种废水成分进行快速，准确的实时定量分析，并根据这些信号设想出新颖的反馈控制策略。该手稿定量比较了运营中的废水处理设施早期采用仪器和过程升级的结果以及概念验证的研究结果，重点是利用废水化学物的实时感测进行过程监视和控制。营养去除率和节能效果已提高了10％，但是硬件准备不足，缺乏与现场相关的研究成果，环境工程师培训与开发和维护传感器驱动的解决方案所需的技能之间的差距越来越大，这带来了挑战。前瞻性路线图强调了加快创新的机会，包括（1）确保研究结果按单位和背景发布，使运营商可以进行明智的成本效益分析，并与现有运营基准进行明确比较；（2）促进集成设计硬件和软件，以产生新颖的方法来改善目标分析物的检测；（3）在全国范围内加强合作伙伴关系，包括数据共享，新硬件的现场测试以及扩展教育课程，