10th IWA Specialised Conference Design, Operation and Economics of Large Wastewater Treatment Plants, Vienna, 9-13 September 2007 pattern search procedure Initialize with while termination criterion is not satisfied do Compute using Hooke and Jeeves exploratory moves such that if then else end if Update, end while 1 Isabel Espírito Santo, 1 Edite Fernandes, 1 Madalena Araújo, 2 Eugénio Ferreira 1 Systems and Production Department, 2 Center of Biological Engineering Minho University, Braga, Portugal 1 2 With the growing need to decrease the installation and operation costs of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), the search for a minimum cost design is becoming more and more challenging. To be able to achieve an optimal WWTP design an optimization procedure that considers the mathematical modelling of the secondary treatment, an activated sludge system that consists of an aeration tank and a secondary settler, and the definition of a cost function is carried out. The impact of the primary treatment on the cost of the secondary treatment is also reported. Primary treatment efficiency TSSVaVa GSGS AsAs hCODN total cost (10 6 €) Alijó Murça Sabrosa Sanfins do Douro References:. Ekama G.A., Barnard J.L., Günthert F.W., Krebs P., McCorquodale J.A., Parker D.S. and Wahlberg E.J. (1978). Secondary Settling Tanks: Theory, Modeling, Design and Operation. Technical Report 6, IAWQ – International Association on Water Quality. Hooke R. and Jeeves T. A. (1961). Direct Search Solution of Numerical and Statistical Problems, Journal on Associated Computation, 8, pp Lewis R. M. and Torkzon V. (1999) Pattern Search Algorithms for Bound Constrained Minimization, SIAM Journal on Optimization, 9(4), pp Takács I., Patry G. G. and Nolasco D. (1991). A Dynamic Model of the Clarification-Thickening Process, Water Research, Vol. 25, no. 10, pp Tyteca D., Smeers Y. and Nyns E. J. (1977). Mathematical Modeling and Economic Optimization of Wastewater Treatment Plants, CRC Critical Reviews in Environmental Control, 8 (1), pp Methods Cost Minimization of a WWTP Using an Augmented Lagrangian Pattern Search Based Solver In the presence of non-smooth functions as encountered in some of the mathematical equations involved in the model, a derivative-free optimization technique is the most appropriate. So, a pattern search algorithm is proposed. This algorithm relies on an augmented Lagrangian function in order to obtain a solution that satisfies the equality and inequality constraints of the problem. constraints: -mass balances around the Aeration Tank (ASM1) -constraints of the Secondary Settler (combination of ATV and double exponential model) -composite variables, quality constraints, flow and mass balances around the system, simple bounds objective function: The total cost (TC) function results from the sum of the investment and operation costs Augmented Lagrangian pattern search mathematical formulation: Augmented Lagrangian penalty function: Lagrangian multiplier procedure Initialize variables and algorithm parameters while convergence criteria are not satisfied do pattern search procedure: approximately solve subproblem Update multipliers  j and j, penalty parameter  j, end while Results and conclusions Location of the WWTPs AlijóMurçaSabrosa Sanfins do Douro Pop. equivalent influent flow (m 3 /d) peak flow (m 3 /h) COD (kg/m 3 ) TSS (kg/m 3 ) This work presents a new derivative-free optimization algorithm for solving a problem that considers the WWTP design, in which the objective is to minimize the costs associated with the installation and operation of an activated sludge system. Four real WWTPs were analyzed and the mathematical modelling of the activated sludge system was carried out using the ASM1 model for the aeration tank and a combination of the ATV and double exponential models for the settling tank. The cost function was obtained using real data provided by a portuguese WWTP company builder. This mathematical programming problem was solved using an augmented Lagrangian pattern search method. The obtained optimal WWTP designs are robust and economically attractive. The presence of the primary treatment causes a reduction in the total cost: from 13.6% (Alijó) to 44.2% (Murça).