Target outcome · 10 to 20% reduction in aeration energy. Annual energy cost savings of $60K to $240K at mid-size plants.
Business problem
Aeration accounts for 50 to 60% of total wastewater plant electricity consumption. Operators manually adjust dissolved oxygen setpoints and blower loading two to three times per shift, optimising against a narrow view of current conditions. Continuous influent load variation, diurnal patterns, and temperature effects mean roughly 40 to 60% of the aeration energy optimisation opportunity is missed between manual adjustments.
What it does
Four specialised agents work together on a 5 to 15 minute cycle, continuously coordinating to optimise aeration energy while maintaining effluent compliance and operator-set boundaries.
4-agent team
- Process Load Monitor — characterises current and near-term oxygen demand from influent load and biological state
- Aeration Equipment Monitor — tracks blower health, efficiency, and available capacity across the fleet
- Aeration Optimiser — synthesises the two and proposes DO setpoints, blower loading, and zone airflow distribution
- Compliance Guardian — independently validates every proposed action against the DO envelope, permit margins, and sensor health. Has veto authority over any setpoint write.
What the team handles
Handles
DO setpoint adjustment per zone within the envelope, blower lead and lag selection, blower load balancing, zone airflow distribution, anticipatory DO adjustment based on load trend.
Does not handle
Blower maintenance scheduling, discharge permit compliance decisions, regulatory reporting, process upsets outside the aeration envelope, biological process design changes.
Humans retain authority over
Envelope boundary changes, blower startup and shutdown outside normal sequence, response to analyser fault conditions, monthly performance review.
Current process vs. with Agent Team
Outcomes and measurement
Specific aeration energy
DO excursion hours
Operator manual interventions on aeration
Annual aeration energy cost
*All figures are typical ranges. Achievable range depends on existing control maturity, data quality, and site-specific conditions.
Data inputs
SCADA
online effluent analysers
Historian
energy meter with tariff signal where available
weather feed
CMMS
*Categories only — no tag names or system-specific field references. Exact data mapping is scoped per site.
Scoping questions
Expect these questions in a first scoping conversation. They signal engineering discipline and help narrow the template to your specific site context.
- Is DO setpoint write access available via OPC-UA or native SCADA interface?
- What is the current DO safety envelope and who owns it?
- What is the operator appetite for autonomous setpoint changes?
- What effluent analysers are in place and how is their calibration managed?
- Is there a historian with at least 12 months of aeration data at one-minute resolution?
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