Development of New Process Control Scheme for Wastewater Chlorination and Dechlorination Using ORP/pH

Due to its efficiency and relatively low capital demanding, many wastewater treatment plants have applied chlorination for disinfection of treated wastewater before discharging it. However, determination of optimal doses of chlorine for chlorination and sulfite for dechlorination, which removes residual chlorine, should be made to guarantee complete destruction of microorganisms in treated wastewater and to protect aquatic life in a receiving stream. In this study, a new ORP/pH based approach is presented to determine endpoints of breakpoint chlorination and dechlorinating titration and to optimize doses of chlorine and sulfite. In this new method, significant points on the ORP and pH profiles occurring during the titrations for chlorination and dechlorination were utilized to determine chlorine demand and sulfite dosage.