The Importance and Monitoring Requirements of Mass Balances

One of the first steps in a wastewater facility or master planning effort should be the determination of a plant mass balance. Mass balances allow plant staff and design engineers to describe the performance and capacity of each unit process within the plant and how that performance affects other unit processes. One of the main difficulties in the mass balance development is there is rarely enough plant operating data and process information to complete the balance without making significant assumptions. Another issue is that even when there is adequate operating data, it often doesn't correlate to other data measured within the plant when all of the unit processes are combined together into one balance. This paper intends to offer guidance to plant operations staff and design engineers on the importance and methods of obtaining adequate data to complete an accurate plant mass balance.