The objetive of this study is the practical application of an ammonium-based oxygen control for the operational optimization of the membrane wastewater treatment plant in Stahnsdorf by means of modern measurement technology on a pilot scale. For this purpose, the following two research questions are posed: How can ammonium-based oxygen control be implemented for MBR technology with safe nitrogen removal? And can energy consumption be reduced using ammonium-based oxygen control?

To answer these questions, oxygen-based oxygen control was conducted for a period of 17 days and ammonium-based control for 57 days for comparison. This was initially started as a "feedback control", but was changed to the "feedforward control" due to unreliable probe measurements in the nitrification and effluent. Laboratory and on-line data were collected over these sampling periods. The experimental results showed that effluent quality is highly dependent on the reliability of the measurement technique. The calculation of air volume and power consumption suggested that the ammonium-based control saved both air volume and power, and thus energy. However, effluent quality needs to be improved, which can be solved by expansion with other controls.