An industrial waste management company doubled the throughput of its reactor by measuring sludge activity in every cycle. It also found out where it was over-aerating.
A fixed cycle for a load that changes every day
The plant treats highly variable industrial effluents in an SBR reactor aerated by blowers. The cycle always had the same length, whatever the load.
Nobody was measuring what happened inside the reactor, so there was no way to know whether the cycle was too long, too short or just right.
Before
- 1 fixed-length cycle per day
- No measurement of the biology
- “Just in case” aeration
With SN8
- 2 cycles per day
- Activity measured in every cycle
- Clear view of where air is missing or wasted
The respirometer as the “eyes” of the SBR
Measure
The SN8 online respirometer, with 2 sampling points, automatically measures sludge activity (OUR/SOUR) and biodegradable COD in every cycle.
Analyse
An AI cycle analysis compares each cycle with its real biological activity and detects when the sludge has finished its job and when it has not.
Optimise
With that information the plant shortened its cycles and doubled its capacity, without construction work or a new reactor.
The same energy, badly distributed
Across 559 analysed cycles, the diagnosis found two problems at once:
- In many cycles the sludge reaches endogenous respiration long before aeration ends: 1,431 h of blowers running for nothing.
- In 45 % of cycles, on the other hand, aeration stops before degradation is complete.
- Measured avoidable energy cost: €5,153 over the period analysed, around €8,200/year with full data coverage.
Tailor-made cycles
Automatically adjust the aeration time of each cycle to the activity measured by the SN8: more air where it is needed, less where it is not.
What is happening in your reactor?
We install the SN8 respirometer at your plant as a trial with purchase option: if you are convinced, it stays; if not, we remove it.
Cycles per day from plant data. Other figures measured by the SN8 between July 2025 and September 2026, with 290 valid days out of 434. Energy calculated with a 30 kW blower and €0.12/kWh. Client anonymised.
