Abstract: This paper mainly discusses the design of distributed effluent treatment systems with
single contaminant. A new method is put forward and four basic rules are provided. The key
point of the method is that global optimality is obtained by guaranteeing the optimality of
each step taken in the design. Costs per unit mass of removed contaminant are used as a
scale to choose the next combination of an effluent stream and a treatment process. The
remaining problem is updated after each choice. As for multiple contaminants, a two-stage
method is adopted. At the first stage, the sub-networks for each contaminant are designed
by the method mentioned above;at the second stage, the sub-networks are merged together in
a new way. Overall, the paper presents a simple but practical framework for the effluent
treatment system design.

Key words: effluent treatment, environment, optimization, processes, system engineering, wastewater

摘要： This paper mainly discusses the design of distributed effluent treatment systems with
single contaminant. A new method is put forward and four basic rules are provided. The key
point of the method is that global optimality is obtained by guaranteeing the optimality of
each step taken in the design. Costs per unit mass of removed contaminant are used as a
scale to choose the next combination of an effluent stream and a treatment process. The
remaining problem is updated after each choice. As for multiple contaminants, a two-stage
method is adopted. At the first stage, the sub-networks for each contaminant are designed
by the method mentioned above;at the second stage, the sub-networks are merged together in
a new way. Overall, the paper presents a simple but practical framework for the effluent
treatment system design.

关键词: effluent treatment;environment;optimization;processes;system engineering;wastewater