Discover the Editor's Choice: From each issue of the leading journal, Water Science & Technology the core team of editors will select one outstanding paper to make Open Access and share across IWA Publishing platforms. 

IWA Publishing is pleased to announce that the 15th Editor's Choice paper, selected by Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen is now Open Access: 

Implementing an Extended Kalman Filter for estimating nutrient composition in a sequential batch MBBR pilot plant

Abhilash M. Nair, Abaynesh Fanta, Finn Aakre Haugen, Harsha Ratnaweera           

Water Science & Technology (2019) 80 (2): 317-328.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2019.272

Why was this paper selected as the Editor's Choice? 

For issue 80(2) I have picked a paper from Norway that uses statistical methods on data from a pilot scale treatment plant. The topic is far from new; process identification of treatment plants have been a core interest since the 1980s. So what makes this paper stand out? When searching Web of Science using typical search terms for waste water treatment and Kalman filtering I found less than 20 relevant papers. So clearly this tool that is very suitable for both process identification and online process control is underexplored in our field. Furthermore the paper by Nair et al explores how to use cheap sensors to obtain advanced information on the state of the (pilot scale) plant, which is always valuable. The method enables us to check that the cheap sensors not only provide accurate information, but also validates that they are indeed linked to the treatment process. In a world where AI are explored intensively this paper is a reminder that there is still value in obtaining online information and linking it to a good understanding of the physical state of the system.

Karsten Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Editor.