Controller Design for a TITO Doha Water Treatment Plant Using the Class Topper Optimization Algorithm

Water quality is an issue of global importance in environmental research. The productivity, safety, and distribution of fresh and pure water to the population are priorities for every nation worldwide. Currently, reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants are one of the best methods accepted worldwide due to their simplicity and high performance. This paper focuses on the design of a PID controller for the Doha plant RO using the class topper optimization (CTO) algorithm. In addition, a reduced-order model is created using the same algorithm for ease of analysis. The plant RO is decoupled, and then the PID controller is designed for two non-conducting loops. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown by comparing its response characteristics with other state-of-the-art optimization techniques, namely artificial bee colony, differential evolution, and particle swarm optimization. The simulation comparison shows the better performance of the CTO algorithm in tuning the PID controllers.