DOI: 10.29136/mediterranean.1874303 ISSN: 2528-9675

Process monitoring and control of compost tea production using a PLC–PC based architecture

Ahmet Suslu, Recep Kulcu, Can Ertekin
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Ensuring traceability and comparability of process conditions in compost tea production remains a significant engineering challenge in practical applications. Although many studies in the literature primarily focus on the biological and agronomic effects of compost tea, the dynamic behavior of the production process and the time-dependent evolution of key process parameters are often addressed in a limited manner. Rather than aiming to optimize a specific compost tea recipe, this study adopts a process-oriented perspective and proposes the development of a traceable, repeatable, and comparable production infrastructure capable of distinguishing process behaviors under different operating regimes. In this context, a system architecture integrating a PLC-based control layer with a PC-based supervisory monitoring and data acquisition platform was designed and experimentally implemented. Key process parameters, including dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and temperature, were continuously monitored and recorded in a time-stamped manner throughout the production process. The system was evaluated under three experimental scenarios characterized by different aeration and recirculation strategies, while nutrient dosing was kept constant. Time-series analyses of DO, pH, EC, and temperature demonstrated that the proposed PLC–PC based monitoring infrastructure can clearly resolve scenario-dependent process behaviors. The observed differences among experimental scenarios indicate that variations in process dynamics are primarily attributable to operational and control strategies rather than changes in nutrient input. Overall, this study presents an engineering-based framework for process-oriented monitoring of compost tea production, providing a robust data-driven basis for future optimization, advanced control, and scale-up studies.

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