On August 18 ^th , The FVOA Annual Conference took place at the Kane County Fairgrounds. Organized by TAI’s Jerry Ruth, the conference was a great success. Chris Marschinke manned the booth, while Liz Heise presented to over 50 people on “Process Control and Optimization Strategies of BNR Processes” with City of St. Charles Wastewater Division Manager Chris Rebone. She discussed the Orbal oxidation ditch at the Village of East Dundee, the Bardenpho process at the Village of Algonquin, and the new A2O process with primary sludge fermentation at the City of St Charles Main Plant. She explained the theory of operation of the new A2O process, the flexibility of design, and the process control methods that were implemented to allow for process optimization and energy efficiency. Chris then discussed the challenges that they have faced during start up and the optimization strategies that they have been using to get the process up and running. Thanks for having us FVOA!