Innovative digital solution for energy savings and operational optimization in wastewater plants

A dig­i­tal solu­tion that helps waste­water treat­ment plant oper­a­tors reduce ener­gy con­sump­tion while meet­ing the high­est oper­at­ing stan­dards: This is ABB’s Abil­i­ty Smart Solu­tion for Wastewater.

The two key com­po­nents are the inno­v­a­tive Advanced Process Con­trol (APC) solu­tion and the dig­i­tal twin and sim­u­la­tion tech­nol­o­gy to pre­dict future oper­at­ing require­ments, which help achieve opti­mal oper­a­tions in waste­water plants. They help reduce process vari­abil­i­ty and make oper­a­tions more reli­able through con­tin­u­ous mon­i­tor­ing and automa­tion. This involves con­tin­u­ous step-by-step adjust­ment of oper­at­ing para­me­ters and improve­ments that reduce ener­gy and chem­i­cal con­sump­tion while increas­ing profitability.

Accord­ing to the Inter­na­tion­al Ener­gy Agency, glob­al elec­tric­i­ty con­sump­tion in waste­water treat­ment was 222 TWh in 2020, with elec­tric­i­ty con­sump­tion in this sec­tor expect­ed to increase by 80 per­cent by 2040. This is part­ly due to the increas­ing demand for treat­ed waste­water, which is now con­sid­ered a valu­able poten­tial resource.

“The new­ly devel­oped solu­tion lever­ages our long-stand­ing exper­tise in process con­trol (APC), pow­er opti­miza­tion and dig­i­tal twin tech­nol­o­gy. As demand for treat­ed waste­water rapid­ly increas­es world­wide, we are com­mit­ted to con­tin­u­ing to devel­op sus­tain­able solu­tions that reduce ener­gy con­sump­tion while improv­ing water qual­i­ty and oper­a­tional efficiency.”

- Mar­co Achilea, Glob­al Seg­ment Man­ag­er, Water & Infrastructurer

The solu­tion was devel­oped using the Dan­ish com­pa­ny DHI Group’s com­plex hydraulic mod­els for water man­age­ment and pro­vides a more reli­able treat­ment process. The solu­tion cal­cu­lates waste­water inflow in con­junc­tion with envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors such as weath­er, reduc­ing the risk of over­flows and fines. ABB Abil­i­ty Smart Solu­tion for Waste­water Man­age­ment is the first in a series of smart solu­tions for water man­age­ment. It builds on the com­pa­ny’s Opti­max® and APC expe­ri­ence and proven capa­bil­i­ties, and is designed to keep waste­water treat­ment plants oper­at­ing safe­ly, intel­li­gent­ly and sustainably.