EDWARDS - Energy optimisation of WAstewateR treatment plants through KPI analysis and Decision Support Systems

Published on 19/07/2018

In the framework of its activities in Environmental Sustainability Assessment and Circularity (SUSTAIN), the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) informs you that the project “Energy optimisation of WAstewateR treatment plants through KPI analysis and Decision Support Systems” (EDWARDS) successfully came to its end, with the development of a decision support system able to reduce the energy consumption in Waste Water Treatment Plants. 

This innovative tool, called Shared Knowledge Decision Support System (SK-DSS), combines key performance indicators, fuzzy logic, expert knowledge and artificial intelligence to provide case-specific suggestions to plant operators.

The project and main challenge

EDWARDS is a research project funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), led by LIST in partnership with the University of Luxembourg (LU) and the University of Valencia (ES). EDWARDS was the follow up of the European Interreg IVB project entitled "Innovative Energy Recovery Strategies in the urban water cycle" (INNERS) and which ended in 2015. INNERS aimed at reducing the energy consumption of sewage treatment plants, which are very energy-intensive, particularly by making the best use of the energy and the heat contained in wastewater. Emphasis has also been placed on the most energy-intensive steps of the treatment process, the biology, which alone accounts for over half of the total energy consumed by the station. 

In this context, Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) are complex facilities, in which an efficient energy management can produce relevant benefits for the environment and the economy. Today, big data can be used for a more efficient plant management, enabling high-frequency assessment and ultimately a more efficient use of resources. In order to achieve this, a computer-based support was necessary to analyse the enormous amount of data that WWTP sensors can produce. 

Research focus and results

As part of EDWARDS, a doctoral research entitled “A decision support system for energy saving in Waste Water Treatment Plants” was undertaken by Dario Torregrossa at LIST, under the supervision of Dr. Prof.  Joachim Hansen (University of luxembourg), Dr. Georges Shutz and Dr. Alex Cornelissen (RTC4Water), Dr. Prof. Francesco Hernandez Sancho (University of Valencia) and Mr. Ulrich Leopold (LIST). When this PhD research started, the literature review showed that, in the WWTP domain, the few available decision support systems (DSSs) were promising but still with large room for improvements. In fact, these tools were plant-specific, focused mainly on process parameters and (most of them) working with low frequency aggregated data (yearly data). This thesis instead proposed the SK-DSS cooperative decision support system.

SK-DSS is plant generic, i.e. able to simultaneously work with many WWTPs and based on key performance indicators. SK-DSS analyses the processes occurring in the plants and provide case-based solutions. Moreover, this DSS provides a platform to enable the plant managers to exchange information and cooperate. Dario’s thesis proposed the model of SK-DSS, a web-application, and applications to improve the energy performance of pump, blowers and biogas. The full description of this tool can be retrieved online in the repository of University of Luxembourg.

The work on the thesis went well and results are successful as Dario Torregrossa successfully defended his doctoral research on 9 July 2018 at the University of Luxembourg. Congratulations to Dario!

What’s next?

This decision support system will be further developed in the next years to include the environmental assessment of plant performances in the decision model, in the framework of LIST’s activities in SUSTAIN, under the supervision of Dr. Enrico Benetto.

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